D.A. Dorsey Owned Part of Fisher Island Before Carl Fisher Did

Before it was Fisher Island, about 21 acres of it belonged to Dana A. Dorsey. He bought the land in 1918, planning a beach resort where Black Miamians could go. A year later, under pressure in a segregated city, he sold it to Carl Fisher, whose name the island still carries.

From Quitman to Miami

Dorsey was born in Quitman, Georgia, in 1872 to formerly enslaved parents. He came to Miami around 1896 as a carpenter, while the city was still being laid out, and put his wages into cheap lots. He built rental houses on them for Black workers in the neighborhood then called Colored Town, now Overtown.

What He Built

He opened the Dorsey Hotel, Miami’s first Black-owned hotel, and gave land for a school and a park. He is remembered as Miami’s first Black millionaire. He died in February 1940.

What to See

The D.A. Dorsey House in Overtown has been restored, and the D.A. Dorsey Educational Center stands on land he donated.