390-03 Demographics Analysis 2003
ETHNIC LIFE IN EARL Y MIAMI BEACH:
A DEMOGRAPHIC ANAL YSIS
Abraham D. Lavender, Ph.D,
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Florida International University
Miami, Florida 33199
August 2003
DO NOT COPY OR REPRODUCE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR
When the first official census was taken for Miami Beach in 1920, the city's population was
listed as 644 people. White Christians comprised most of the population, but there were three small
minorities in the city: several Jewish people, thirty-nine Blacks, and five Japanese, This paper will briefly
discuss these three small groups. There was one person, 37-year old James F. Matthews, who had been
born in Pennsylvania and reported that his father had been born in Cuba, but no residents were listed as
Hispanic.
JEWS
The first synagogue in Dade County, Congregation Zion, was founded in Miami in 1912, but the
first synagogue in Miami Beach was not founded until 1929 when Beth Jacob opened. Ofthe nineteen
men who were the organizers and first officers of Beth Jacob in 1929, none were counted in the 1920
census of Miami Beach. Because religion is not included on the census, it can not be determined how
many Jewish people lived in Miami Beach in 1920. But, the number was very small, Joe and Jennie
Weiss and their son Jesse had already lived in Miami Beach since 1913 (Bass and Sax, 1993, p. 12).
Rose Weiss and her son Eugene Weiss moved to Miami Beach near the end of 1920, and soon
were followed in 1921 by the rest of her family, Perhaps there were a few other full-time Jewish residents
by the end of 1920, and probably there were a few part-time residents. Malvina Weiss Liebman, daughter
of Rose and Jeremiah Weiss, wrote in 1981-1982 that "Although by 1915 a few Jews were living on the
south end of Miami Beach, there was no synagogue, Those interested in religious services travelled to
Congregation Zion...However, among the new arrivals, there were some who would not travel on the
Sabbath or religious holidays. A few men formed a committee to establish a congregation on Miami
Beach. The first meetings were held in the Royal Apartments, owned by Rose and Jeremiah Weiss who,
having brought their family to the Beach in 1920, were one ofthe first Jewish families in the city"
(Liebman, 1981-1982, p. 2).
Malvina Weiss recalled seventy-four years later that most of her family in New York was
horrified when they moved to Miami Beach-"AIl the swamps and the alligators and the snakes."
Although it was tough on her father who had to start over again, it did not turn out bad despite the
relatives' concerns, In fact, to youthful Malvina Weiss, "Miami Beach then was like a South Sea island in
the movies, You didn't have all the tall buildings. We could see the ocean from anywhere. Everybody
knew everybody" (Lawrence, 1994, p, 3M).
The 1920 census lists John and Irisa Friedman, 52 and 53 years of age respectively, both of
whom had immigrated to the United States in 1890 from their native Russia. Abraham Marks was listed
in the 1920 City Directory as living on Biscayne Street and being a waiter atG.A. Gloor's, the same place
where Joe Weiss was the manager. These three people probably were Jewish, but it can not be
determined from the data available. When Temple Israel was founded in 1923 in Miami, among its forty-
one charter members was Joe Weiss, the only one of the names found in Miami Beach in 1920 (Tebeau,
1972).
Isidor Cohen was the unofficial leader of the Jewish community in Miami, was a well-known
businessman, and had the Isidor Cohen Real Estate Agency. In April, Cohen was the agent for Nathan
Goldman, propertor of the "Quality Shop" and the "Ready-to-Wear Shop," who bought Dr. C.H, Van
Dyke's home in Miami Beach for $12,000. Cohen also was the agent for L. Shapiro of Detroit who
bought the T.E, James home adjoining Van Dyke's (MMB,MM,4-21 ,14). The Van Dyke home was at
1428 Collins Avenue, and the James home was at 1434 Collins Avenue, suggesting that Jews were not
2
entirely restricted from living north of Fifth Street (Miami City Directory, 1920, p,??). These sales
suggest that there were at least a few part-time Jewish residnets in 1920, but analyses of census names
and of people active in the Miami Jewish organizations in 1920 suggests only a few permanent Jewish
residents. References to people who were staying at the smaller hotels also suggests that some Jews were
included among the guests.
The Jewish community in Miami had their second annual Beth David auxiliary ball on February
3 at the fair building in Miami, in a benefit for the synagogue fund, Sixteen people helping with the event
were named, but none can be identified as being from Miami Beach (BDA,MH,2-l,4).
Especially because there was not a rabbi in the Miami area, visitors were prevailed upon to give
talks. On February 18, there was an announcement that Rabbi Elias L. Solomon of New York, a
distinguished Hebrew scholar who was visiting, would give a lecture to the local Jewish community at
the Woodman's hall in Miami. The announcement noted that "Local Hebrews are promising a highly
entertaining evening" (RSTS,MH,2-l8, 1), This was canceled because Rabbi Solomon was in Miami for
only a day or two, and had a pressing engagement in Tampa (DR,MM,2-19,1O). Meanwhile, on Friday's
shabbas service, J.L. Goldstein of Terre Haute, Indiana, spoke to the members of Congregation Beth
David and "visiting Israelites" at Woodman's Hall on "Jewish Contribution to Civilization," and spoke
again on Sunday night. A special invitation was extended to visiting Israelites (NJS,MH,2-22,7). The
Sunday night meeting was at Seybold's Hall in Miami, was sponsored by the local branch of the Zionist
Organization of America, and was part of a national drive to raise restoration funds for Palestine. Plans
also were made to solicit "among the many visiting Israelites in the hotels and apartment houses"
(LJ,MDM,2-23,1).
In March, the Feast of Purim was observed with Dr. Margulies as a speaker (FOP,MM,3-5,9),
and in April the Beth David Auxiliary agreed to present the new synagogue with a Scroll of the Law
(BDA,MH,4-23,8).
3
Isidor Cohen gave a reminiscent talk on the early days of Miami and its Jewish pioneers to the
Daughters ofIsrael, Miami's first Jewish women's society, soon afterwards. About the same time, the
Daughters ofIsrael were raising money to acquire a Jewish cemetery in Woodlawn Park, another
women's group, the Beth David Auxiliary, was helping with Beth David's plans "to secure possession of
its own house of worship through a recent purchase of the First Christian Church edifice" in Miami
(JCA,MM,4-29,3). There was "a marked revival of Jewish community activity among Miami's fast
growing Jewish population" (BDW,MH,5-1,4).
On May 10th, Beth David began searching for a rabbi, began plans to celebrate on May 23rd the
restoration of Palestine to the Jewish people, and took a collection for the relief of Jewish sufferers in
Europe (RTBS,MM,5-10,2). All visiting Israelites and those residing in adjoining towns were urged to
attend the celebration of the restoration of Palestine (JATC, MM,5-18,8). The celebration, on May 23rd
at Seybold's Hall in Miami, was attended "by nearly the entire Jewish population of Miami and a number
of visiting Israelites from adjoining towns" (PC,MDM,5-25,1). This suggests tha~ some ofthe few Jewish
residents of Miami Beach also were there. The Beth David Auxiliary planned a musical entertainment for
May 30th to celebrate Shabuot (The Feast of Weeks) , It was to be held at the Afremow home in Mirado
Court, in Miami, formerly Carl Fisher's residence (BDAP,MH,5-20,6) (FOW,MM,5-6,9).
At sundown on Sunday, September 12, the Jewish community held its first service beginning the
Jewish New Year, in their new synagogue, the former church in Miami that they had purchased
(JWT,MDM,9-l1,1). Many people attended the services (JNY,MH,9-14,1). Stores were closed on
Monday, and many Jews also observed Tuesday. Beginning at sundown, Tuesday, Septemer 21st, Yom
Kippur was observed, and all visiting Hebrews were invited (DOA,9-24,4).
Isidor Cohen gave a talk to the regular monthly supper of the Brotherhood of the First Baptist
Church in Miami on October 25, and referred to "the friendly attitude toward Zionism ofthe professional
clergy of our town, for which our local Jews are very grateful." Cohen personally thanked Dr. White, the
4
church's "liberal-minded" pastor, for his recent earnest prayer of support. According to Cohen, the Jewish
community in Miami was willing occasionally to help Zionism financially but was not as supportive
idealistically as larger communities. Cohen felt, however, that with the growth of the local Jewish
community and more Jewish education, this would change (CT,1O-26,9).
The concern with visitors, and the support they could add to the local Jewish community,
continued. While most social activities were given by the two woman's groups, the Beth David Auxiliary
and the Daughters of Israel, the Young Men's Hebrew Association also had some activities, The
Y.M,H.A., newly organized, had a smoker and entertainment, including speakers, lunch, and cigars, on
November 4. Committees were working to organize educational, athletic, and recreational sports, with a
specific emphasis on furnishing entertainment for visiting friends of the members (HA,MH, 11-4,7). Dr,
H.J. Jaulusz of Cleveland, who with his family was visiting Miami, was the guest speaker at
Congregation Beth David's Shabbos service on December 17 (BD,MM, 12-16,8). Again, visitors were
specifically invited. It was noted that the Jaulusz family was thinking of moving to Miami because they
were so favorably impressed with Miami.
While Jewish life in Dade County apparently was relatively good in 1920, Jews were undergoing
great suffering in the world. This suffering was a major factor in increased interest in Palestine.
Newspaper headlines of 1920, undoubtedly read by the few Jews in Miami Beach, give a good feeling of
the larger picture: "Polish Jews Flee as Bolsheviki Advance" (PJF,MDM, 1-13, 1), about 15,000 refugees,
in pitiable condition near Kiev; "29,000 Jews Murdered in Pogroms in Ukrania" (29,MDM,I-13,2), about
the number killed in pogroms up to September 9, 1919; "Jews Drown in Haste to Get Back to Palestine"
(JD,MDM, 1-23,1), about many Jews having drowned in the Black and Mediterranean Seas trying to
reach Palestine in fishing smacks and about thousands having trekked across Russia, suffering terrible
hardships; "World War May End Persecution of Jews" (WWM,MH,2-2,1), about United States Secretary
ofthe Navy Daniels' belief that a new era means the end of religious persecution, and his endorsement of
5
Arthur J. Balfour's plan for the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish homeland; "Palestine Scene of
Engagement" (PSO,MH,4-27,1), about fighting between Arabs and British Troops; "Palestine Girls are
Now Self-Supporting" (pGA,MH,4-30,3), about how until recently women and girls considered any work
outside the kitchen undignified, but now they had changed; "Jews To Return to the Holy Land"
(JTR,MM,5-7, 11), about a meeting in New York of the Zionist Organization of America to discuss the
gradual immigration of four million Jews to Palestine, but with an annual "well regulated, carefully,
scientific immigration" of fifty thousand annually; "Weekly Emigration of2,000 Poles to the U,S."
(WE,MM,5-21,3), about the Hebrew Sheltering and hnmigrant Aid Society undertaking the transporation
of two thousand persons weekly from Poland to the United States, with an estimated quarter of a million
already having applied for passports; "Zionists are Demanding that Promise Be Kept" (ZA,MH,5-21, 1),
expressing fears that Britain would give in to Pan-Arabic ambitions; "Wants Baiting of Jews Ended"
(WB,MH,9-12,1), about President Woodrow Wilson writing a letter to Rabbi Stephen S. Wise deploring
the treatment of Jews in Eastern Europe; "Still Persecuting Jews in Hungary and Poland" (SPJ,MM,9-
29,8), about a report that attacks on Jews decreased some after protest meetings in America, but that
attacks were still occurring, that it was unsafe for Jews to walk in the streets, that three hundred Jews had
been murdered in Hungary from December 1919 to June 1920, that Jewish civil servants were being
ousted, and that Jews were not allowed in universities; "Jews are Made Slaves in Red-Ridden Russia"
(JAM,MM,1O-9,5), about Jews being forced to work mainly in the heaviest kind oflabor, such as road
building and the cleaning out of dirty places; and "Great Tide of Jewish Immigration Started"
(GTS,MH,10-13,3), about many Jews fleeing from Poland.
Probably little did the few Jews in Miami Beach in 1920 imagine as they read these articles that
these world events, although they would decrease the Jewish immigration to the United States, would, in
a few decades, lead to many of these immigrants and their children retiring to Miami Beach and making
Miami Beach the most Jewish city of its size in the United States,
6
BLACKS
Miami Beach's black community in early 1920 when the census was conducted consisted of
thirty-nine people, comprising only six percent of the city's population. In mid-January, in Miami, it was
reported that census takers were having a difficult time enumerating blacks because "At hundreds of
homes in the colored section both the man and his wife work all day, leaving no one at home excepting
little children who are unable to supply the enumerators with the proper data." Whites who employed
blacks were asked to help in obtaining the required information from their black employees (DIF,MM, 1-
19,8). Because most adult blacks in Miami Beach, females as well as males, also worked outside of the
home, this problem probably also existed in Miami Beach.
Partly because of the small percentage of blacks in Miami Beach in 1920, partly because most of
the blacks were in occupational and economic segments of the society that were rarely covered in
newspapers, and undoubtedly, partly because of racism, the newspapers rarely wrote about blacks in
Miami Beach in 1920. The black community in Miami made the news a number of times because of
residential conflict between whites and blacks, and black voters in Dade County made the news because
. the Democrats accused the Republicans of seeking black voters, There were about eight hundred black
voters in Dade County, comprising about seven percent of all voters, but Miami Beach had only two
registered black voters out of a total of about two hundred voters (ROD,MDM, 1 0-18, 1.
In August, The Miami Metropolis incorrectly reported that Miami Beach did not have any Negro
residents within its border, but nevertheless had forty Republican voters. The southern United States at
that time was mostly Democratic, and the Democratic party supported racial segregation. Most black
voters supported the Republican party because, at that time the Republican Party was relatively less
traditional on race relations, and was still identified somewhat as the party of Abraham Lincoln and
Emancipation. Miami Beach had a significant Republican presence because of mid-western whites who
had brought their political affiliations with them (BB,MM,8-28,6).
7
As the November presidential elections neared, much attention was given to black voters,
especially to the Democratic accusation that the Republicans were soliciting black voters. Addressing
political groups, Judge R.B, Gautier, who also served as Miami Beach's city attorney during part of 1920,
said "the nigger" was the only topic to talk about because of the "preservation of the dominance of the
white race ofthe south" (NR,MH,lO-13,I).
Because 1920 was the year that women got the right to vote, there also was concern about the
number of women voters and maintenance of white supremacy. At a meeting sponsored by the Women
Voters League on October 15, one speaker expressed her opposition to black women voting and urged
white female voters to help preserve white supremacy (HD,MH,10-16,1). As on the national level in the
1920s, and as in the 1960s Civil Rights era, white men would successfully appeal to white women in
order to minimize gains for blacks (Brauer, 1983, p, 43).
Most of the references to blacks referred to individual blacks involved in specific activities,
usually illegal activities. This was reflective of a time when whites accused or convicted of crimes were
referred to simply as accused or convicted individuals, but blacks accused or convicted were referred to
as black accused or convicted. This latter practice was illustrated on the second day of 1920, when the
local newspaper had a headline entitled "'Solomon Proves Wiser than Negro in Court." This referred to
two incidents, one in which a white man named Solomon was fined ten dollars for having a drunken
incident with a woman in his hotel room, and a "colored" man was given thirteen months in the state
prison for stealing a bicycle. The article also noted that Mr. Solomon had bought rum from a Negro
(SPW,MM,I-2,8).
The media treatment of blacks, and the manner in which they were perceived by the dominant
white culture, in Florida and the United States in 1920 was illustrated by some headlines: "Body of
Negro is Bullet Riddled: Armed Men Slay Black Who Insulted Woman on Train, Near Bartow, Fla."
(BON,MH,5-10,1); "Arrest Negro as Result of Murderous Assault" (Miami) (AN,MM,5-11,4); "Will
8
Nab Jack Johnson As He Crosses Border" (the famous boxer was in criminal trouble because of dating a
white woman) (WNJ,MDM,6-16, I); "Negro With Flat Iron Is Shot By Policeman" (Miami)
(NWFI,MDM,7-5,1); "Negro Who Died At Hands Of Mob Been Proven Not Guilty" (Durham, N.C.)
(NWD,MH,l-ll,l); "Negro Robber Slashes Driver Of An Auto Bus" (Homestead) (NR,MM;7-16,3);
"Bad Negro Confesses to Having Killed Two Men" (Los Angeles) (BN,MH,7-20,7); "White Man Claims
to Have Been Beaten and Robbed By a Negro" (Coconut Grove) (WMC,MM,7-23,4); "Colored Lawyer
Said He Did Not Owe Negro Who Tried To Cut Him" (Miami) (CL,MM,8-2,6); "Posses Use Torch In
Hunt For Negro" (Macon, Georgia, where four hundred men and six dogs burned four Negro Lodge halls
searching for a Negro man accused of murder) (PUT,MH,9-16,1); "World War Veterans Threaten
Lynching" (Jonesboro, Tennessee, where 35 to 50 men tried to take a Negro man from jail and lynch him
because he had been accused of attacking a white waitress) (WWV,MM,l,O-l,lO); "White Saved By
Negro Minister" (Newport News, Virginia, where three hundred Negroes beat and tried to lynch a white
man because his car struck a nine-year-old Negro girl, but the white man was saved) (WS,MH, 1 0-28, 1);
"Capture Negro Who Fired Into Crowd of Boys at Celebration" (Roanoke, Virginia) (CN,MM,12-22,11).
"Rampage in the Colored Town of Coconut Grove" was a headline on April 3, with the subtitle
going on to say "Hidden Liquor Found and Informal Party Breaks Up When One Lets Loose With
Shotgun." The article went on to say that part of a still and two barrels of mash were found in the home
where the party was held, but that the liquor which caused the trouble was "regular stuff" which had been
found elsewhere by three men at the informal party (RI,MM,4-3,14). "Negro Fight Leads to Finding of
Much Booze" reported a similar incident in July (NF,MM,7-19,2).
While Miami Beach had few black residents, and while they mostly were integrated residentially
because they frequently lived near their employers and places of employment, Miami was discussing the
establishment of a color line, a "neutral zone," between black and white residential areas. White residents
of Highland Park were complaining that blacks were "encroaching" across the color line. White
9
merchants were criticized for operating stores in black areas and taking business away from blacks, and
white real estate agents were criticized for selling land in white areas to blacks (CABM,MH,5-26,1). One
suggestion was that the approximately ten acres comprising the "neutral zone" could be used as a
cemetery or park, with a street through the middle so that "white and colored children would not come in
contact" (CTU,MH,7-2,1), On July I, one Negro house was destroyed by dynamite, and two other
dwellings damaged. About three hundred to five hundred Negroes gathered, shots were fired, and the
American Legion restored order (CSQ,MM,7-2,3). The Miami City Commission voted to buy land to
make a "color line" one block wide (CWB,MM,7-9,4).
A black man allegedly killed himself after being accused of assaulting a white woman in Miami
in August, and "Colored town was practically under martial law" because of white fear of an uprising
(MRNQ,MM,8-6,3). The fear in which blacks lived in the South in 1920 was vividly indicated when
Nathaniel Jones, 32, a veteran of overseas service and a fireman on the Florida East Coast Railroad killed
himself at his home in Miami in September. Jones had been arrested for the alleged manufacture of
liquor, and had told a friend that he expected to be sent to the chain gang and that "a man might just as
well be dead as to be sent to the gang" (GA,MM,9-7,7). On December 6, two Negro men were arrested in
Miami while transporting about thirty cases of liquor in sacks in a wagon. Most of the liquor was
whiskey, including the well-known Cedar Brook brand (TC,MM,12-7,5).
On April 18, "Miami's colored citizens" showed their appreciation to Mrs. Clarence M. Busch of
Palm Beach for her offer to build and equip a hospital for blacks in the Miami area (CC,MH,4-l9,1), and
on April 29 the local black community asked the white people of the community for help in building a
YMCA in "colored town" (NAH,MDM,4-29,5). A Dade County Community Study Committee,
sponsored by the Women's Club, made a number of recommendations in May, including a
recommendation for adequate schoolrooms and school ground equipment for colored schools
(DCS,MH,5-11,1).
10
One of the few items dealing with blacks in Miami Beach occurred in mid-February when the
Alton Beach Realty Company announced its plans to build a Negro colony or "little city" in Miami
Beach. The article noted that the company "which had planned to erect a number of small buildings just
west of the' canal at Miami Beach for the accommodation of negro domestics and help at the beach, has
decided to place the colony further north, or in the vicinity of Fisher's farm, and soon begin the erection
of the houses which will be commodious and sanitary in every respect.
These accommodations are made necessary by the fact that it is almost impossible to secure and
keep penpanent colored help at the beach, the negroes preferring Miami there are more oftheir race and
it is with the view entirely of providing them homes and in that way keeping them at the beach that these
quarters are to be built. They will be segregated entirely from the white section of the city.
Every environment for their comfort and convenience is to be given them, and by doing so the
Alton Beach Realty company hopes to in a great measure overcome the help problem" (NC,MM,2-
14,13).
The same day as the article, the Alton Beach Realty Company had a full-page advertisement in
The Miami Metropolis in which it listed the Negro Colony as one of its projects for 1920. Giving more
information, the advertisement noted that plans were for twenty-five separate houses or cottages built of
concrete and stucco each with two rooms, a kitchen, and bath, a septic sewer-tank system, paved streets,
a centrally located church, and meeting hall and movie picture auditorium, Fifty acres had been set aside
for the colony. The advertisement noted that the company expected "to be able to hold and keep here the
very best class of colored servants and laborers," and also noted that the colony "will always be under the
control of the Bay-Shore Company. The houses will be leased under rigid rules and regulations"
(TABRC,MM,12-14,2). On March 22, it was reported that construction would start in a few days
(LB,MM,3-22,2).
Two black people on Miami Beach, unnamed, made the news is an undesirable way on July 2
11
when a bolt oflightening struck a little pine tree grove in the south part of Miami Beach. Two Negro
farm hands employed by Luther Bowers, seeking shelter from an electrical storm, were knocked
unconscious. Resuscitation restored them to consciousness. The article also noted that the two mules
being farmed by the-1aborers, and tied to a tree, were killed (ESH,MM,7-5,2).
At a forum for candidates for the Miami Beach City Council at the end of August, one of the
candidates, R.A.Coachman, Jr., spoke against negroes bathing on the beach between the Fisher beach
and the South End. He thought an ordinance regulating persons from entering the beach in motors in
bathing suits would eliminate the negro bathers (IM,MM,8-3l ,2).
Another negative reference to blacks on Miami Beach, but concerning blacks apparently from
Miami, was a Miami Metropolis headline of September I which said "Negro Speeders Cause Trouble on
the Beach," The article, subtitled "Dusky Drivers of Automobiles Drives Fast and Hard and Police Round
Up a Few of Them," reported that "The negro speeder is a new element which is giving the Miami Beach
police trouble. He has been particularly obnoxious all summer and especially this month his record of
traveling at high speed in the north part of the city has been one of collisions with other automobiles,
crashes on the causeway and general disturbances.
Thursday afternoon a number of automobiles carrying negroes began to appear on the beach. The
police went out to regulate the drivers on Collins avenue and Officer Andre de Monceaux brought in four
parties on charges of violating the ordinance regulating driving motor vehicles and for speeding"
(NS,MM,9-11,7). Four Negro drivers were fined fifteen dollars each.
A little later, Mayor Pancoast wrote to Carl Fisher, then in Indianapolis, saying that Miami Beach
had a problem because "On Thursdays and Sundays especially, the negroes come over to the Beach car
load after car load...They go up the Beach between Snowden's property and the House of Refuge and
park the cars along the Ocean Drive and go in to bathe, They use the cars as dressing rooms and bath
houses..." (CFP,9-23), Pancoast noted that the white reaction was mixed, some whites saying the bathing
12
should be stopped immediately, others saying that "no one needed an Ocean bath worse than the negro,"
others saying that whites should take care of the negroes because they were needed, and others that it was
wrong to "cut them off without giving them some other place to go" (CFP,9-23).
While these responses were mixed, there is no doubt that there was significant white racism in
1920, F,R. Humpage, a top Fisher assistant, wrote Fisher that "The negro help which we have here is
slow, brainless, incompetent and absolutely irresponsible" (CFP,10-23). John Oliver La Gorce, associate
editor of The National Geographic Magazine, a close friend of Fisher, and a frequent visitor to Miami
Beach, also illustrated the feelings of the time--even by supposedly educated and cultured people--by
referring to blacks as "niggers" (CFP, I I - 18). La Gorce, in writing to Harold Talbott, Jr., also referred to
the Cuban polo players who came to Miami Beach as "your Black and Tan Cousins from Cuba" (CFP,6-
17). La Gorce chastised the United States polo players for not coming to see the Cuban players, but, as he
frequently did, seemed to like using unnecessary categorizing (CFP,6-l7,1921). He also referred to
"those Crackers down there" (CFP,IO-30,1929), and made questionable comments about Japanese
(CFP,II-18).
Others did not share La Gorce's views. For example, in July Fisher wrote to J. Stanley Lowe in
the Bahamas for Lowe to send him $ I ,000 worth of sponges which Fisher would put in his show
windows "without any thought of profit but with a view of helping out your poor negroes" (CFP,7-19). In
September, in expressing his plans to remove the Lincoln Highway and Dixie Highway associations from
his will, Fisher wrote that "I think more good can be accomplished by putting money into homes for girls
and for aged women, colored schools or mountain schools" (CFP,9-3). At a city council meeting on
November 17, Councilman Dickey "brought up the matter of wages for colored laborers, contending that
it was absolutely necessary to pay more than $3.00 per day in order to hold them at all." The council
passed a motion, without notation of any disagreement, authorizing Councilman Dickey to use his
judgment in employing laborers at the best price he could secure them (CCM, I I - I 7). At about the same
I3
time, while Fisher's assistant Humpage was making disparaging remarks about Negro workers, he also
noted that daily wages for unskilled workers had jumped from $3,25, to as high as $4.00 because of a
shortage of workers, He wanted to bring Italian, Swedish, and Dutch immigrants to Miami Beach for
unskilled work (CFP,1O-25).
Despite the negative attitudes by many whites, blacks from the Bahamas had long played an
important role in South Florida's economy, and local employers encouraged the office-holders to allow
Bahamas into the area to work. United States Senator Duncan U. Fletcher of Florida sent a telegram to
the Florida East Coast Growers' Association in mid-February saying "llliteracy test and contract labor
provision waived for Bahama labor, Admitted same terms and conditions as last spring," Local farmers
earlier had sent a representative to Washington to argue for "lifting the embargo on Bahama negroes for a
sufficient period of time in which to harvest the crops" (BL,MH,2-14,1).
The temporary admission of Negroes from the Bahamas for working in fields continued to be an
issue of interest to South Florida. In late December it was announced that the United States committee on
immigration would soon begin holding hearings on the immigration issue, and that the admission of
"Bahama Islands Negroes and cigar workers from Cuba" were of vital interest to Florida (IB,MH,12-
22,1). It was expected that the senator from Florida would ask for these two groups of workers to be
exempted from proposed immigration exclusion acts. Bahamian workers were not considered
competition for other workers because it was not possible to transport laborers from northern Florida or
adjoining states to South Florida for only a few months of work (CAB,MH,12-22,2).
On September 14, Carl Fisher, writing from Indiana, had asked Thomas J, Pancoast what
progress had been made with the "negro quarters" (CFP,9-14). The Negro colony would be completed,
but not in 1920.
JAPANESE
In the 1920 census, four natives of Japan were listed, and Carl Fisher's papers refer to a fifth
14
native of Japan. They were in Miami Beach because Carl Fisher thought that Japanese were the best
landscapers, and had encouraged and supported their moving to Miami Beach to help develop the city's
landscape. Two ofthese-Kotaro Suto and Shige Tashiro-received some public recognition for their
landscaping work for Carl Fisher. When Fisher advertised in local newspapers in 1916 for a gardener,
Kotaro Suto already had recently moved to Miami (Kleinberg, 1994, p, 81). At first, Suto was the
personal gardener for Carl and Jane Fisher, but he soon expanded to work for various Fisher projects,
Kleinberg (p. 81) writes that "It was said that as the plows tore up mangrove roots in Miami Beach, Suto
followed immediately behind planting trees and shrubs in their place." Baggs writes that Suto would do a
little civic planting after a day's work, planting hisbiscus bushes along sandy roads, trees to decorate
roads, "and flowers and flowers and flowers" (Baggs, 1960). Suto actually lived on the Fisher estate, and,
along with five other servants or laborers, was listed as part of the Fisher household in the 1920 census.
One ofthe other persons in the Fisher household was Shige Tashiro, also from Japan, Although Suto was
listed as a laborer and Tashiro as a servant, both really were gardeners or landscapers.
Suto had been born in Japan in 1884, emigrated to the United States in 1900, and had lived in
San Francisco before coming to Miami. In 1920, at age 37, he was still unmarried, as was Tashiro, who
was forty years old when the census was taken in early 1920. Both returned to Japan in 1920 specifically
to find wives. In May of 1920, Fisher wrote letters of recommendation for both of them, saying that Suto
had been connected with his company for three or four years, and Tashiro for four years. Suto was
described as having given splendid service in the nursery (CFP,5-10), and Tashiro as having been
"particularly efficient the development of our nursery, as head of all of our planting, gardening, etc,"
(CFP,5-1O). Soon Fisher wrote to Frank Van Deren, one of his top assistants, that "The money I gave
Tashiro, Suto, Nakamura [sic], and Joe was a present and has nothing to do with their salaries. Pay their
salaries in full up to the time they leave. I meant to give the other Jap, also, a fifty dollar
present-Kawashima. Pay him fifty dollars for me (CFP,5-23).
15
K. Kawashima also was one of the people listed in the Fisher household in 1920. He also had
been born in Japan, was thirty-two years old, and a laborer. Also in the Fisher household was Sero
Matsuvaki, born in Japan, twenty-seven years old, and a servant. These four Japanese-born Fisher
employees comprised four of the six people listed in the Fisher household in the 1920 census.
Fisher's reference to Nakimura, as also leaving, suggests a fifth Japanese resident of Miami
Beach in 1920. Fisher wrote John Oliver La Gorce in November 1920 saying that K. Nakimura [sic] and
another person named Galloway were unusually good servants, but that Nakimura also had gone to Japan
and had not left an address. Fisher said that "nothing short of these servants will ever satisfy me for the
house-and the main thing I want do now is to try and find Nakimura. I have already written Galloway."
Fisher was asking La Gorce to help him locate "this slat-eyed Jap," Fisher said that he would pay
Nakimura $10,000 a year ifhe asked for it, but that he was offering a reasonable $200 a month which
should "tempt him to swim the China Sea and get back to Miami Beach on the first boat" (CFP,II-12).
La Gorce promptly replied to Fisher, asking, in his usual sterotyping style, if Fisher had more
information: "Haven't you got a snapshot or some sort of a picture of this Jap that I can send over with
the letter for you know as well as I do that it is like looking for a nigger porter by the name of George
who used to work for the Pullman Palace Car Company somewhere to find a Jap in Tokio when you
haven't even got his name right and don't even know that he lives in Tokio" (CFP,II-18).
Fisher had a history ofliking Japanese workers. In 1918 he had written the Japanese-American
Employment Agency in San Francisco saying that he already had "five Japs on our place and we like
them very much." Fisher told the employment agency that he would like to get fifteen or twenty, or
maybe even thirty, Japanese boys to be golf caddies, and that he also needed Japanese waiters, cooks, etc.
(CFP ,9-4,1918). A few months later, Fisher wrote to George Tsubai in San Francisco informing him that
Tashiro and Suto had gotten over the flu and were doing fine. Fisher stated that he regarded both of them
16
very highly, and that he wished he had four or five more like them. Fisher continued that "This is a fine
country for Japanese, especially good ones, for cooks, butlers, gardeners, and all sorts of workmen" .
(CFP,I-13,1919).
By October 1920, after Suto and Tashiro had left in the spring, Fisher had received postal cards
from them and written them back expressing his hope that they had found "very pretty wives to bring back
to Miami Beach" (CFP,1O-19). However, as 1920 ended, they had not returned. In March 1921 Fisher
again replied to correspondence from Suto and Tashiro (CFP,3-23,1921), but by August 1921 they still
had not returned, and Fisher again tried to get in contact with them. In late August, Suto and Tashiro wrote
Fisher that there had been some sickness and some telegram confusion, but that they were anxious to get
back to "beloved Miami Beach," and to please give them a few more weeks (CFP,8-29,1921). They
returned to Miami Beach, with their new wives, in October (MH,October 21,1921), Most of the Japanese
residents eventually left Miami Beach, but Kotaro Suto, who became known as Papa Suto, and his wife,
Massa Suto, who became known as Mama Suto (Lane, 1965, p. 28C), remained in Miami Beach and
became very popular. Nevertheless, when Papa Suto died in 1963 his request to be buried next to a friend
(Frank Katzentine, a mayor of Miami Beach) in a "white" cemetery in Miami was rejected because he
was "yellow."
This author is continuing work on the demographic characteristics of Miami Beach in 1920. The author
can be contacted for specific references listed in this research report (abelavender@aol.com),
17