Project Utopia: Expectations and Conflicts Surrounding Liberty Square, Miami's First Public Housing Project

Liberty Square in Miami, Florida, was one of the first of Roosevelt’s New Deal public housing projects for African American residents to open in the United States. Leaders of the black and white communities in Miami initiated the project, and architects workingin the Housing Division of the Public Works Administration (PWA) designed it. At the time of its opening, Liberty Square was presented in the national architectural press as a model of government efforts in the design of public housing.In Housing Comes of Age (1938), the project was presented as an anonymous, yet most illustrative example of conflict between federal and local officials in. Yet, even before its construction, local black leaders recommended that Liberty Square be officially named Utopia. The process of naming Liberty reveals much about the diverse expectations for housing in Miami. This essay outlines the specific tensions and conflicts about race, place, class, and national origin that arise from published and archival sources.

Volume Editors
Marilys R. Nepomechie & Robert Gonzalez

ISBN
0-935502-54-8