The south Miami-Dade community of Richmond Heights celebrated its 76th anniversary this past weekend with a brunch hosted by The Historic Society at Zoo Miami. Richmond Heights was founded in 1949 as one of the country\u2019s first communities created for Black World War II veterans and their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the protectors of our past and the curators of our collective memory,\u201d said Jessica Garrett Modkins, executive director of The Historic Society. \u201cAnd we will continue telling these stories, boldly and beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s brunch honored businesses and organizations that power the community\u2019s economic foundation. Among the 2026 honorees were J.L. Brown Development, Manifezt Foundation, Mike & Jackie\u2019s BBQ & Catering Services, Richmond Heights Community Development Corporation, and SBC Community Development Corporation.<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava delivered the keynote greeting for the event, which also marked the beginning of Black History Month.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlack history is Miami-Dade history,\u201d she said. \u201cThe strength of Richmond Heights has always been its people, and the heart of its economy has always been small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
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(Courtesy of The Historic Society)<\/p>\n
Dallas Garrett Modkins, teen president of Jack and Jill of America\u2019s South Miami Chapter, delivered an original address titled \u201cBlack to the Future: Powered by Legacy, Driven by Vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be Black in America is to live in the past, present, and future all at once,\u201d he said. \u201cLegacy without vision becomes nostalgia. And vision without action becomes a dream deferred.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event also brought the announcement of a new partnership with Paradise Television Network (WDFL, Channel 18.2), which will air various documentaries by The Historic Society throughout this month, including \u201cHBCU Honors,\u201d \u201cHBCU Homecomings,\u201d and \u201cMiami\u2019s Richmond Heights: The Black Shangri-La.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The south Miami-Dade community of Richmond Heights celebrated its 76th anniversary this past weekend with a brunch hosted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[69410,69406,69413,69420,69401,69408,69419,69412,69405,69416,69415,69418,69400,69411,123,125,124,69402,69421,69417,69414,69398,69399,69409,69403,69397,69407,69404],"class_list":["post-143074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-african-american-heritage-miami","tag-black-history-month-miami-dade","tag-black-to-the-future-address","tag-black-veterans-housing-history","tag-black-world-war-ii-veterans-community","tag-black-owned-businesses-miami-dade","tag-community-development-corporations-miami","tag-dallas-garrett-modkins-speech","tag-daniella-levine-cava-keynote","tag-hbcu-homecomings-miami","tag-hbcu-honors-documentary","tag-historic-african-american-neighborhoods","tag-historic-black-communities-florida","tag-jack-and-jill-of-america-south-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade-black-history-month-events","tag-miami-dade-cultural-heritage","tag-miamis-richmond-heights-black-shangri-la","tag-paradise-television-network-wdfl","tag-richmond-heights-anniversary","tag-richmond-heights-black-history","tag-richmond-heights-economic-development","tag-richmond-heights-historic-society","tag-richmond-heights-miami","tag-south-miami-dade-community-news","tag-zoo-miami-community-brunch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}