At its last meeting, Black history task force still argued over recommending a location

Until the very end, Democratic Sen. Geraldine Thompson of Orange County tried to stop a panel she chairs from recommending St. Johns County as the site for Florida’s Black history museum.

The Florida Museum of Black History Task Force had 10 months to come up with a plan for the construction, operation, and administration of the proposed museum but a conflict about its potential location took center stage. That contention still played out during the group’s final meeting Friday morning, during which the group had to put the final details on a report that it must send to Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders by Monday.

Ultimately, six votes outweighed Thompson’s sole vote against submitting the report officially stating that the task force recommends the state build the museum a few miles outside of downtown St. Augustine in St. Johns County. The county was the site of Florida’s first Black settlement (Fort Mose) in 1738 when the Spanish still colonized the region.

The report is not yet available to the public.