A nine-person task force selected a site in St. Augustine's West Augustine community as the future home of the Florida Museum of Black History. The site was once the home of Florida Memorial University. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on October 27, 2026 at 1:05 pm
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The city of St. Augustine is the latest local governmental body to lend its support to the future Florida Museum of Black History, even though the project has moved ahead slowly on the state level.
The city agreed Monday to award $25,000 to the foundation raising money and support for the future museum in St. Johns County.
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The move comes a month after the county agreed to award the foundation $125,000 toward its fundraising efforts.
Howard Holley, the head of the foundation, also served on the board that chose St. Augustine as the home of the future museum.
Speaking to the St. Augustine City Commission on Monday night, he said the money will help the organization, but he doesn’t want the city’s support to end there. Holley hopes the city will contribute a member to the museum’s board of directors and also put together a task force once the state Legislature moves ahead on the museum.
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The board held off on selecting a delegate or creating a task force for now. Mayor-elect Cynthia Garris encouraged the City Commission to wait until the board’s two new members are sworn in in December.
Garris will replace Nancy Sikes-Kline as mayor. Ashleigh Barnes, who won her City Commission race in the August primary election, will be sworn in, as will whoever voters select between candidates Matt Brown and Julie Settle for Seat 5 in the November general election.
Progress on the Black history museum
It has been more than three years since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that kicked off the process of choosing where a Black history museum would be built.
St. Johns County was chosen as the museum’s home, and the state has since awarded the county $2 million for planning and designing the museum campus. Early proposals call for a performing arts and events center in addition to the museum building, but ground has not broken yet on what was once the home of the historically Black Florida Memorial University.
The county and foundation supporting the museum are waiting on additional legislative support.
Support at the local level is strong. The St. Augustine City Commission unanimously approved the funding for the museum, as did the St. Johns County Commission.
City Commissioner-elect Barnes isn’t even officially on the board yet, but she spoke up during Monday night’s meeting to encourage city leaders to support Holley’s request.
“I’m thrilled that they want not just the check, but our input,” Barnes said. “I think this is an extraordinary project that helps shape how St. Augustine and our broader community can benefit.”
Although he wholeheartedly supported the measure to fund the Black history museum, City Commissioner Jim Springfield said he hopes the city will support its other museums in the future, too.
