Student-led petition led to removal in 2021.
The Coral Gables City Commission voted unanimously on March 11 to send a letter urging the University of Miami to restore city founder George Merrick’s name to its website and a university building. The decision follows a broader national trend of reversing name changes enacted in recent years.
UM removed Merrick’s name from a parking structure and its website in 2021 after a student-led petition gathered more than 1,500 signatures. The petition highlighted Merrick’s segregationist views, citing controversial statements he made in the 1930s.
Mayor Vince Lago invited Joanne Meagher, a Board of Governors member at the Coral Gables Merrick House, to address the commission.
“I stand before you today to encourage the University of Miami’s leadership to reinstate George Edgar Merrick’s name and legacy,” Meagher said. “Before 2020, the university’s ‘About’ page acknowledged its founder. Today, Merrick’s name is absent.”
Meagher attributed the removal to a small group of students who, she claimed, took a phrase from Merrick’s 1937 speech to the Miami Realty Board out of context. Holding up a transcript, she insisted that efforts to present historical evidence countering the petition’s claims were ignored.
However, Meagher did not address the specific comments in question. A 2020 article in The Miami Hurricane detailed Merrick’s role in advocating racial segregation as chairman of the Dade County Planning Board. The petition stated, “While serving as chairman, Merrick told the Miami Board of Realtors that removing Black residents was fundamental to Miami’s development.”
The article also cited racially charged advertisements used to promote Merrick’s plan to relocate Black residents. These materials included caricatures and slogans such as “Remove the monster” and “We have tolerated our disgraceful slums for twenty years.”
Despite the controversy, Meagher commended the commission for supporting Founders Day, a city event celebrating Merrick’s contributions. She urged commissioners to send a formal letter to UM leadership requesting the name’s restoration.
Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson expressed optimism, citing a recent conversation with a UM professor and administrator who supported the idea. Commissioner Kirk Menendez proposed adding the issue to the agenda for the city’s annual development meeting with university trustees.
Mayor Lago called for an immediate vote, and the commission unanimously approved sending the letter. The decision was made without public discussion.
This Post Has 7 Comments
I congratulate the Commission for their vote and only regret that it has taken so long. UM’s disgraceful and unjust act in 2021 should have been condemned immediately. In my book ‘Coral Gables: The First Hundred Years’, I have devoted a whole chapter defending George Merrick against these slanderous accusations of racism. It is absolutely appropriate that in the centennial year of our city’s founding, our founder’s name should be publicly exonerated. Thank you Mayor Lago.
George Merrick has an interesting past. In addition to founding the University of Miami and City of Coral Gables, he was instrumental in the early days of Matheson Hammock Park. Assuming, arguendo, that he had segregationist views – as many of that time did – his accomplishments are what they are. We cannot erase the history of those accomplishments any more than we can erase George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who owned slaves, from the history of our country.
To remove George Merrick’s name from the UM because of some comments made in the 1930s, which were taken out of context, is a travesty. We certainly hope the founder of the City Beautiful’s name will be rightfully restored to the entities he created. His vision for Coral Gables, and all the wonderful components that make up the City, still to this day, need to be recognized and remain a part of its history.
Shame on the UM and the woke scumbags that removed George Merrick’s Name.
SPINELESS IDIOTS. Thank God For George Merrick for his courage and leadership and Vision and INTELLIGENCE to develop and create the “CITY BEAUTIFUL “, undoubtedly the most beautiful town in Miami Dade County. On the Shoulders of Great Men like Merrick and his Uncle ( Architect Fink), and other members of his team sit ANY past or present Dean or Administrator from the UM. Hey UM, the liberal Socialist Left wing Disaster 4 years of the incompetent Biden Kamala regime are OVER!!
GET WITH THE PROGRAM!! TRUMP WON!!!
And all you Socialists Woke Jerks LOST!!!
Shame on the UM woke cowards for removing the name of A Great Man, a Pioneer and Visionary that planned and developed and created the most beautiful town in Miami Dade County,
Coral Gables, “The City Beautiful “.
The 4 years of Liberal Left wing Socialist fiasco policies are OVER!! Get with it, time to get over it!
You Lost!!!
In response to the Gazette’s coverage of my presentation to the Commission, I would like to clarify several things. In the interest of time (the commission had a very full agenda), I did not read all of the sources referenced in the letter. I am copying them here. The links, which will be live in the emailed letter, are not live here in this comments box. The purpose of the letter is to suggest what the University may want to include on their website. I have included the full section from the 1937 speech at the end of this comment. I encourage readers to review the entire comment for CONTEXT.
The Gazette makes the following statement: “The article also cited racially charged advertisements used to promote Merrick’s plan to relocate Black residents.” The advertisements to which the petition referred appeared in the newspapers in the 1960s–20 YEARS AFTER MERRICK’S DEATH IN 1942. The petition was not based on facts. The facts appear below.
The images/documents as well as the links and quotes in the body of the email are pulled from the following sources:
–George Merrick: Son of the South Wind by Arva Moore Parks
–Black Archives Director Dorothy Fields speaking of Merrick in a 2020 video
–Unpublished forward of planned story series entitled “Men of the Magical Isles”
–Way Showers images from Coral Gables Museum permanent exhibit “Building the Dream,” curated by Arva Moore Parks. These appeared in the program for Doc Dammers Day, a Merrick House-sponsored event commemorating the centennial of Coral Gables’ first land auction in 1921.
–“Planning the Greater Miami for Tomorrow” a speech delivered by George Merrick before the Miami Realty Board on May 17, 1937
–Exhibit board that appears in the history hallway at the Coral Gables Museum
–An Impression of George E. Merrick: Builder of the City of Coral Gables by Vernon Knowles, Managing Editor of the Miami Daily Tribune
–“It’s Academic” a statement piece by Dr. Karelia Carbonell, president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables
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Both George’s father Solomon and his maternal grandfather Henry George Greatrake Fink, a “saddlebag” Methodist minister in rural Ohio, were abolitionists. In her book on Merrick, historian Arva Moore Parks states, “With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the young Fink family’s life became even more trying. Because inflation was rampant and money hard to come by, H.G.G. sold Bibles and religious tracts to supplement his meager income. Antislavery and pro-Lincoln, he was an outspoken abolitionist–a point of view not always popular, even in pro-Union Ohio.” (pg. 26)
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The death of 4-year-old daughter Ruth prompted the Merricks to relocate from Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1899 following the “Storm of the Century,” which had swept the entire eastern seaboard. Althea and Solomon Merrick spent nearly their entire life savings to purchase a 160-acre homestead, only a scant few acres of which had been cleared. Young George, who longed to be a poet and author, was pressed into service as a farmer from the age of 13 to 21 and often mentioned that he felt he “grew up” working side by side with the Black Bahamians who knew so much about clearing, planting, growing and harvesting in what was then considered “hardscrabble Cocoanut Grove.” As Moore Parks states, “… the job of hand-grubbing the palmetto, comptie plants, and other stubborn flora fell to him and his Black Bahamian helper and soon friend, Tim Gibson. Gibson taught George how to hand-grub rock and palmetto while staying alert to the sound of the rattlesnake–one of the pinewoods’ most common and deadliest inhabitants.” (pg. 67)
“As the Merrick enterprise grew, more Bahamian workers joined the workforce. They received $1.25 for a ten-hour day, personally paid by Solomon each Saturday afternoon. During the week, the single men slept in the barn and cooked over an open fire. Sometimes George joined them. Many went back to their Coconut Grove homes for the weekend. A few married couples, including several united by Solomon, lived nearby in small log cabins.” (pg. 76)
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A treasure of Merrick musings appears in the forward to “Men of the Magical Isles,” a series of sketches that we understand Historian Arva Moore Parks was editing at the time of her death in May 2020. Scroll to the end of the attached document for the second typed draft, which was transcribed from Merrick’s hand-written version (at beginning of the document). In it Merrick relates not only the immense contributions made by these “un-hymned” locals, “a self-reliant ingenious, dependable, industrious and wholly peaceable race,” but also the compelling stories and images of the flora, fauna, myths and culture of the “tropical sea” from which they hailed. These were the stories related to him while sitting around the campfire after a hard day’s work. He mentions family names on page 10 of the document (typed draft shows it as page 2)–Delanceys, Rolles, Sweetings, Thompsons, Butlers, Gibsons, McNaughtons.
Two stand-out statements appear on document pages 9 and 10 (typed draft 2 and 3). Note, Merrick refers to them as Bahaman, rather than Bahamian.
“Very few realize today how much our Bay country owes, in its very foundation, to the Bahaman negroes.”
“When our true pioneers are fittingly monumented, there must surely be an inspiring one for our Black Bahamans.”
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The link below is a video recorded in 2020 in which Black Archives Director and noted Historian Dr. Dorothy Fields quotes from an article written by Merrick entitled “Pre-Flagler Influences on the Lower Florida East Coast.”
https://www.facebook.com/VizcayaMiami/videos/613599919362472
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Moore Parks references some of Merrick’s Coconut Grove subdivisions in her book. On page 130, she writes, “By the time Armistice Day came in November 1919, George was again busy with grapefruit, winter vegetables, land sales, and subdivisions. In late summer, he finally platted St. Alban’s Park on Reverend Bolton’s former homesite. Besides streets named Washington and Lincoln, he also named one Brooker, after Bolton’s beloved horse, Johnny Brooker. A short time later, he and Clifton Benson purchased Flora MacFarlane’s homestead and platted it as an addition to St. Alban’s Park, thus expanding Coconut Grove’s Black community even more.”
In 1925, Flora MacFarlane, one of the area’s first female homesteaders and a school teacher who taught Black and White children at the Peacock Inn, sold 20 acres to Merrick’s construction company. The purchase established the Coral Gables subdivision named after MacFarlane. (Today, the MacFarlane District is a rare example of a Black community to be nationally designated.) In an article published in Tequesta in 1941, Merrick credited the Bahamians for “having a most distinct and important influence…and brought inspiration…and other valuable knowledge and experience” when building with natural resources such as coral rock and other tropical materials.
Apart from the MacFarlane District, other actions to benefit the Black community included the Golden Gate development. Here Merrick again donated land and his own money to build several “attractive” buildings. Ponce de Leon High School as part of that development. Also, when Nellie Powers, a Black woman in the community, decided to open a private school to educate Black children, Merrick–along with a biracial board–donated to the cause. According to Parks, until that point, “Miami had never seen such an inter-racial effort.”
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Living conditions among downtown Miami’s Black population, however, remained deplorable in Merrick’s opinion. In his 1937 speech to the Miami Realty Board, then-Board President Merrick decries the sorry state of the neighborhoods, and states that, “Now in the three years when I used to peddle vegetables in Miami—from 1898, I used to take my load around to the several hundred homes, whose men worked largely for Flagler, then to the P. & O. steamers, if they were in, or to the Royal Palm Hotel, if it was in season. If I had anything in the wagon left over, I would go over into negro town and get rid of it. Sadly, but truly, that is the picture of how we have always treated our negro population. If anything is left over, or anything we do not want, then the negroes get that. Today one third of our present population is negro. When we will have a million people, we will have at least a fourth of a million negroes. Today this third of our present citizenry are effectively denied water access and “water use.” Now collectively, as well as individually, we cannot receive fairness, unless we give fairness. It is proposed—for Miami at least, that this unfair condition be remedied. It is proposed to give fairness to this deserving one third of our citizenry. It is proposed that at a proper point on this proposed fifty mile water Loop, that a great Bay beach be established and forever preserved for negro use.”
“Next, it is visioned and proposed that during the next twenty years, a complete slum clearance be made, effectively removing every negro family from the present city limits. The proper model for this Miami negro housing problem, is to be found in Nassau in their negro town—called Grants Town. Here, is a population of over 10,000 negroes housed under ideal tropical conditions. Each plot is a quarter of an acre to an acre. Each plot is covered like a thick jungle with a wide variety of tropical fruit trees producing one half of each family’s living. The houses are not expensive, but they are suitable, they are what these people themselves want and like. They are a mixture of African, English and Spanish. They are attractive, artistic, home-like, but above everything else, they are what these people want. This is a self-respecting community that has been crimeless for fifty years. This Grants Town is the model of which it is proposed three such towns be established—north, central and south in the Miami County area. It should be the goal that this plan be completely accomplished within twenty years. This is a most essential fundamental of our great balanced city of a million. With this must come a county-wide, county controlled transportation system. Thereby these negroes and other workers can be brought back and forth at a very cheap rate.”
https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/asc9999/id/13354/
Statement from the President of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables
The narrative on the 2020 petition to remove Merrick’s name from the University of Miami was studied and findings showed that words and references were taken out of context.
The petitioners removed words and inserted others to fit a certain objective. In fact, the advertisements sourced as examples were from the 1950s NOT the 1930s.
Additionally, a counter-petition by a UM law student was circulated with amended information, garnering successful results and alumni support.
IT’S ACADEMIC
Simple Hypothesis:
George Merrick was grounded in progressive values and humanitarian principles and academic research proves it.
A is for…analysis based on honest academia
ACADEMIC ANALYSIS LACKING
The reference used to cancel Merrick was taken out of context. Words were removed and others inserted for added dramatic effect.Sadly, the university accepted the tweaked version: “In a speech to the Miami Realty Board in May of 1937 Merrick proposed a ‘complete slum clearance… effectively removing every negro family from the present city limits.’ [Trouble in Paradise: Race and Housing in Miami during the New Deal Era Raymond Mohl, Page 13]
The true version is that Merrick’s proposal sought to eliminate the “slums” and create a model town with the best tropical living conditions with large plots of land, tropical fruit trees, and houses “suitable” “attractive” and “above everything else, it is what [this]…self-respecting community” wants. Merrick was addressing the overcrowded and unsafe living conditions that the Black community faced in the “slums.” See the full proposal in its original context on page 11 of George Merrick’s 1937 address to the Miami Realty Board cited by Mohl.
Link to the full address is below.
https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/asc9999/id/13346
ALWAYS FAIRNESS BEGETS FAIRNESS
Merrick also advocated for the improvement of the living conditions of Miami’s Black community. He advocated for their fair treatment; for their access to clean water; for their access to larger plots of land; for their right, to not just have functional homes, but to have artistically beautiful homes. Excerpt from Merrick’s 1937 address states: “Sadly …today this third of our present citizenry are effectively denied water access and water use. Now collectively, as well as individually, we cannot receive fairness, unless we give fairness. It is proposed—for Miami at least, that this unfair condition be remedied.” See the full proposal in its original context on page 10 of George Merrick’s 1937 address to the Miami Realty Board cited by Mohl.
Link to the full address is below.
https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/asc9999/id/13346
ALTRUISM BENEFITS THE BAHAMIAN POPULATION
In 1925, Flora MacFarlane, one of the area’s first female homesteaders and a schoolteacher who taught Black and white children at the Peacock Inn, sold 20 acres to Merrick’s construction company. The purchase established a Coral Gables subdivision named after MacFarlane. [Today the MacFarlane District is one of a rare example of a black community to be nationally designated.] Many Bahamian immigrant laborers subsequently built homes there.St. Mary’s Baptist Church, the first and only African American church in Coral Gables, was built in 1927. In an article published in [Tequesta] 1941, Merrick credits the Bahamians for “having a most distinct and important influence…and brought inspiration…and other valuable knowledge and experience” [Parks, 2015] when building with natural resources such as coral rock and other tropical materials.
ACTION LEADS TO INTER-RACIAL EFFORT
Apart from the MacFarlane District, other actions to benefit the Black community included the Golden Gate development. Here Merrick again donated land and his own money to build several “attractive” buildings designed by his team of architects. The Ponce de Leon High School was part of that development. Also, when Nellie Powers,a Black woman in the community,decided to open a private school to educate Black children,Merrick, along with a biracial board, donated to the cause, Up until that point“ Miami had never seen such an inter-racial effort.” [Parks, 2015]
ADMIRATION BY THE BAHAMIANS
Dr. Dorothy Fields, historian and founder of the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex, credits Merrick for his admiration of the Bahamian community for their expertise and impact.“The developer of Coral Gables thought it important enough to record this. This is first-hand information. For him to say the impact and inspiration helped to make the area is significant.” Merrick revered the Bahamians for their valuable knowledge and artistic abilities in working with local natural resources and tropical materials.
Link to Dr. Field’s video below
https://www.facebook.com/VizcayaMiami/videos/613599919362472/
AWARDING DEDICATION
Merrick honored the Bahamian settlers in a series of stories. Parks [2015] mentions that “Many years later, Merrick would honor these Bahamians in a series of stories he entitled ‘Men of the Magical Isles’.” One line in the story highlights Merrick’s praise and admiration for them, when he writes, “Very few realize today how much our Bay country owes, in its very foundation, to the Bahamian [laborers].”
ALL LOYALTY
“Many of the black Bahamians who worked with George during the founding of Coral Gables continued for years as his construction workers. Their loyalty was unprecedented to the man who, growing up, had worked side by side with them in the fields and later built a new subdivision for their families.” [Parks, 2015] The Merrick family called the farm a plantation, but there were never any slaves. The Merrick’s would often share stories and communal meals with these workers for they had taught the Merrick’s all they knew about clearing land and planting and growing in the tropics.
ADVOCATE FOR THE WORKING
Merrick was an advocate of the working people. Parks [2015] said that Merrick was “adored as a human being” by most, even the postmen who worked for him. They were his pallbearers at his funeral. One of his first moves as postmaster was to give equal pay to women. In fact, the Merrick’s were well known for paying workers an above average wage and for being excellent, fair employers.
ANTI-SLAVERY AND EQUALITY
Merrick’s parents, the Reverend Solomon and Althea Merrick, were abolitionists. The Reverend’s life-long commitment to abolition, racial and gender equality were progressive principles inculcated in his children, especially instilling these values in his oldest son George. Merrick’s parents were grounded in the progressive values of the United Brethren Church- one of the first American Protestant denominations to take a strong stand against slavery in the 1850’s, and actually excommunicated slaveholders from its ranks. Both churches that Rev. Solomon served – before bringing his family south and establishing their “Coral Gables” homestead – were founded as break-away, activist anti-slavery congregations. These were the values that George was raised with, and, for the most part, tried to uphold in his own life.
ACTIONABLE PRINCIPLES
Merrick lived during the “Jim Crow” laws. Segregation in Florida was the law of the land in 1937, mandated by the state constitution of 1885. Black and white residential areas were kept separate by law, and George Merrick had no choice but to follow the law. However, that is the point. George Merrick was a man of his time, and during his lifetime, he advocated for those he admired [whether Black or white] to the best of his ability within the norms of early 20th century society. He was grounded in progressive values and humanitarian principles. Merrick’s good name cannot be disputed as the above body of research proves and his legacy cannot be tainted.
Merrick was “adored as a human being” [Parks, 2015] not because he earned it but because he deserved it.
The quotes and observations cited above [with the exception of Merrick’s 1937 speech and Dr. Field’s video clip] are taken from the 2015 book George Merrick: Son of the South Wind by the late Arva Moore Parks whose full access to Merrick’s personal correspondence over a 10-year period made her the official Merrick biographer. Parks’ endeavors in the area of racial, ethnic, and gender relations is evidenced by the numerous and diverse awards she has received for her work including being honored by The Black Archives. The Arva Moore Parks Collection resides at the University of Miami and focuses heavily on George E. Merrick, Coral Gables, and other research topics used in her writings.
A is for…apotheosis
Merrick was “adored as a human being.” Arva Moore Parks