THE HISTORIC OVIEDO COLORED SCHOOLS MUSEUM: “Sad, angry and scared for loved ones with hatred now emboldened again,” said Seminole County resident Vicki Vail Nardozzi on social media. PHOTO COURTESY OF HISTORIC OVIEDO COLORED SCHOOLS MUSEUM FACEBOOK PAGE

By David L. Snelling

Miami – An African American historical museum in Florida was the target of a hate crime, as vandals spray painted racist graffiti on the building.

The Historic Oviedo Colored Schools Museum, which is housed inside the St. James A.M.E. Church in Seminole County, was vandalized with messages of hate on the eve of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration.

The graffiti has since been painted over and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation. “It is disheartening to see racist graffiti on this historic structure,” deputies told reporters. “Especially since Monday marks the holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King.”

The museum took to social media to condemn the racist defacement.

“Whoever did this committed a ‘hate crime’ by placing the symbols and speech on a church, the St. James A. M. E. Church,” the Facebook page read. “We contacted the African Methodist Episcopal Diocese’s attorney who checked with Bishop Zanders. He requested that the FBI be notified. This has been accomplished. We filed a report with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.”

The museum’s president, Judith Smith, said she was disheartened by the racist act.

“It didn’t shock me, that wasn’t it. You know why it didn’t shock me? Because we have been through so much just trying to get this project off the ground,” Smith said.

Smith said the building was recently renovated with a state grant and looked new before the graffiti ruined it.

“Sad, angry and scared for loved ones with hatred now emboldened again,” Seminole County resident Vicki Vail Nardozzi said on social media. “While it was never gone, racists knew enough to know it was wrong.”

A $1,000 reward is being offered to anyone who can provide information that can lead to an arrest of the vandals.

The building is rich in history and tradition.

It was once part of the Gabriella Colored School, which at its inception in 1918 was part of a collection of approximately six colored schools within the Oviedo area: Oviedo, Kolokee, Gabriella, Wagner, Geneva and Chuluota.

The mission of the Historic Oviedo Colored Schools Museum is to tell stories of how subjugated African Americans, and their descendants, moved from regions where they were enslaved. They sought employment, and more than anything else, a means to educate their children.

“The miracle of how they accomplished that monumental task amidst unimaginable barriers is at the heart of what we do,” the museum website said.