Black History Museum Gets $1 Million in State Funding

The Florida Museum of Black History is several steps closer to becoming a reality in St. Johns County/St. Augustine thanks to a $1 million appropriation from the State of Florida.

The line item was spared Gov. Ron DeSantis’s veto pen and is part of the fiscal year 2025-26 budget signed by the governor earlier this week. DeSantis vetoed a $750,000 appropriation for a Florida Museum of Black History in Opa-locka.

The funding is part of legislation sponsored by State Sen. Tom Leek, R-St. Augustine, and passed unanimously by the Florida Senate during the session that ended in May.

The bill, SB 466, passed its first legislative test in mid-March after a unanimous vote by the Committee on Community Affairs. The measure creates a Florida Museum of Black History Board of Directors and directs the board to oversee the commission, construction, operation and administration of the museum in St. Johns County/St. Augustine.  The bill moved on to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government where it was reported favorably by a 12-0 vote. The legislation continued its perfect record in early April with a 25-0 vote by the Senate Rules Committee.  

The project to create a museum celebrating Florida’s Black history comes from a bill signed by DeSantis in May 2023, and includes the selection of a nine-member Task Force appointed by DeSantis, then-Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and then-House Speaker Paul Renner. READ FULL ARTICLE