Florida Senator Tom Leek Files Bill to Support St. Johns County’s Proposed Florida Black History Museum

• 4 February 2025
• Category: SJC News
• Tags: 2025 Black History Museum

On February 3, 2025, Florida Senator Thomas J. “Tom” Leek, District 7, filed legislation creating a governance framework for the Florida Museum of Black History.

“On behalf of St. Johns County and our amazing team of partners who have worked tirelessly on this project, I want to thank Senator Leek for supporting this legislation,” said District 2 Commissioner Sarah Arnold. “Further, I would like to express my gratitude to the entire Legislature for taking the steps to make what once was a dream into reality, moving forward with the Florida Museum of Black History being constructed in historic West Augustine.”

The bill creates. s. 267.07221, F.S., providing legislative intent to recognize the work of the Florida Museum of Black History Taskforce and the Taskforce’s selection of St. Johns County as the location of the museum. The bill provides for the creation of the Florida Museum of Black History Board of Directors, including a selection process for board members. Established within the Florida Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources, the bill directs the board to oversee the commission, construction, operation, and administration of the museum. The bill also requires the board to work jointly with the Foundation for the Museum of Black History, Inc. and the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners, which will provide administrative support and staffing to the board for preconstruction activities. The bill will take effect July 1, 2025.

The campus-style Black history museum is planned to be built on the former site of Florida Memorial University, one of the State’s oldest academic centers and a historically Black university. It is also the site of the recent relocation of the Canright House—a home where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was scheduled to stay in the 1960s before segregationists vandalized it. The historical significance of this site provides a captivating, enchanting landscape through which to immerse in the centuries of steps taken by African Americans to advance racial equality.

St. Johns County announced in June that it is the location of the Florida Museum of Black History, as recommended by the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force after its meeting on June 28, 2024, where the Task Force voted 6-1 to formally transmit this recommendation to the Governor and the Legislature.