A state commission on May 21 endorsed the construction of a black history museum in St. Johns County, over competing proposals from Central and South Florida.
Now, members of the Florida Black History Museum Task Force must quickly decide how to promote the St. Augustine-area institution, hold events to raise charitable funds and become self-sufficient.
With a July 1 deadline to submit the plan to Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature, task force members voted 5-4 to choose the option over the proposed sites of Eatonville in Orange County and Opa-locka in Miami. They decided to accept a ranking that prioritized the St. John’s location. Dade County. The museum is not funded.
Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, who did not vote in favor of using the scoring process, said the goal is to have a museum that serves as more than a regional hub.
“We want a big museum, a huge museum that benefits the whole state,” Powell said.
Tony Lee, a member of the task force, later said, “If the state wants to fully fund the museum, I’m not going to stand in their way.”
Prior to the meeting, the St. Johns County location had been ranked highest by task force members based on individual scoring of eight potential sites. Eatonville took second place. The task force then narrowly voted Tuesday to approve those rankings.
Questions arose about why Rep. Kiyan Michael, a Jacksonville Republican and member of the special committee, gave the St. Augustine-area location a perfect score and the lowest score to Eatonville.
Michael said on May 21 that he did not have to justify his vote, but that he did not take any “intentional actions” to influence the score.
“I took the information that was given to me,” Michael said.
Lawmakers will create a task force in 2023 to address issues such as the state’s historic black culture, its origins in the Jim Crow era, the civil rights movement, tourism marketing potential and museum funding plans. Recommendations were made including:
The proposed sites were expected to be able to handle facilities of over 100,000 square feet, although the size of the sites varied. Estimates suggest that at $1,000 per square foot, it would cost at least $100 million to build and maintain such a facility.
The museum complex will include meeting rooms, banquet facilities and a performing arts theater that can be used for private events.
Supporters of the Eatonville site argued it would be successful because of its proximity to Orlando and its tourism industry.
Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a Windermere Democrat who chairs the task force, said Eatonville’s location could benefit through mutual sponsorship with regional tourist attractions in central Florida.
Angela Johnson, a fifth-generation Floridian from Central Florida, told the commission that the proposed Eatonville site is ready for development with no environmental concerns. She argued that the St. Johns County site does have environmental concerns.
Supporters of the St. Augustine-area proposal countered that northeast Florida has a centuries-old history, including the nation’s first free black settlements.
St. Johns County Administrator Joy Andrews told the task force that the county is willing to pay for a feasibility study to address concerns expressed about the site.
“This is a state museum. We just happened to approach the proposal from a local process,” St. Johns County Commission Chair Sarah Arnold said after the vote.
