The Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami, Florida; 2008. x
The Jewish Museum of Florida is housed in what was the first synagogue in South Beach - Beth Jacob. Although Miami had a Jewish population since at least 1895, Beth Jacob would not be constructed until 1928 because antisemitic landowners like Carl Fisher and Henry Flagler refused to sell or lease land to Jewish people. In Carl Fisher’s land leases, it was written,
"No lot shall be sold, conveyed, leased to anyone not a member of the Caucasian race, nor to anyone having more than one quarter Hebrew or Syrian blood.“
As a result, the Jewish population of Miami was heavily concentrated in North Beach which still has a large Orthodox Jewish community to this day. It was only after Flagler’s death and Fisher’s bankruptcy that Jewish people could finally begin moving into parts of Miami they could not before, including South Beach. Today, Miami hosts a vibrant Jewish community with one of the largest Jewish populations in the United States.