Monika Leal

M-P C.W. Griffin

Nelson Mandela visits Miami, 1990

Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was expected to visit Miami in June 1990, four months after being released from a South African prison. Miami made plans for a proclamation and a key to the city, but after Mandela acknowledged support for Fidel Castro, Moammar Gadhafi and Yasser Arafat during a TV interview, commissioners rescinded the official […]

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Read it like a native: 20 books about Florida

In 1568, Brother Francisco Villareal, a Jesuit missionary to the Tequesta settlement on the Miami River, penned what is perhaps the first postcard from South Florida: “I and the others have constantly remained healthy, glory be to God, which helps us endure with little difficulty some of the burdens of the land that otherwise would […]

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Miami Shores - Misc.  John Walther

Miami Shores

Founded in 1932, Miami Shores has approximately 11,000 residents and 3,000 homes, many of which are historic.  Its story began in the years after the devastation of the Civil War. In the postwar era, William Gleason served as Florida’s lieutenant governor, and in the early 1870s, he settled in the area that would become Miami […]

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Miami Heat Championship, 2006

In 2006 Miami Heat coach and president, Pat Riley, built a team around Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal to capture the championship he had waited to experience for 11 years as the leader of the team. Miami trailed the Dallas Mavericks by two games and faced a 13-point lead in the closing minutes of Game […]

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Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, 1972

In 1972, it was Miami Beach’s turn to host, not only the Democratic but also the Republican convention, which had also been held here in 1968 — thanks to Key Biscayne part-time resident Richard M. Nixon. Nixon was running for reelection, along with his vice president, Spiro Agnew.  By then the protesters’ numbers had nearly […]

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Demo. Natl. Convention Miami Beach - 1972 AP Wirephoto

Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, 1972

In the summer of 1972, Miami Beach hosted the Democratic and Republican national conventions, the last time one city hosted both conventions. During the four-day Democratic Convention in July, only two people were arrested and two others injured. Four years earlier in Chicago, 680 people were arrested and 1,381 were injured. Rocky Pomerance, the Miami […]

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Miami Herald Front

Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston, 1964

Cassius Clay leaped forward, to the center of the ring, and leaned over to all the reporters who had said he was a joke, a clown, a loser, a fraud. He had just made them all liars. He leaned over, and he opened his mouth wide. After six rounds, the favorite, Liston, “sank to his […]

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June 1st 1937: Amelia Earhart takes off from Miami

When Amelia Earhart attempted to be the first woman pilot to fly around the world in 1937, she launched her fateful trip from the Miami Municipal Airport in Opa-locka. This was her second attempt at flying around the world. She landed at the wrong airport in Miami, in what was then known as the 36th […]

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Pacific Bldg John Pineda

Pacific Building, boom-time skyscraper

The site of lavish real estate offices when it opened, Miami’s once-elegant Pacific Building ended its life as a high-rise hobo jungle. The 15-story building at 327 NE First Ave. was started in 1924 as the Realty Board Building. Badly damaged in the hurricane of 1926, it nevertheless survived until being razed to make room […]

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Memorial Day Marlin Levison

Memorial Day in Miami

Memorial Day was established in 1868 to honor Civil War soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Originally called Decoration Day, for the tradition of decorating graves of the fallen with flowers, it became a national holiday in 1971, observed annually on the last Monday in May. Take a look at how Miami has commemorated our […]

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