The Colorful History of Miami

The Great Depression of the 1930s

We can start examining the colorful history of Miami from the time of The Great Depression of the 1930s.  The Great Depression of the 1930s did much to economically weaken Miami, Florida. It didn’t help that Miami was also hit by the 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Dust Bowl drought. The arrival of World War II did much to drive down unemployment levels.

The death of Arthur McDuffie

A black mark on the colorful history of Miami was the death of Arthur McDuffie in 1979 after being beaten severely by Miami-Dade police officers due to a traffic violation. Though the police officers claimed that McDuffie had fought back against them which caused the policemen to become more aggressive, the coroner’s report showed that a blunt object had caused McDuffie to suffer from multiple skull fractures at the hands of the police officers. Very violent riots resulted from the outcome of the trial  of the policemen.