There Are Only Two Black Homesteading Communities in America. Mine Is One of Them.

Beverly Steele, 69, embarked on a journey to uncover Royal, Florida’s history. That led to the fight to get the community listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This account has been condensed and edited for clarity.

My aunt is the noted local historian in the community. So whenever we had major days, whether it was a major day at the church or major day in the community — say, for instance, an African American history program or a church anniversary — they would always call on her to give the history. And I was always mesmerized because my aunt is such a great storyteller. And she tells the story by saying, “My mama told me.” As a kid, I was just really listening. Every letter dropping out her mouth, I would be absorbing it — just listening to the fact that my family was one of the founding three families of the community. The three families were the Hollies, the Picketts, and the Andersons, my family. And then for her to say it was once called Picketsville and it was formed in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. We all had our 40 acres or 80 acres. 

There’s only one other place in this nation that’s similar to Royal and it’s called Nicodemus, Kansas. They are the only two African American homesteading communities left in the nation. There’s a big difference between the two. Nicodemus only has like seven families — the original families still holding original homesteads. In Royal, we have approximately 3,600 acres. We’ve identified more than 20 families still holding on to their land. 

When I came back to Royal, I got involved with this initiative to save this building, which was the last cafeteria for the segregated school that we had, and we got it renovated. And we decided to call it Alonzo A. Young Sr. Enrichment & Historical Center. And I then began to ask the community to bring in things of historical value to them that they wanted to contribute to the center. They did. I said, “Well, if it’s our historical center, let me start getting into the history.” I was asked by someone: “It’s such a beautiful oral history. Is it true?” And I was thinking, “Yeah, it’s true, because my aunt says my grandmother told her.” So they said, “That’s awesome. But would you like to prove it?” I said, “Is there a way we can do that?” 

Once we began to research and find more information about Royal, the history was getting even richer. I began to have conversations with different people about the National Register of Historic Places listing. Most people think of the listing as for a president’s house, or for a site or a building. I didn’t think of it as for a community. When I realized that you can do that, we started this process, actually in 2015. 

The first thing that we had to do was to prove the history. We had to develop what’s called a CRAS report, which is a cultural resource assessment survey. We had to hire a historian that came in and looked at the community, and that’s when the truth became very prevalent. When the historian looked at the boundaries that we defined as a community, for Royal, and when he overlaid that on maps back to the 1800s, specifically 1865, the sect of land that was there at that time was the same sect of land that’s on our deeds today. When he looked at who received land grants in those sects of land, the names of the people that came forward were of the same families that are there today. 

The oldest land grant that we could find was 1870. With the historian, we were able to justify that history, and find the prevalence of it and the national significance of it, when he tied it to Florida’s history. Slaves in the traditional slave states could walk into Florida because Florida was under Spanish control. The Spanish did not have slave trade. So the slaves were told if you could walk into Florida, you gained your freedom. So he was able to tie that to Royal. A lot of them walked in, and especially after the Civil War, it became known that if you were freedmen coming into Florida, that you could go to this place called Royal.

I started Young Performing Artists 28 years ago, and it focuses on youth. With Young Performing Artists, once we got the center, then we realized that we had a golden opportunity to really step out to address local issues. We developed a program called the Royal Historical Enrichment and Art Program (RHEAP). We’re actually reaping the benefits of all our forefathers and mothers with what’s being passed down to us. The local program is designed to capture the history and help preserve the history of the community of Royal.