Taking A Look Back At 2008 Around The World
Feb 2, 2009 11:16 pm US/Eastern
Old Miami PD Black Precinct Re-opens As Museum
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Retired Lt. Archie McKay looks at a photograph of the "first five" black officers to serve the City of Miami's colored precinct.
The City of Miami marked Black History Month Monday night with the dedication of an exhibit in a building that once housed the first black police precinct in the city, serving the mostly black residents of the once vibrant community of Overtown.
The precinct building was built in 1951 and served as the headquarters for black officers who were referred to as colored patrolman.
Archie McKay, a 25 year veteran of the department, guided visitors as they entered the door for Monday night's grand opening.
Pointing to a photo of the city's first five black police officers, he said with pride, "These are the officers that were first hired."
Miami's first "colored patrolmen" couldn't wear their uniforms home, took secret paths to work, and patrolled on bicycles instead of in cars.
McKay remembers it vividly. "If they arrested someone," he told
CBS4's David Sutta, "They had to put them on the handle bars or walk 'em as they rode."
In the 59 years since a lot has happened. The department's first 5 black officers has grown to more than 350 today. Clarence Dickson, Miami's first African American to go to the police academy, eventually led the department as Chief.
Dickson was on hand for the grand opening of the exhibit. "The founding five never dreamed that this would happen," he said.
The help of the city, retired police officers, and an extraordinary number of others managed to save the piece of Miami history from demolition.
Monday Miami's "colored precinct" building reopened to the public as a museum and monument to a vibrant black history.
The walls are lined with images of those who pioneered change.
Former chief Dickson was inspired.
"They can see what they did," he said. "What their accomplishments were. And in many cases their accomplishments were more than they thought at the time."
While the first five black officers lived to see their department transformed, sadly, they didn't live to see the exhibit open. Officer Ralph White died last year. The final survivor, Edward Kimball, passed a short time later.
But they knew, just as Archie McKay knows today, that their stories will live on. Eric Martinez, McKay's grandson, is living proof. As he walked around looking at the exhibit his grandfather's stories came to life.
"You can walk through the stories now," he marveled.
The exhibit runs the entire month of February, Black History Month, Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1009 NW 5th avenue in Overtown.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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