Florida International University professor-emeritus and historian Dr. Marvin Dunn is bringing his lecture series of the Saltwater Underground Railroad and Good Trouble to Key Biscayne.<\/p>\n
The author, and social justice advocate, will discuss the Saltwater Underground Railroad, which was a network of routes and people that assisted enslaved Africans to go free in the coastal areas of Florida.<\/p>\n
The event, sponsored by Friends Cape Florida, is scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m., on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at Pavilion D-18 at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.<\/p>\n
According to Dunn, the route was used from 1821 to 1861, where fugitives from Southern slave states sought refuge on South Florida’s beaches and later traveled to the then-British-controlled Bahamas.<\/p>\n
The Good Trouble was a specific historical event or narrative related to the Underground Railroad or the experiences of enslaved individuals in Florida.<\/p>\n
Dunn has deep roots in DeLand, where he was born during the Jim Crow era.<\/p>\n
In his book, “A History of Florida Through Black Eyes,” Dunn chronicles the events of the harsh mistreatment African Americans endured including imminent death at the hands of white supremacists.<\/p>\n
The ordeal left a lasting impression for Blacks, even after the Jim Crow law was abolished.<\/p>\n
“I was so used to seeing the signs that read, \u201cWhites seat from front-Colored seat from rear\u201d on public buses that, when they were finally removed in the 1960s, sometimes I thought I still saw them there,” Dunn said in his book. “Even after his death, Jim Crow was, for a while, omnipresent mentally and emotionally in our lives; such had been his reach. No black person I knew escaped the impact of the Jim Crow system or the possibility of being killed for no other reason than being black. A black person in Florida, during the time I grew up, lived with a pervasive awareness of the limitations a racist society imposed and of the impact those limitations imposed upon one\u2019s life.”<\/p>\n
Dunn was touched by the 1923 Rosewood massacre in rural Levy County, where six Blacks were killed. Other accounts suggested a higher death toll of 27 to 150.<\/p>\n
The town of Rosewood was destroyed during a race riot.<\/p>\n
Dunn purchased land near the Rosewood massacre and launched his “Teach the Truth” tour to take a busload of people to explore Black history in Florida and Miami, including the site of the killings.<\/p>\n
His tour focuses on racial violence and history, and the Black Miami in the 20th Century tour, which delves into the contributions of American Americans to the development of Miami.<\/p>\n
Recently, Dunn filed a lawsuit to block Miami Dade College’s land transfer to the state to build President Donald Trump Library adjacent to Miami Freedom Tower in downtown Miami.<\/p>\n
A judge temporarily halted the deal after Dunn argued the land transfer was in violation of Florida’s Sunshine law when Miami Dade College Board of Trustees didn’t garner public input.<\/p>\n
The board filed an appeal which is pending.<\/p>\n
Dunn’s lecture series of the Saltwater Underground Railroad and Good Trouble is free for members and $10 for non-members.<\/p>\n
Parking fee is required for all participants.<\/p>\n