November 2, 2025
The museum job pressure really helpful St. Johns County because the museum’s location.
A Florida state senator filed laws Oct. 30 to transfer ahead with the development of the long-planned Florida Museum of Black Historical past in St. Johns County.
This is step one ahead in what could be the state’s first Black historical past museum. Senator Tom Leek, a Republican whose district covers St. Johns County filed Senate Invoice 308 for the 2026 legislative session. The measure outlines the formation of a board of administrators. The board would collaborate with a basis that oversees planning, development and operation of the museum on a website. The proposed website is the Florida Memorial College close to St. Augustine.
The invoice comes as St. Johns County has already secured a $1 million state appropriation towards the mission. The funding will assist launch design and development phases. Commissioners stated the allocation will allow preliminary website preparation and infrastructure planning.
The museum job pressure, established beneath Chapter 2023-72 of Florida legislation, really helpful St. Johns County in June 2024 as the popular location, citing the historic significance of close by Fort Mose—the nation’s first legally sanctioned free Black settlement—and a cluster of African-American heritage websites.
Below the proposed governance framework, the board of administrators would come with state-appointed officers and neighborhood stakeholders and is required to kind by July 31, 2026, with the muse accountable for elevating personal donations and managing day-to-day operations.
Leek stated in a press launch that the museum will fill a significant cultural hole.
“I firmly imagine that we can not inform the historical past of Florida with out additionally telling the historical past of Black Floridians, which is why I’m proud to file Senate Invoice 308 in help of Florida’s Museum of Black Historical past,” Leek stated. “The museum will probably be constructed on the previous website of Florida Memorial College, which has historic significance right here in St. Johns County, and I stay up for working with our neighborhood and our state in furtherance of this important designation.”
West Augustine Historic Neighborhood Growth Corp. founder Greg White known as the transfer “a robust reminder that Black historical past is American historical past.”
If enacted, the laws would place the proposed museum as a vacation spot for cultural training, heritage tourism, and neighborhood engagement.
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