Hollywood’s Historically Black Neighborhood, Liberia, turns 100
Posted from NBC 6 South Florida, Feb 11, 2023
A century ago, if you were Black and wanted to live in Hollywood, Liberia was your only option.
If you take a walk along Hollywood Beach, or drive through the city, you will see people of all backgrounds.
However, 100 years ago, that wasn’t the case for Black residents. If a Black resident wanted to live in Hollywood, there was only one option, a neighborhood called Liberia.
This year, as Liberia reaches one century in existence NBC 6 looks back on the history and changes its experienced.
According to a 1923 Hollywood Reporter article, that’s why a northwest section of land was sectioned off, west of US-1.
“All the Black communities, are located, west of the railroad tracks,” said Beneby.
It was a community made up mostly of people from the Bahamas and the Southern United States, by 1925 when Hollywood became an incorporated city the neighborhood got its name from a city inspector.
“He said. ‘you know I look at that place and it reminds me of Liberia, a country I’ve traveled to in Liberia’,” said Beneby, “and that’s how it stook.
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