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Gifford Neighborhood Plan 2014 Appendix E o, History of Gifford - By Milt Thomas C-1 The history of African-Americans in Florida was quite apart from the rest of the South. Prior to 1819, when Spain turned over control of Florida to the U.S., the Spanish offered freedom to black slaves escaping the British southern colonies (as long as they converted to Catholicism). During the American Revolution, when the British controlled Florida, escaped slaves fought with the British in exchange for freedom. So did the Seminole Indians. Blacks and Seminoles also fought with the British in the War of 1812, incurring the wrath of General Andrew Jackson. He would take out his revenge in the Seminole Wars during the 1840s. Around 1855, blacks began to settle in this area, sometimes as slaves to white landowners, but also as free settlers working land of their own or on white farms and groves. The Federal Homestead Act of 1862 guaranteed the right to own 160 acres of land as long as the homesteader cultivated at least five acres and continued to live on the land at least five years. Four black families were among the earliest homesteaders. The end of the Civil War was also the end of slavery, technically. Although southern states, including Florida, could only be readmitted into the Union by banning slavery, many states enacted the so-called Jim Crow laws designed to restrict the rights of blacks. This and segregation of the races would exist well into the 20r'century. In spite of this, black people learned to live within the system and at times overcame injustice to flash a typically American entrepreneurial spirit. William S. Brown, born on a cotton plantation in Savannah, Georgia, settled on land around modern day Gifford in November 1890 and received his homestead grant in 1896. Other black families came around that time including Alvin O. Espy, Willie E. Geoffrey and James T. Gray.* Each received a federal homestead grant of 160 acres around 1901. All of them farmed their land, Brown also grew citrus. William Brown was well respected by his neighbors and they all agreed to call their settlement Brownsville in his honor. * Note: There were actually two James T. Gray- one black and one white. James T. Gray(white) is reported to have named the area we now call Winter Beach - Woodley. Woodley was changed to Quay in the"teens" for Senator Matthew Quay, and finally changed again to Winter Beach. During construction of the Flagler railroad between 1890-1896, many job opportunities existed for black workers as work progressed along the route. Railroad camps and workers quarters grew in what was then Brownsville and Wabasso as progress on the railway reached Sebastian in 1893. Two years earlier, a white homesteader, Henry Gifford, opened the Vero post office on his land south of Brownsville. When Flagler needed right- of-way through his homestead, Gifford refused. So Flagler established a station just to the north and named it "Gifford." The black community then became known as Gifford. Community Development Indian River County 104