‘We just keep on’: Mayor unveils decades-old time capsule celebrating women’s success
Miami-Dade leaders and community members lined up in front of a patch of grass and glanced at a rusted barrel swinging from an excavator.
The barrel was a time capsule buried by women leaders more than three decades ago. And it was unveiled Wednesday during Women’s History Month by none other than the first woman to serve as Miami-Dade mayor — Daniella Levine Cava.
The time capsule, which contained hundreds of items honoring the work and accomplishments of local women, was buried in 1992 at The Women’s Park in Fontainebleau, the first park dedicated to women in the country. It was supposed to be exhumed on Aug. 26, 2020, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s just a great way to look at our past and look at some of the milestones that were achieved at that time and maybe some of the wishes for the future,” Levine Cava said.
The collection of more than 300 documents, photographs and artifacts, including works of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Cuban anthropologist Lydia Cabrera and greetings from first lady Barbara Bush, will now be on display at the Roxcy O’Neal Bolton Women’s History Gallery, named after one of the park’s founders — a feminist and civil rights activist.
Though many of the women who contributed to the capsule have passed away, several were present at the Wednesday ceremony, including Silvia Unzueta, an advocate, former Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation and one of the park’s founding members. Levine Cava shouted out Pat Seitz, the first female president of the Florida Bar, calling Seitz an inspiration in her early days practicing law.
“Who knows 30 years from now what will girls and women be doing?” Levine Cava said. “They’ll be doing everything. There’ll be absolutely no barriers for what people can achieve just based on their ambition, their strength, their persistence.”
Levine Cava told the Miami Herald it’s “pretty sweet” to be the county’s first female mayor but added that many girls today know they can be the first woman president.
“Certainly, [there’s] many, many more glass ceilings to be broken and we just keep on,” she told the Miami Herald. “It also reminds us it’s not just about women. It’s about all people who are held back or who don’t have the same opportunities.”
Dorothy Jenkins Fields, who founded the park as well as Miami’s Black Archives, History & Research Foundation of South Florida, said she was glad that the artifacts — many of which she donated — will be on display.
Fields, however, said more needs to be done to dismantle the mind-set that women aren’t equal.
“We’ve come a long way, but we’re still a long way to go,” she said.
More of the park’s founders
Molly Turner — Florida’s first female TV reporter, Local 10 anchor and Emmy Award winner
Leona F. Cooper — Activist, founder of the St. Martin de Porres Association, a lay group for Black Catholics in the Archdiocese of Miami
Bonnie Lano Rippingille — Founding chair of the Women’s park, former Miami-Dade judge
Monna Lighte — Feminist, community activist, advocate for women, the arts, children and animal rights
Katherine Fernandez Rundle — First female Hispanic State Attorney in Florida
Helen Miller — Vice mayor of Opa-locka, community leader
Teresa Zorilla Clark — Advocate, community leader and widow to longtime Miami Mayor Steve Clark
Elaine Gordon — First woman elected as Florida’s Speaker Pro-Tempore, state representative from 1972 to 1994
This story was originally published March 22, 2023 at 5:11 PM.
