— As she started trying to gather local African-American history for her public school students 25 years ago, Dorothy Jenkins Fields was disturbed by how little information she could find.

She was even more disturbed by the explanation a county librarian offered: “I guess those people haven’t thought enough of themselves to write their history.”

Fields disagreed. And she set out to educate not only her students, but the entire community, about the contributions African-Americans have made to Miami.

The result was the Black Archives of South Florida, one of a rare few repositories dedicated to black history.

Fields had no idea how tough the task would be.

She turned to her uncle, S.H. Johnson, who explained how the racially charged climate of Miami may have contributed to the dearth of written information.

“He said, ‘We have been too busy, trying to live. Trying to survive. Maybe it’ll be your generation who will write the history,'” Fields recalled.

Her own family’s history parallels that of Miami.

Her grandparents migrated from the Bahamas to Miami in 1903, less than seven years after the city was formed. The family settled in present-day Overtown, where most African-American families lived in Miami at the time.

Education was emphasized in the household.

Fields said her research shows that her family is the first black family in Miami-Dade County to have as many as seven children go to high school and college and come back to live in Miami-Dade as professionals.

They included her cousin, Leo Adderly, the first municipal judge in Miami, and her uncle, S.H. Johnson, a radiologist.

It was that uncle who nurtured Fields’ quest to collect information on the contributions made by her family and others in Miami’s infancy.

She moved to Atlanta, where she enrolled in Emory University’s Archives Administration Program. At Emory, she learned how to process and make available material that tells the story of African-Americans.

Those skills became essential when Fields began gathering information for what would become the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation, of South Florida Inc., 5400 NW 22nd Ave. The archives, financed primarily by grants and donations, are branching out into restorations of historic black sites. One building was Miami’s first private black heath care clinic, once owned by Fields’ uncle.

The archives will become the centerpiece of a living historical village being developed in the heart of Overtown to educate the community about the area’s history.

“The Black Archives provide an extensive source of primary material,” said Florida International University Associate Professor Clarence Taylor, whose graduate students use the archives as part of their regular coursework.

“She is doing a tremendous service, not only for scholars, but to the community.”

Fields hopes the archives are on their way to becoming an even greater resource.

“I see the village as a laboratory that will provide a hands-on opportunity for youngsters,” she said.

Damian P. Gregory can be reached at or 305-810-5001.