Famous Local Faces From Black History

Filed Under: Black History Month, Local, News, Photo Galleries

Rep. Carrie Meek, D-FLElected as a Florida state representative in 1979, Carrie Meek was the first African American female elected to the Florida State Senate in 1982. As a state senator, Meek served on the Education Appropriations Subcommittee. In 1992, Meek was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 17th Congressional District. This made her the first black lawmaker elected to represent Florida in Congress since Reconstruction. Meek died in Nov. 2021 at the age of 95. (Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)

M. Athalie RangeM. Athalie Range was a civil rights activist and politician who was the first African-American to serve on the Miami City Commission, and the first African-American since Reconstruction. In 1971, newly elected Florida Governor Reubin Askew appointed Range as Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs, the first woman to head a Florida state agency. Range was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 1997. (Photo credit: CBS)

D.A. DorseyD.A. Dorsey was Miami's first Black Millionaire. He came to Miami around 1892. He was a real estate developer who purchased and sold Fisher Island in the early 20th century. (Photo source: The Black Archives So.FL./Dorsey Collection)

John MilledgeJohn Milledge was one of the five original black officers sworn into the Miami Police Department in 1944. In 1946, he became the first black officer in the history of Dade County to be killed when he was shot to death. His killer, Leroy Strachan, was arrested 43 years later. John Milledge's name is inscribed on the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C.(Photo Source: State Archives of Florida)

garth-reevesMiami Times newspaper publisher Garth Reeves. He was born in the Bahamas and came to Miami as a baby. In 1970, he took over from his father as publisher and chief executive of the Miami Times, now the oldest and largest black-owned newspaper in the South. Reeves was the first black person to serve on numerous local boards of directors, including United Way, Barry University, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and the Boy Scouts. At Miami-Dade College, he was chairman of the governing board and a building on the north campus bears his name. (Photo Credit: State Archives of Florida)

T. Willard FairT. Willard Fair became the youngest president and CEO in the history of the Urban League movement at age 24 in Miami. (Source: CBS4)

House Rules Committee Meets To Formulate Rule Providing Authority To Initiate Litigation Against Actions By The PresidentAlcee Hastings became the first African-American Federal Judge in the State of Florida in 1979. He served for 10 years before being elected to Congress as the first African-American from Florida since the post-Civil War period. Hastings served his native state of Florida for 12 terms. He died in April of 2021 of pancreatic cancer. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Frederica WilsonFrederica Wilson founded the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project which seeks to bring down dropout rates and has awarded millions of dollars in college scholarships. She currently represents Florida's 24th Congressional District. She's been in the Florida State House of Representatives and the Florida State Senate. She grew up in Liberty City. Her parents were one of the first African American homeowners in Miami-Dade County and her brother, the late Thirlee Smith, Jr. was the first full-time African-American reporter at the Miami Herald. (Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

sonny-wrightSonny Wright, a real estate entrepreneur, made history in 1983 when he led an investor group that bought Peoples National Bank of Commerce in Liberty City, becoming the first black-owned bank in Miami-Dade. (Photo Credit: Miami Herald)

thelma-harris-policeThelma Harris became the first black female police officer in Florida when she joined the Miami-Dade Police Department in June 1962. (Photo Source: Miami-Dade Police Department via the Miami Herald)

miami-police-maj-delrish-mossDelrish Moss is a Miami police veteran who was appointed in March 2016 as the first African-American Police Chief of the Ferguson Missouri Police Department. Ferguson, Missouri is where the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown took place which served as a catlyst for the Black Lives Matter movement. Moss is currently a Florida International University Police Captain. (Source: CBS4)

Black Police Precinct And Courthouse Museum Recalls Miami's Segregated PastClarence Dickson, the first black chief of the Miami Police Department, was appointed in 1985. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

robert-parkerRobert Parker became the first African-American chief of the Miami-Dade Police Department in 2004. He joined the force in 1976 and quickly rose through the ranks. He retired in 2009 and later commited suicide in 2015. (Source: CBS4)