Black History in St. Augustine

Enjoy our Multi-Cultural Heritage

Fort Mose
Exterior of the Lincolnville Museum in St. Augustine Fl including sculpture of open book that reads "I have a dream, MLK"
Butler Beach public domain State Archives of Florida 1

Welcome to our community where you can experience one of the most important chapters in our nation’s history. For centuries, African-Americans have played a significant part in the multi-cultural heritage of Florida’s Historic Coast.

This rich chapter includes free and enslaved Africans as founding settlers in the 1565 Spanish colony of Pedro Menéndez. Nearly 200 years later, black citizens and soldiers helped defend that same Spanish province from English invaders. Here, where America was founded, we demonstrate that the Underground Railroad ran south first…to our historic coast.

Descendants of these proud community members joined with other African-Americans and settled again after the Civil War. Lincolnville near downtown St. Augustine became their new home. Their efforts created a thriving African-American business, social, and religious community. Come and share the stories of some of these places.

Below are several ways to experience the African American heritage found on Florida's Historic Coast.

Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose’ (Fort Mose’)

Just north of St. Augustine, off the Kings Highway (US1) is Fort Mose’ (pronounced Moh-say). Here, you can see where the Spanish government established this stronghold in 1738 as the first free Black settlement in North America. The fort with its Black militia was captained by Mandingo native baptized as Francisco Menéndez. In the Visitors’ Center, you will learn the story of the northernmost fort that played a critical role in defending Spain’s colony at St. Augustine.

When English Gen. Oglethorpe invaded, the fort’s militia defeated the English army. Unfortunately, the fort was burned in the process. Today, visitors can participate in the Fort Mose’ Militia’s monthly drills and enjoy a scenic walk through the park setting to the waterfront. In 1994, the site became a National Historic Landmark.



Black History at the Hotel Ponce de Leon (now Flagler College)

Black men built the Hotel Ponce de Leon

On December 1, 1885, New York industrialist Henry Flagler broke ground on his first Florida project. In the post-Civil War South, this project drew international attention from the time of construction through completion. Flagler committed to using the best talent for the nation’s first major poured-in-place concrete structure. Immediately west of St. Augustine’s downtown, the Hotel Ponce de Leon rose out of the ground thanks to the efforts of 1,100 Black workers who ensured that the walls great walls rose. The pour lines for the construction are evident with five-foot vertical increments achieved. For the base of the building, the recipe consisted of equal parts of sand and concrete. Native crushed coquina stone was added in double that amount. The shell aggregate framed the monolithic concrete poured in forms to a thickness of four feet tapering to half that for the upper stories. The upper story walls were “one part cement to five parts coquina and two parts sand” and poured to a thickness of between 16 and 20 inches. Anticipated and proved over time was the structure’s ability to withstand hurricanes. In the South, this project proved to be a rare opportunity for former slaves to earn a living wage, learn a skill, and make a lasting impact.

Ponce Serves as Home Field to the Cuban Giants

In the winter of 1885-1886 the Cuban Giants baseball team came to Florida reportedly after playing an exhibition game in Cuba. The team, comprised of African-American employees from the Argyle Hotel at Babylon, Long Island, and players from several northern cities, began a series Tn St. Augustine as construction started on the Hotel Ponce de Leon. The team returned the following winter, setting a pattern that continued for the next decade and helping the team survive the off-season winters.


During their first season the Cuban Giants won forty games before suffering a loss. This string of successes elevated Negro League baseball beyond merely an entertainment. The Cuban Giants toured the South each winter and played Northern teams in the summers, achieving national success and garnering accolades. The team, changing members over the years, played for more than twenty years at hotels along the east coast. By 1887 the team’s ball playing ability brought them the ability to select their opponents, white or black, a rarity at the time. Racism remained prevalent so they tempered the demonstrations of their athletic prowess against less competitive teams by introducing barnstorming as “comic relief” to lighten the mood and appeal to audiences’ interest in entertainment. According to baseball experts, “the Cuban Giants of the late 1880s remain the benchmark against which all of the other black teams of that era are measured.”

Black Businessmen Labor Movement

During late 19th century, New Yorkers Cos Govern and Frank Thompson, who worked at Henry Flagler’s St. Augustine hotels in the winters, participated in anti-racist organizations. Govern led the Hotel Brotherhood, founded in 1884 to address inequities among hotel workers based on race. Both men founded the Progressive Association of the United States of America to foster improvements for Black businessmen. Thompson spoke to employees at the Hotel Ponce de Leon, discussing racism and the South, a story submitted by Govern and printed in the February 23, 1889, issue of the New York Age. If Blacks could improve themselves economically, they could fare better in the white world. Though the subject matter was typical for the era, the presentation in a luxury hotel for wealthy Northerners was a remarkable activity.


Harlem Renaissance Artist Jacob Lawrence

Renowned Black artist Jacob Lawrence, influenced by the Harlem Renaissance, used his race as subject matter for his art. His first exhibit in New York crossed the color barrier, and he was the first Black artist featured at the New York Museum of Modern Art. The Black Migration series, a show of 60 paintings, opened on December 9, 1941, two days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor initiating the United States’ entry into World War II. In 1944 Lawrence spent his first year in the Coast Guard stationed at the Hotel Ponce de Leon. He served as a Steward’s Mate, the only option for a Black man at the time. As was the nation, the military was segregated; his responsibility was to serve white officers their meals. Commanding officer Capt. C. S. Rosenthal knew Lawrence’s talent and encouraged the artist’s efforts. In 1944, Lawrence was transferred to the US Coast Guard Cutter Sea Cloud, the first naval services first integrated ship. Later, his works were installed in the White House and at the Vatican.

Lincolnville Historic District

Originally known as “Africa,” this enclave founded by freed slaves began in 1866 when Union troops occupied Florida during Reconstruction. Over the next 60 years, this settlement grew into a thriving residential and religious community with a significant commercial district along Central Avenue (now Martin Luther King Avenue). Located on a peninsula immediately west of downtown St. Augustine, Lincolnville remains a pleasant place to stroll, including along the scenic shorelines of the San Sebastian River and Maria Sanchez Creek (now Lake). In 1991, Lincolnville was designated as a National Register Historic District.

The exterior of the Lincolnville Museum's entrance.

Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center, 102 Martin Luther King Avenue

Excelsior High School, St. Augustine’s first Black public high school, gained a new purpose as the home for the Lincolnville community’s collective heritage and an incubator for the creative development of future generations. Located along Lincolnville’s commercial backbone, the Mediterranean Revival style building is part of an architectural collection by local architect Fred A. Henderich.

The center was an outgrowth of an idea conceived by Otis Mason, an Excelsior graduate whose career in education began in 1950 teaching at his alma mater. Mason served from 1984-1992 as the St. Johns County School District’s first African-American Superintendent. He joined with other local leaders to preserve stories of the freed slaves and other African-Americans who established and nurtured the Lincolnville community. The museum and cultural center is a strong partner in portraying the heritage of Florida’s Historic Coast.

Lyndon Johnson meeting with Martin Luther King and other Civil Rights activists.

St. Augustine’s Civil Rights Story

In the 1960s, St. Johns County’s African-American community played a dramatic role in the American Civil Rights movement. Attracting participation from Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, local actions gained a national audience. Vice President Lyndon Johnson had visited St. Augustine on March 11, 1963, as part of the 450th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s exploration of La Florida and the announcement of the upcoming 400th anniversary of St. Augustine’s founding. As typical throughout the South, St. Augustine and Florida were segregated. African-Americans were excluded from the celebrations. Peaceful protests took place throughout the downtown and surrounding the Plaza de la Constitución. The protests turned violent encouraged by participation from the Ku Klux Klan. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested. Andrew Young was beaten. By this time, Johnson was President. He watched the events unfold on national television, incensing him to demand passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Nearly half a century later, in 2010, Young returned to St. Augustine at the invitation of Flagler College coed Jillian McClure. This led to several visits by Ambassador Young and a series of community healing activities. In 2014, the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Ambassador Young returned a final time, serving as Flagler College’s Commencement speaker.

Today, you can experience some of the physical reminders of this era by visiting the Plaza, walking along the Andrew Young Crossing and over to the Foot Soldiers Monument. Across King Street is the former Woolworth’s Department Store. There, the restored lunch counter is the central feature of an exhibition in the Wells-Fargo Bank lobby.

ACCORD Civil Rights Museum, 79 Bridge Street

African-Americans in St. Augustine played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement, and the ACCORD Civil Rights Museum documents parts of this story. ACCORD, of the Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations, began nearly 20 years ago, to ensure that this chapter in the city’s and nation’s history was presented. A partnership with Northrup Grumman Corporation led to creation of the Freedom Trail, and a series of markers have been erected throughout the community. The annual ACCORD Freedom Trail Luncheon speakers have featured Congressman John Lewis in 2010 and Ambassador Andrew Young in 2011.

For more on black heritage in St. Augustine, click here.

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