Liberty Square Housing Project
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[edit] General
Liberty Square Housing Project is a public housing apartment complex located on 1415 NW 63rd St., in the Liberty City area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. The Liberty City area got its name from the Liberty Square Housing Projects. The complex is often called the Pork 'n' Beans Projects. The name Pork 'n' Beans, is believed to come from an inexpensive meal believed to be a diet staple for some tenants.[1]
[edit] History
Built in the late 1930s for Miami's low-income African-Americans, the LSHP was the second of its kind in the South. Liberty Square Project resulted from an attempt by Episcopalian priest Rev. John E. Culmer to relieve overcrowding in Overtown. This was the first public housing project in the state of Florida. The area was known as Liberty City. It was first developed in the 1920s by Floyd Davis, a White developer, who purchased the land from Black families. He hired Alonzo Kelly, a Black, to sell lots to other Blacks. A large exodus from Overtown, didn’t begin, however, until Liberty Square was built in the late 1930s. The attraction: concrete structures with inside plumbing. Even well-off Blacks sold their homes in Overtown and moved to Liberty Square.[1]
[edit] The Wall
The “Wall” rose about four or five feet on the edge of Liberty City and separated the Black and White communities. It was built on the eastern boundary of Liberty Square, stretching along NW 12th Avenue from 62nd Street to 71st Street. Torn down in the 1950s, today, the remnant of the Wall stands as a reminder of that era’s prevailing racial attitudes. [1]
[edit] Famous Alumni
Liberty Square's alumni include former Miami Commissioner M. Athalie Range, funeral director and businessman Tony Ferguson, Miami Herald columnist Bea Hines, state NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze and former federal district Judge Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. [1]
Also, many of Miami's rap stars, including Trick Daddy, come from these projects and the Liberty City area itself.
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