Schermer, Mickey Interview

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15032698/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Oral Histories -- North and Central America -- United States -- Miami Beach (Fla.)
Real estate development -- United States
Race relations -- United States -- Florida -- Miami
Genre:: Video Recordings
Spatial Coverage:: North and Central America -- United States -- Florida -- Miami-Dade -- Miami Beach
Coordinates:: 25.7802788 x -80.1303466

Scope and Content:: Mickey Schermer moved with his family from Detroit to Miami Beach in 1947 when he was 12. His father felt he could make a better living in Miami Beach in the boom years after World War II. His parents tried to persuade their maid in Detroit to make the move with them but she had migrated to Detroit from the South and said she never wanted to live in the South again. The family realized why when they saw all the signs segregating restrooms, water fountains and buses. Mr. Schermer's father built the Schermer Apartments Building on 16th Street and Euclid, which still stands. As a child, he lived on the streets, working summers as a cabana boy, a bat boy during major league spring training, parking cars when he was older at the clubs. Sitting on the curbs with his friends, who were also working, they heard great music and saw many famous people. He was the youngest manager ever at Burdines Department Store. He eventually became a stockbroker. He discusses the racing and gambling scene, the S&G Syndicate and the end of organized gambling in Miami Beach with the Kefauver federal investigation. He eventually became a builder/developer, working with his father, developing communities in Broward. He describes the racism he encountered in that business which forced them to use black labor only for non-skilled jobs, even if they wanted to hire skilled black workers. ( English )