‘It’s just not something we were taught.’ Three South Dade lynchings brought to light
LaEatrice McMurray has lived in Miami all her life, and before this past weekend had never learned about lynchings in Miami-Dade County. As far as she was concerned, lynchings happened only in places like Alabama, Mississippi and other states considered part of the Deep South.
“It’s not like I’m not educated,” McMurray, who works in the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, said following a gathering last weekend in South Dade. “It’s just not something we were taught.”
That changed Saturday morning when Miami-Dade Truth, Education and Reconciliation (TEAR) hosted a discussion at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in West Perrine about lynchings committed nearly 100 years ago in the surrounding area. The event, part of TEAR’s mission to confront the county’s harsh truths, recounted the lynchings of J.B. Harris, William Simmons and Roy Gaines.
Courtney Berrien, associate director at Barry University’s Center for Community Service Initiatives, deemed the gathering the first step in healing the wounds left untreated for nearly a century.
Saturday also provided an opportunity to reframe the history of Miami-Dade lynchings. Each occurred in the early 1920s, a period defined by widespread racial terror. Although Miami Herald reporters documented the lynchings, no murder convictions ever came. In fact, the writers tended to seemingly excuse the mob violence.
“It’s very one-sided,” said Roni Bennett, the executive director of South Florida People of Color and a member of TEAR’s steering committee.
Accused of attempting to assault a white woman, the 19-year-old Harris was found hanging from a tree near Princeton on Nov. 29, 1920. The Miami Herald published details of the lynching the following day, describing the mob as “silent and determined to give other blacks an example of what they might expect under similar circumstances.”
“Not a bullet hole nor a scar marked the body to indicate that wrath had caused his death; merely the rope’s mark showed how death had come,” the article read.
The lynchings of Simmons and Gaines occurred on consecutive days in mid-June 1923, according to the Herald. Simmons, whom the Herald described as “a trouble-maker,” met his demise after a confrontation with Marshal Charles Bryant ended with the law enforcement officer’s fatal shooting. The June 16 headline about Simmons’ murder — “Negro lynched near Homestead; killed Marshal” — left little doubt of his guilt.
“He was a fugitive from justice, trying to escape after he had killed a man,” then-Sheriff Lewis Allen said at the time. “The crowd had come upon him and probably shot him while he was trying to escape.”
A June 17 article alleged Gaines had helped Simmons kill Bryant. Gaines’ body, described as “riddled with bullets,” was found near present day Florida City and Everglades National Park.
“The [mob’s] excitement at Homestead had quieted down” after Gaines was killed, the article added. “.... No further trouble was anticipated there.”
A fourth lynching of Mary Cuzzins, whom the June article describes as a “negress,” happened around the time that Simmons and Gaines were killed, according to Black Miami history expert Marvin Dunn. Cuzzins was also suspected of assisting Simmons and Gaines yet her death never made headlines, Dunn added.
“When white men lynched Black men, there was a certain pride that they took in vengeance,” Dunn said. “But the lynching of Black women was, for a lot of white people, a step too far.”
Added Dunn: “Goulds was notorious as a lawless place so it’s not surprising that in these years, there was a tremendous amount of anger and racism in Miami and South Dade.”
TEAR isn’t stopping with Saturday’s event. The organization wants to erect a marker honoring the lynching victims similar to the Equal Justice Initiative’s memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.
In the meantime, McMurray plans to do her part in spreading the word about Miami-Dade’s history of racial violence. McMurray said a difficult conversation with her 25-year-old son, Sterling, would likely happen in the coming days. She signed up for TEAR’s steering committee before leaving the church, saying her mission has changed “from being aware to actively involved.”
McMurray’s immediate buy-in is what TEAR hopes will ultimately bring about a more equitable future. Citing an idea from Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy,” Berrien said she believes that not confronting the ills of American history has perpetuated the cycle of racial inequity.
To end the cycle, Miami needs “a truth-telling process to take place that involves accountability, responsibility and acknowledgment on the part of the power structure or regime that’s in place,” Berrien, who also co-chairs TEAR’s steering committee, told the audience.
“It’s also important that those new truths that are brought to light are made a part of the historical record,” she added.
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 12:00 PM.
