Once one of the South’s poorest and least populated states, Florida experienced a population surge during the 1960s that diversified the state and transformed it into a microcosm of the nation, but discrimination remained pervasive. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the opportunity to participate in government was finally open to previously silenced voices. Drawing primarily from personal interviews, Susan MacManus recounts the stories of fifty-one trailblazers—the first minority men and women, both Democrat and Republican—who were elected or appointed to state legislative, executive, and judicial offices and to Congress since the 1960s. She reveals what drove these leaders to enter office, how they ran their campaigns, what rewards each found during their terms, and what advice they would share with aspiring politicians. What emerges is an in-depth rendering of personal struggles—guided by opportunity, ambition, and idealism—that have made Florida the vibrant, diverse state it is today.
