Key2MIA : Miami Personalized Tours

11/01/2024

09/17/2024

Book you Calle Ocho Experience today

www.key2mia.com

08/29/2024

Black Business Month spotlight!

Thinking of starting your own business? You might want to check with some local successful Black business owners, who have tips aplenty.

07/09/2024

Join us on 7/20!

Tickets 🎟️ www.key2mia.com/thecookout

07/02/2024

Did you know that Miami had a negro baseball team?

With the MLB finally recognizing Negro League Baseball game stats, I thought it would be a good time to talk about how sports can be traced back to Miami as its home of the longest running black baseball team.

Yup.

The team was The Miami Giants, which morphed into the Miami Ethiopian Clowns, founded by Johnny “Red” Pierce in the 1930s. They did what’s known as “Barnstorming”, traveling the country playing and entertaining in bandbox ballparks.

The profitable existence to the hotel building boom that happened along Florida’s east coast brought the clientele, but the players understood that they needed a product if they wanted to get people into the stands. So, they entertained, but then they played some serious baseball. Even Satchel Paige said they were one of the greatest clubs he has ever played against. We also saw greats like eighteen-year-old Clowns shortstop Hank Aaron who spent the spring training in 1952.

Barnstorming prevented many black sportswriters from acknowledging this team as full-fledged members of black baseball. The clowns were the last of the barnstormers, drawing crowds up until the 1980s, the longest-running Negro Leagues team, and it all started right here in Miami.

Other teams to note: Cuban Giants, Zulu Cannibal Giants, Louisville Black Spiders, Tennessee Rats, and Jax Zulos of New Orleans.

06/13/2024

Roxie Roker was born August 28, 1929 in Miami, FL. Her mother, Bessie Roker, was from GA and her father, Albert Roker, was a native of The Bahamas.

Most of her professional career started where she grew up (NYC), becoming a successful stage actress and Tony Award nominee for her role in The River Niger.

In 1962, she married television producer Sy Kravitz and gave birth to the iconic singer-songwriter and actor, Lenny Kravitz, 2 years later. Art imitated life for Roker when she took on the role of Helen Willis on legendary sitcom, The Jeffersons (1975-1985). Roker broke social barriers by becoming one half of the first in*******al (Black/White) married couples as regular cast member on prime-time TV. Her husband was played by actor Franklin Cover (Tom Willis).

Although she’s widely known for her role on The Jeffersons, Roker appeared in guest starring roles on many other television shows from the 70s through the 90s.

05/28/2024

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE COOKOUT!

What is THE COOKOUT?
There is a great cultural significance to congregating and eating in the Black community. Sunday dinners, birthdays, graduations…And despite Blacks historically not having many places to congregate and commune outside of our homes, we celebrated the occasion + each other in a major way.

Key2MIA commentates this act while celebrating and highlighting Miami's Black history beyond February with this one-of-a-kind driving tour…and we’re inviting you to come have a good time with ya family! Includes:
-transportation
-food
-giveaways
-admissions

===

Can’t make it for our summer party on wheels?
Other available tours:
-Melanin Miami ✊🏾
-The Calle Ocho Experience 🇨🇺
-Origins of Miami
-Key to My He(art) 🎨
-Custom/Private Tours also available at key2mia.com

is an award-winning tour company that provides memories for your senses through personalized tours, custom itineraries and virtual experiences. We have been featured in several local + international media outlets and garnered ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️reviews from both locals and tourists alike.

Key2MIA aims to create a travel experience that not only showcases the beauty and diversity of different cultures in Miami, but also provides an opportunity for our guests to connect with the local communities. Travel has the power to create meaningful change, and our business is rooted in the belief that cultural exploration and education can be transformative.

Come explore Miami with us ➡️ key2mia.com
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05/09/2024

Miami Senior High School, also known as Miami High School, is one of the oldest high schools in Miami-Dade County. It was, in fact, the first high school in Miami-Dade.

Established in 1903, the school was “free to all white children”, but in the early 60’s, Miami saw a huge influx of Cuban exiles. By 1989, white children (Anglo) were less than 4% of the school’s population. The school’s enrollment primarily consisted of those of Hispanic origin (roughly 90%).

Where it stands now isn’t it original home. After the 1926 Hurricane, the high school saw its 4th and final resting place, opening up its Mediterranean revival style doorways to students. The enrollment count was at 1,800 and the school featured labs, 79 classrooms, 4 shops, library, custodian apartment and 2 study halls. It also had a football field, baseball diamond and track.

Aside from being a historic landmark, it was also the filming location the 1996 American action thriller, “The Substitute”.

PC: Miami Senior High School

05/07/2024

In 1925, Miami went through a great building boom seeing several new families migrating into the area. With this growth, the need for more schools came.

There was just one problem: communities with schools needed money to expand and neighborhoods without educational institutions required funding to construct new schools.

During this time in Overtown, Black students usually ended their educational journey in the 8th grade. If a family wanted their child to continue beyond middle school, students had to attend institutions outside the county lines (think Tallahassee, Atlanta, or Tuskegee).

In 1927, Booker T Washington Senior High School opened its doors. After several months of guarding the construction site (people were threatening to bomb the school) and regaining ground from the devastation the hurricane of 1926 caused, the Overtown community got to attend the first high school for Black students living in Dade County.

The high school building cost $306,000 to construct (roughly $5M today) and often received visits and donations from celebrities like Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, and Harry Belafonte. The school staffed 19 teachers when it opened and its first principal was Eliza Grandberry. The first senior high class graduated in 1928.

PC: Fishbaugh, W. A.(William Arthur), 1873-1950

04/22/2024

April 22, 2000, armed federal agents swarmed into 2319 NW 2nd St, Miami looking for a little boy at the center of a custody battle between two nations.

The little boy’s name: Elián Gonzalez

Prior to the raid, Elizabeth Brotons along with her boyfriend and her then 5-year-old son, Elián, joined other Cubans on a makeshift raft seeking political refuge. Days into the voyage, Brotons and others on this trip drowned, leaving Elián floating adrift alone in the Florida waters.

Elián was found by two fishermen (one being Donato Dalrymple) and taken to the hospital for medical treatment on Thanksgiving Day. The next day, INS (or ICE) released him to his great-uncle living in Miami, but his father wanted him back in Cuba. What followed was an international custody and immigration controversy between Cuba and the United States.

I was a kid and not living in Miami yet, but remember how Elián’s story made international headlines. It seems that now, he’s entered his country’s congress, stepping into Cuban politics.

📷 (Time Magazine cover/ AP/Wikipedia)

04/19/2024

Lights 💡Camera 🎥 Action 🎬

Got my international debut during this media tour with a group from Dubai...just make sure you get my good side. 😉

Very interesting fact I learned about Dubai during this experience: rain is man-made there.

It’s super hot in Dubai, so weather authorities created a concept called cloud seeding. It is a multi-million dollar project that was implements back in 2010 to create artificial rain.

🌧️

04/18/2024

POV: Boarding the charter for your Key2MIA experience.

When we say we take you “beyond the beach” we mean it. Since starting the biz, it’s been a personal goal of mine to showcase Miami’s history and culture in a unique way while fostering a sense of celebration + community.

Come see Miami through our lens.

www.key2mia.com

04/14/2024

Just because it’s Saturday 😂

03/14/2024

Our Melanin Miami tour was featured in Forbes and Condé Nast Traveler, taking you on a journey through the origins of the city + the success/struggles that have shaped Black Miami.

“Even if you think you know the history, you’ll learn something new!”

Come tour with us ➡️ www.key2mia.com
*private, group and bespoke options available*

03/12/2024

Vintage image of Rosa Parks at a beauty salon in Miami, 8/14/86 [Library of Congress]

We know her name because of what happened in Montgomery,AL. Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus on Dec. 1, 1955. She was arrested and ignited the boycott that led to a federal court ruling against segregation in public transportation.

Although her name is synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement, this picture captured her day to day…and it made me smile.

I hope it does the same for you.

03/07/2024

Josephine Baker really is “that girl”. Not only was she a WWII spy + global entertainer, she was a civil rights activist. Her show in Miami was the first appearance she made in the states in 26 years + after this integrated show, her future contracts all had the same provision throughout the United States.

🗓️ Miami Beach declared Nov. 28 as Josephine Baker Day.

* Murray Weinger was the GM of Copa City
(Photos credited to the talented individuals who shared their lens with us.)