Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'Crackers' got their name most likely for the cracking of whips during cattle drives, though
some say it was for the cracking of corn to make cornmeal, grits or moonshine. For a
witty, affectionate look at what makes a Cracker, pick up
Cracker: The Cracker Culture in
Florida History
by Dana Ste Claire.
Immigrants & the Capital of Latin America
Like Texas and California, modern Florida has been largely redefined by successive waves
of Hispanic immigrants from Latin America. What sets Florida apart is the teeming di-
versity of its Latinos and their self-sufficient, economically powerful, politicized, Spanish-
speaking presence.
How pervasive is Spanish? One in four Floridians speak a language other than English
at home, and three-quarters of these speak Spanish. Further, nearly half of these Spanish-
speakers admit they don't speak English very well - because they don't need to. This is a
sore point with some Anglo Floridians, perhaps because it's incontrovertible evidence that
Florida's Latinos are enjoying America's capitalism without necessarily having to adopt its
culture or language.
Florida's Cuban exile community (concentrated in Little Havana and Hialeah Park), who
began arriving in Miami in the 1960s following Castro's Cuban revolution, created this
from the start. Educated and wealthy, these Cubans ran their own businesses, published
their own newspapers and developed a Spanish-speaking city within a city. Their success
aggravated Florida's African American population, who, at the moment the civil rights
movement was opening the doors to economic opportunity, found themselves outman-
euvered for jobs by Hispanic newcomers.
Then Latinos kept arriving nonstop, ranging from the very poorest to the wealthiest. In
Miami they found a Spanish-speaking infrastructure to help them, while sometimes being
shunned by the insular Cuban exiles who preceded them.
Today, every Latin American country is represented in South Florida. Nicaraguans ar-
rived in the 1980s, fleeing war in their country, and now number over 100,000. Miami's
Little Haiti is home to over 70,000 Haitians, the largest community in the US. There are
80,000 Brazilians, and large communities of Mexicans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Peruvi-
ans, Salvadorans, Jamaicans, Bahamians and more. This has led to significant in-migration
around South Florida, as groups displace each other and shift to more fertile ground.
