According to Local 10, South Florida native Dr. Enid Pinkney has passed away at 92 years old. She spent her life dedicating her time to preserving and educating about African-American history in Miami-Dade County.
Born in 1931 in Miami-Dade County, Pinkney began her education at All-Black Booker T. Washington High School before going on to work in the Miami-Dade Public School system.
Through the years, Pinkney grew to be known as an activist in South Florida. She told Local 10 that her goal was to preserve Miami’s Black history.
Pinkney said at the time, “People were going to forget the struggle as to how we have come to where we are today. We don’t appreciate that history. All we’re concerned about is what’s happening now.”
Pinkney recalled seeing much of that important history herself firsthand. She worked to put up new markers to commemorate three very historical Black communities in Little Haiti, formerly known as Lemon City.
She explained, “It is the people from Lemon City who with a machete and the strength of their backs cleared the land to make Miami what it is today. And we don’t know that history. I hope that this begins and serves as an example of our becoming interested in how we got to where we are.”
At the height of her advocacy work, Pinkney also headed the effort to restore the Hampton House, a historic motel in Overtown and the last standing one from segregated Miami. It had visitors such as Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the ’60s during its prime.
It was during one of these times that Pinkney saw King while she was still a child. She told Local 10, “He went to Virginia Key Beach. He loved the beach. I heard him speak at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. He spoke there, and people would go to hear him. He could always draw a crowd.”
Pinkney will be remembered as a historian and activist of South Florida who worked her entire life to preserve the forgotten African-American heritage of the state.
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