For 130 years, the historically Black section of Coconut Grove, founded by Bahamian immigrants, has been a foundation stone for Miami, a wellspring of culture and activism, and verdant, fertile soil for the aspirations of tens of thousands of the city’s African American residents.
And now it’s on the brink of extinction, decimated by decades of official neglect and a relentless surge of real estate speculation and residential gentrification that has pushed out thousands of residents and reduced the once-thriving community to a shrinking shadow of its former proud self.
Surrounded by affluent Coral Gables and the predominantly white and equally well-to-do section of the Grove, the West Grove has seen its lush, narrow residential streets of timeworn cottages, bungalows and modest duplexes overtaken by lot-filling, multimillion-dollar “sugar-cube” luxury homes and their mostly white occupants.
