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That was due to state laws. Other parts of Florida are certainly Southern.
That is not remotely true. Miami and the surrounding municipalities each had their own Jim Crow laws, including 6PM or "sundown" curfew for all people considered "colored," segregated schools and public works, segregated neighborhoods, and Black people were not allowed on the beach or to stay in hotels in Miami Beach. No Black person was allowed to live outside of tiny specifically designated neighborhoods - which in this time was Overtown only - and they had to carry a pass card on them at all times (the same as in apartheid) to prove where they lived and worked so they could get through if they came home from work late. These city Jim Crow laws were strictly enforced, including with arrest and with unprovoked violence, throughout the entire Jim Crow era up through the mid-1960s [not very long ago at all]. Don't rewrite history just off the top of your head - anyone who had dark skin and lived in Miami at that time could tell you, it was not a place you wanted to be, it was dangerous and full of hate - the idea that the rest of the state imposed its racism on Miami and Miami was just a helpless pawn as a city in that, is totally false. They enacted their own city laws which were different from Hollywood, different from Ft. Lauderdale - every area created and enforced their own Jim Crow laws strictly. These oppression laws were far beyond what the state required.
That is not remotely true. Miami and the surrounding municipalities each had their own Jim Crow laws, including 6PM or "sundown" curfew for all people considered "colored," segregated schools and public works, segregated neighborhoods, and Black people were not allowed on the beach or to stay in hotels in Miami Beach. No Black person was allowed to live outside of tiny specifically designated neighborhoods - which in this time was Overtown only - and they had to carry a pass card on them at all times (the same as in apartheid) to prove where they lived and worked so they could get through if they came home from work late. These city Jim Crow laws were strictly enforced, including with arrest and with unprovoked violence, throughout the entire Jim Crow era up through the mid-1960s [not very long ago at all]. Don't rewrite history just off the top of your head - anyone who had dark skin and lived in Miami at that time could tell you, it was not a place you wanted to be, it was dangerous and full of hate - the idea that the rest of the state imposed its racism on Miami and Miami was just a helpless pawn as a city in that, is totally false. They enacted their own city laws which were different from Hollywood, different from Ft. Lauderdale - every area created and enforced their own Jim Crow laws strictly. These oppression laws were far beyond what the state required.
There has been a lot of debate about how southern Miami is. The consensus seems to be that it used to be southern, but not anymore. My question is when did it lose that southern culture? (And how?)
Fair enough, although my intention wasn't necessarily to say that Miami was a "helpless pawn."
OK. But point being, Southern culture, including white supremacism, "down-home" type cooking, Southern accents, etc., could all be easily found in Miami up through the mid-60s. The fact that there are a smattering of people still in Miami-Dade who come from this background, whom I continue to meet here and there, confirm this - it was in Miami rather recently, but certainly has been becoming less and less all the time the dominant culture, to the point that today it is a small minority of I would guess maybe 10% or a bit less of the total county population, and those who stayed do not have really the same culture as they are now cosmopolitan and often not racist - those who were really racist, left when the majority culture changed. So I don't know the exact numbers, but in the mid-60s Southern culture in Miami was probably still a good 50% at least. Just because it was a city, and had other international influences, did not mean it was not still Southern. Somewhere after that with integration, the rise of international immigration to the county, and the growth of the city in general, old "Southern" culture lost its place as a majority in Miami, and Cubans began to rise in the ranks of politics to influence the dominant culture of the area.
People's comments that it was never "Southern" do not come from any truth or knowledge of the actual city. There are many many memoirs and documents that easily support the fact that Miami had dominant Southern culture for a long time, if anyone actually wanted to research what they are commenting on. Like any location, the culture was just a mix of mainstream ideologies at the time from surrounding towns and states, with local influences such as the climate and environment, and the minority groups who were here, mixing to create a unique culture. That is true of every city's culture, especially in a time when people were reliant on local food sources and were subject completely to the whim of the weather on a daily basis. That does not make Miami less Southern, just as people in towns in Texas with close proximity to Mexico and that of course once were Mexico, are not less Southern for that reason, nor was Georgia with its proximity to Cherokee culture less Southern.
Miami was also influenced early on (late 1800s-early 1900s) by people of unusual amounts of wealth from other states - consider all of the people for whom the streets and neighborhoods are named. So Henry Flagler came from NY, but his wife was from NC and he was pretty conservative-minded. Julia Tuttle's family came from Ohio originally but came to Miami when she was a kid. She too was more interested in money, and one made money by upholding the status quo. They did not really change the culture locally so much, as they poured tons of money into developing infrastructure so that Miami could become a city and concentrate that local culture. Wealthy people did come down from North, but this was the beginning of the "snowbird" culture in Miami, and none of them stayed long enough to make a huge difference in what was a very dominant Southern culture of the time. They did however pave the way for Miami, in the future and along with the advent of A/C and the means of easier transportation (cars and a national highway system), to eventually grow out of being a Southern-dominant culture, to a culture dominated by transplants.
Miami's location at the end of line in the nation - the furthest South you could go and closer to other nations than to mainland humdrum existence, did help to attract a ton of people who just wanted to escape their lives in the US, as well as people who wanted to escape their lives in Caribbean countries, and of course people just looking for work on the railroads or in city construction. Because of its location indicating it as a great place to escape wherever you currently were, and the plentiful jobs as the city grew, it just so happened that at some point post-1964, so many people moved here that the people who were originally from Southern culture were no longer a significant population. The Cuban Revolution in 1959, plus the Cold War politics in the 60s that convinced most US citizens that Miami was not remotely a safe place to move to, and then the drug trafficking culture, all contributed to a dominant Caribbean population in Miami, which then as business picked up and the Cold War died, grew to include a lot of South and Central Americans too. The Northern snowbird culture still influenced Miami culture, but they were a minority and only here for half the year, so they did not influence politics much.
Good god - I need to get back to work and stop fooling around on this site!...
OK. But point being, Southern culture, including white supremacism, "down-home" type cooking, Southern accents, etc., could all be easily found in Miami up through the mid-60s. The fact that there are a smattering of people still in Miami-Dade who come from this background, whom I continue to meet here and there, confirm this - it was in Miami rather recently, but certainly has been becoming less and less all the time the dominant culture, to the point that today it is a small minority of I would guess maybe 10% or a bit less of the total county population, and those who stayed do not have really the same culture as they are now cosmopolitan and often not racist - those who were really racist, left when the majority culture changed. So I don't know the exact numbers, but in the mid-60s Southern culture in Miami was probably still a good 50% at least. Just because it was a city, and had other international influences, did not mean it was not still Southern. Somewhere after that with integration, the rise of international immigration to the county, and the growth of the city in general, old "Southern" culture lost its place as a majority in Miami, and Cubans began to rise in the ranks of politics to influence the dominant culture of the area.
People's comments that it was never "Southern" do not come from any truth or knowledge of the actual city. There are many many memoirs and documents that easily support the fact that Miami had dominant Southern culture for a long time, if anyone actually wanted to research what they are commenting on. Like any location, the culture was just a mix of mainstream ideologies at the time from surrounding towns and states, with local influences such as the climate and environment, and the minority groups who were here, mixing to create a unique culture. That is true of every city's culture, especially in a time when people were reliant on local food sources and were subject completely to the whim of the weather on a daily basis. That does not make Miami less Southern, just as people in towns in Texas with close proximity to Mexico and that of course once were Mexico, are not less Southern for that reason, nor was Georgia with its proximity to Cherokee culture less Southern.
Miami was also influenced early on (late 1800s-early 1900s) by people of unusual amounts of wealth from other states - consider all of the people for whom the streets and neighborhoods are named. So Henry Flagler came from NY, but his wife was from NC and he was pretty conservative-minded. Julia Tuttle's family came from Ohio originally but came to Miami when she was a kid. She too was more interested in money, and one made money by upholding the status quo. They did not really change the culture locally so much, as they poured tons of money into developing infrastructure so that Miami could become a city and concentrate that local culture. Wealthy people did come down from North, but this was the beginning of the "snowbird" culture in Miami, and none of them stayed long enough to make a huge difference in what was a very dominant Southern culture of the time. They did however pave the way for Miami, in the future and along with the advent of A/C and the means of easier transportation (cars and a national highway system), to eventually grow out of being a Southern-dominant culture, to a culture dominated by transplants.
Miami's location at the end of line in the nation - the furthest South you could go and closer to other nations than to mainland humdrum existence, did help to attract a ton of people who just wanted to escape their lives in the US, as well as people who wanted to escape their lives in Caribbean countries, and of course people just looking for work on the railroads or in city construction. Because of its location indicating it as a great place to escape wherever you currently were, and the plentiful jobs as the city grew, it just so happened that at some point post-1964, so many people moved here that the people who were originally from Southern culture were no longer a significant population. The Cuban Revolution in 1959, plus the Cold War politics in the 60s that convinced most US citizens that Miami was not remotely a safe place to move to, and then the drug trafficking culture, all contributed to a dominant Caribbean population in Miami, which then as business picked up and the Cold War died, grew to include a lot of South and Central Americans too. The Northern snowbird culture still influenced Miami culture, but they were a minority and only here for half the year, so they did not influence politics much.
Good god - I need to get back to work and stop fooling around on this site!...
I dont think any of the Southern accents are from Homestead natives. I know someone who has a southern accent and lives in Homestead, but they moved from NC
not to belabor the point, but I have lived in Homestead since 1978. I know people who have a soft, southern accent whose families HAVE lived in the area for generations.
That does not make Miami less Southern, just as people in towns in Texas with close proximity to Mexico and that of course once were Mexico, are not less Southern for that reason, nor was Georgia with its proximity to Cherokee culture less Southern.
Actually, the only parts of Texas that are accepted as "Southern" are in East Texas, away from the border. Texas generally isn't Southern by culture.
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