Miami, FL — The life and legacy of Dr. Enid Curtis Pinkney will be celebrated on August 9, 10, and 11 in South Florida. Dr. Pinkney died on July 18th in Miami, FL, at 92. She was an educator, preservationist, and historian of African American History and Bahamian heritage. She worked many years to preserve and restore community landmarks such as Lemon City Cemetery, the Historic Hampton House, and the Miami Circle at Brickell Point.
Dr. Enid Curtis Pinkney with the late John Lewis.Born Enid Curtis to Lenora and Henry Curtis, October 15, 1931. She was educated in the Miami Public School System; she attended the Historic Booker T. Washington Junior/Senior High School in Overtown, where she was raised in her early years. After graduating from high school in 1949, she attended Talladega College, Alabama's first private historically black liberal arts college, graduating in 1953 with her Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences. She then pursued her Master of Science in Guidance and Counseling from Barry University in 1967. Dr. Pinkney received honorary doctorates in Humane Letters from St. Thomas University and Talladega College.
1991 was a big year for Enid Curtis. After working many years for the Miami-Dade County Public School System, she retired as assistant principal at South Miami Middle School in 1991. That year, she also married Frank Pinkney.
Though small in stature, Dr. Pinkney was a mighty and powerful force to reckon with when fighting for preservation work. Her focus and direction in preserving the history of Black and Native Miami history is found in her work, which has spanned several decades. Dr. Pinkney joined Dade Heritage Trust (DHT) in the 1980s, and she pushed for the preservation of Black and Native American landmarks. She became the first Black President of DHT in 1998. During her tenure, she helped discover that some Black Americans were buried in the Miami City Cemetery (NE 2nd Avenue and 18th Street). Her preservation work includes Lemon City Cemetery (Northwest 71st Street and 3rd Avenue), the Miami Circle National Historic Landmark (461 Brickell Ave, Miami, FL 33131), the Historic Hampton House (4240 NW 27th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33142), and Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (4020 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami-Dade, Florida, 33149) where she was the founding board member for the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust.
In the last month, you would have been able to find Dr. Pinkney shared, lectured, and encouraged others to recognize the importance of the history of Miami with a group at the historic Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum exhibit Anything But A Slum: Overtown Before I-95 and 395. Also, she shared time with graduate students from Florida International University at the Historic Hampton House. Leaving her legacy of action with all she touched.
Her legacy will live on through Gary Allen, her adopted son and nephew, a host of family, friends, colleagues, and all who will continue to learn, explore, preserve, and restore the history of African Americans, Bahamians, Bahamian Americans, and Native Americans.
