He’s painting portraits of Miami Black trailblazers. First will be of 100-year-old activist
Black History Month is now a memory in many people’s life. But as artist C.J. Latimore sees it, Black history is ongoing.
“Our contributions and stories are far too vast and too complicated to just be told in one month of the year.,” he said. “Although we have managed to keep much of our history alive, too much of it has gone pretty much unnoticed — especially our local Black history.”
That’s why he is collaborating with the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City to honor local trailblazers in an upcoming exhibit, “Keeping Your Legacy Alive Through Art..”
“As people are trying to stop us from telling our history, what better way to capture our history than through paintings?” said Marshall Davis, managing director of the arts center. “We are looking forward to a long-term relationship with the artist, so we can continue to convey our stories through the arts. That way, it will be forever available for people to see and experience, in various platforms.”
Davis said he expects the grand opening of the “Legacy” exhibit to coincide with the center’s 50th anniversary in 2025.
It’s fitting that the first of the “Legacy” portraits will be of Miami matriarch Nancy Dawkins, who turned 100 a few months ago.
I spoke with Dawkins recently and was delighted at her still feisty sense of humor. She always has a deadpan expression that masks her warm and kind heart. Talking to her is a treat, as she remembers life in South Florida as it was when she was growing up.
When asked about her portrait, she said, “I cried when I saw it for the first time. I thought it was beautiful. Seeing how he incorporated my mother in the portrait is what made me cry. He depicted my family in such a beautiful way,” she said. “I was speechless. Just to see my mother featured in that portrait, along with me — her child, all I could say was, ‘to God be the Glory.’ It was that way with everybody who saw it. The Lord just blessed him [Latimore]…”
Latimore said he picked Dawkins as the first to be featured in the series because “… She’s 100, and she is truly an unsung hero and advocate in our Black community.
“She is a great example of the kind of people I want to honor in the series, which will tell the story of the many people in our community who continue to work behind the scenes to help make life better for others.
“People like Mrs. Dawkins never ask to be honored, or for any kind of praise. They work for the good of all from their heart. They have displayed great leadership and made history through their invaluable accomplishments played out behind the scenes,” he said.
Dawkins’ portrait is the first of a series of 12 portraits. The project will grow to include more unsung heroes over a period of three years, Latimore said. After its initial exhibit, the project will become a traveling exhibit.
Born in Broward
Nancy Dawkins was born Oct. 11, 1923, in Dania Beach in Broward County. Her parents were Joseph and Viola Sidney. Her only sister, Josephine Sidney Range, died in 2009.
“My mother was a homemaker, and my father was a carpenter and a farmer who was in charge of a 20-acre tomato farm. He had people working under him while he worked at his main job of carpentry. He always wanted us to go to college and get an education so we could help others,” she said.
Dawkins said she hadn’t thought too much about college until one summer as a teenager her sister, a maid, asked her to work in her place for a week.
“The woman I worked for didn’t want me to ask her any questions,” Dawkins said. “She told me I was hired to do a job, not ask questions. I called my sister and told her, ‘You better come on home and get your job, if you want it.’ That incident with that white woman inspired me to go to college. No white person can tell me I can’t ask questions,” Dawkins said.
Going to college wouldn’t be easy. First, she had to finish high school and the closest Black high school was Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. Dawkins had to provide her own transportation and was able to hitch a ride, along with some other students, to and from Dillard.
“There were 17 of us in the senior class that year,” she said. “Our principal, Leonard Walker, took us on a college tour to the four Negro colleges in Florida. When we got back, he had each of us to apply to the college of our choice. We graduated high school in 1941 and all 17 of us went to college,” Dawkins said.
1946 college graduate
She entered Bethune-Cookman College, then a two-year institution (now a university), where she met her husband, the late Miami city commissioner Miller Dawkins.
“He left college to become a merchant seaman, but I went on to finish my degree,” Dawkins said. “I went to Florida A&M College (now university) and graduated in 1946. When Miller came home, he went back to school and got his degree from Florida Memorial College (now university).”
They married in 1942, while she was still in college. They later had a son Myron, who died in 1996.
Dawkins started her teaching career as a substitute teacher at Overtown’s Booker T. Washington Junior/Senior High School. She had a degree in home economics and was certified to teach K-junior high. Later, she was hired to teach full time at Liberty City Elementary.
“Mrs. Alese Gill was the principal back then, and she encouraged all her teachers to work on higher education degrees during the summer,” Dawkins said.
From Liberty City Elementary, Dawkins taught at Holmes Elementary, and later taught at several COPE centers (schools for pregnant teenagers), before going back to Booker T. Washington Junior/Senior High School, where she stayed until she retired in 1983.
Dawkins is a doer. But she doesn’t like to blow her own horn.
“Mainly, I have been a volunteer in the community,” she said. “I always tried to live up to the motto at Bethune-Cookman — ‘Enter to learn, depart to serve.’ I have always tried to serve those who were not served, who somehow slipped through the cracks. I
“I see so often how people are mistreated. We can’t just sit by and do nothing. We must question the authorities who can change things.”
Dawkins said her last job at Booker T. was exposing children to different careers other than the normal careers that were available to Blacks. “There are so many professions that our children can pursue now.”
She gave an example: “A long time ago, we went to one doctor who took care of all our ails. Now there are specialists for everything. They even got physical therapists who can send you to hell with the pain they can inflict on you,“ she said with a chuckle.
She said she is still involved in the Girl Scouts, the AARP Northwest Chapter 4686, of which she is the founder, and the Theodore R. Gibson Oratorical Contest, which exposes youths to public speaking.
Dawkins still lives in the house she moved in with her husband and son over 60 years ago. Although she has lived a lot of years and has seen a lot of things and changes, Dawkins said she has no intention of writing a book, “… because I didn’t keep a diary.”
‘All Queen’s Day’
Congratulations to the 11 women who were honored Saturday by The Nubian Sisterhood at the organization’s “All Queens Day” celebration.
The honorees are, Dr. April Thompson-Williams, Brenda Hill-Riggins, Femi Folami-Browne, Iris Roberts, Kristin Kitchen, Linda Hodges-Holloway, Metris Batts-Coley, Regina Talabert, Renea Moss, Dr. Senetta Carter, and Winsome Bolt.
The event was held at the Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall Social and Economic Institute at 5120 NW 24th Ave.
