the JF blog

Published by @jfrancilus since 2011.

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

the JF theme. 15 years of the JF blog. https://t.co/vAnoL9SnTf

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Miami Urban Rail: A History of Transit in Dade County”

A series of local rail networks, passenger rail, streetcars, and rapid transit, have connected urban Miami since its founding in 1896.
https://t.co/fVyt2wBX1c

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Labor Day Hurricane and End of the Overseas Railroad”

The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane that struck the Florida Keys was one of the most destructive in U.S. history, and ended Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad that connected Miami and Key West.
https://t.co/hbV8zE9ezm

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“WQAM Tiger Radio: Pop Music and Youth Culture in 1960s Miami”

Miami’s WQAM was the soundtrack for South Florida youth in the 1960s.
https://t.co/YcEDKhYs5W

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Fifth Street Gym: A History of Boxing in Miami”

Miami’s Fifth Street Gym is where Muhammad Ali became “The Greatest.”
https://t.co/bWCxPUhLWt

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“‘Iceman’ by Drake: A Trilogy”

Drake answered his critics by dropping three albums: “Iceman,” “Maid of Honour,” and “Habibti.”
https://t.co/OBBxWdpuCb

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Black Floridians Politically Silenced”

Black Floridians face less democracy in the post-Civil Rights era than ever, since Gov. Ron DeSantis.
https://t.co/q9aDOFnYli

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Student Protests at Columbia, Kent State, and Jackson State”

Student protests at Columbia University in 1968 and 2024 toppled presidents, and 1970 demonstrations at Kent State University in Ohio and Jackson State College in Mississippi helped end a war.
https://t.co/02Nkav9B5P

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Joe Lang Kershaw: A Florida Trailblazer”

In 1968, Florida State Rep. Joe Lang Kershaw of Miami was the first Black person elected to the Florida Legislature in the 20th century.
https://t.co/JM4iQ2RUsU

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Choom Gang and the End of Prohibition”

When Barack Obama admitted that he “inhaled frequently” in his youth, he inadvertently became a hero of the millennial stoner counterculture.
https://t.co/5lcgvY8OJQ

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

Celebrating 15 years this month, from Miami, Harlem, and beyond.
https://t.co/vAnoL9SnTf

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Data: Antebellum Black Florida”

Florida’s antebellum economy was based on the bondage of Black people near the capital of Tallahassee.
https://t.co/maCHpZ2s9S

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Miami Congressman Claude Pepper: Florida’s Lone Vote for Civil Rights”

Miami’s Black and African American urban core gained federal representation when local U.S. Rep. Claude Pepper was Florida’s lone vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
https://t.co/I3OqtGVYqb

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Sinatra’s Miami: ‘Tony Rome’ Universe”

Miami was Frank Sinatra’s kind of town, and backdrop for his fictional exploits as the eponymous “Tony Rome” in the 1967 Gordon Douglas film, and its 1968 sequel “Lady in Cement.”
https://t.co/8mYrKoqUVh

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“South Florida’s Segregated Black Hospitals”

Physicians William B. Sawyer and James F. Sistrunk established the first dedicated hospitals to treat Black patients in segregated midcentury South Florida.
https://t.co/Qs45AInfus

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Mapping: Florida’s Negro Motorist Green Book”

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a guide that provided Black and African American travelers options for safe accommodations in segregated mid-century America.
https://t.co/chaQ3xIA78

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Data: Chisholm, Jackson, and Obama Florida Presidential Primaries”

Black and African American presidential candidates who ran in Florida primaries received increasing shares of votes from the Democratic Party electorate in each successive race.
https://t.co/6Ox5cnrtih

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“I Never Loved a Singer the Way I Love Aretha”

Aretha Franklin commanded respect as the “Queen of Soul” for the 1967 Summer of Love and the disillusionment of 1968, with breakout albums, “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You,” and follow-up, “Lady Soul.”https://t.co/6YtyT9Hk4M

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“The Miami Sound: Criteria Studios, TK Records, and Peak Disco”

Before Gloria Estefan and Uncle Luke popularized the “Miami Sound,” it was created by Mack Emerman and cultivated by Henry Stone.
https://t.co/Gx1oP5PYbZ

[the JF blog @thejfblog]

“Florida’s Black Electorate and the Impact of Shirley Chisholm”

Florida’s Black and African American voters survived suppression after the Civil War to remain an intact bloc through the 1960s, testing their influence in 1972 with Shirley Chisholm.
https://t.co/Gz3ElDJ20i