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Coral Way Elem. School AP Newsfeatures Photo

Coral Way Elementary: pioneer in bilingual education

Opening in 1936, with a building designed by Miami architect, August Geiger, Coral Way Elementary was the first bilingual school in the country. Responding to the first influx of refugees following Fidel Castro’s 1959 rise to power in Cuba, school officials in the early 1960s began planning entirely bilingual schools. With funding from the Ford […]

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0560961248 Marvin Bloom

The saga of Veterans Village

The saga of Veteran’s Village began in February 1946 when a Miami American Legion Post tried to address the housing shortage for military families by re-opening World War II buildings on Miami Army air field, today Miami International Airport. For $20 a month, families got wooden huts, 16 feet by 16 feet,  with no running […]

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Cuban Rafter Crisis

In the early ’90’s, Cuban rafters began to cast off in alarming numbers. On July 13, 1994, Cuban government boats sank a commandeered tugboat that left at least 39 people dead. The next month, outraged Cuban citizens watched the government retake a hijacked ferry in Havana Bay to thwart another escape attempt. Rioting erupted. People […]

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Polio Vaccine reaches Miami

In the 1950s, after Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against polio, citizens in Miami and across the nation lined up for shots to prevent the feared disease, which paralyzed thousands of children each year, killing some.

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