Race and Change in Hollywood, Florida

Since its incorporation in 1915, Broward County has been a community in transition. Once a rustic frontier of palmettos and mangroves, then a seasonal tourist community, it is now a bustling area of over 1.5 million people. This metropolitan reputation was cemented in a Money magazine article in the late 1990s that touted the town of Hollywood, once just a bedroom community sandwiched between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, as having an ethnic make-up that mirrors what America will look like by the year 2022. That distinction led to an extensive, locally supported oral history project in Hollywood. The memories of 42 residents, recorded for the county's historical archives, span 75 years of racial and ethnic change in Hollywood. These candid accounts come from whites and African Americans; Hispanics of Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican descent; Bahamians and Jamaicans; Haitians; Chinese; and South Americans. Telling stories of the past—of segregated beaches, buses, and rest rooms; of facing the culture of a new country; and of causes over the years that have brought different ethnic groups together—these individuals provide valuable, often poignant insight into race relations in America. And they do so in their own words.