The Miami Times and the Fight for Equality: Race, Sport, and the Black Press, 1948–1958 (Sport, Identity, and Culture)

This book helps inject the Miami Times into the historical narrative of the Civil Rights Movement in Florida by highlighting its role in Rice v Arnold, a 1949 lawsuit filed by black recreational golfers in Miami to oppose segregation on the city's public golf course. Founded in 1923 by Bahamian-born H.E.S. Reeves who ran the newspaper with his son Garth C. Reeves Sr., the newspaper financially and editorially supported efforts to desegregate Miami schools, beaches, residential communities, public transportation systems and sports complexes. Its support of the Rice v Arnold legal challenge is but one example that demonstrates how the newspaper, as a conduit of social change, worked with other Miami community leaders to improve conditions for the city's black population. This book explores the civil rights activism of the Miami Times between 1948 and 1958 by highlighting its effort to help abolish the “Monday-only” policy that restricted black golfers to a single day of access to the Miami Springs Municipal Golf Course.