Budget conference: $1M locked in for Black history museum in St. Augustine

The Legislature is ready to build a museum honoring Black history.

House and Senate negotiators agreed to direct $1 million toward Phase 1 of the Florida Museum of Black History, which will be established in Northeast Florida. Sen. Tom Leek pressed colleagues to locate the museum in his home district in St. Augustine earlier in the Legislative Session.

“The story of Florida cannot be told without telling the story of Black Floridians. This bill does just that,” Leek said on the floor of the Senate.

While the project won unanimous approval, the funding had to be negotiated in budget conferences in an extended Session this week. But both the House and Senate included the funding, and the last offers from the House Transportation and Economic Development Budget Subcommittee and the Senate Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations Committee showed discussions closed out.

That means while plenty of issues were unresolved before budgets were bumped to the next level of appropriators, the funding for the museum is locked in.

Leek championed the bill in the Senate, while Rep. Kiyan Michael carried the measure in the House. The request came from The Foundation for the Museum of Black History Executive Director Alesia Wilbekin.

The museum is a notable legacy as well of the late Sen. Geraldine Thompson. The Windermere Democrat chaired the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force, though the Central Florida lawmaker had voted against the museum ending up in Northeast Florida.

The task force chose the location outside St. Augustine because it was the site of Fort Mose, the first Black settlement in the state of Florida. Other locations in contention included Eatonville in Thompson’s home county of Orange, and in Opa-locka in Miami-Dade County.

The museum plans to use the money for a number of purposes including field trips for students, research opportunities and other educational efforts.

“Exhibits will provide the opportunity for citizens to learn about Florida’s rich history as it relates to African Americans,” the project request states.

Of note, the House has also pursued an additional $375,000 in building development funding for the museum, but the Senate has not included any funding for that in its own budget offers.