Cam Humphrey
In 1926, the City of Miami constructed a municipal waste incinerator in the West Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, a community established by Bahamian immigrants dating back to the 1880s. The incinerator, infamously dubbed “Old Smokey,” burnt up to 300 tons of garbage daily, creating a blanket of ash and air pollution in the surrounding segregated community. The incinerator closed in the 1970, however the environmental affects still linger today. There has been a recent growing alarm over soil samples that show contamination from carcinogens like arsenic and heavy metals like lead, in the area. My research project in researching the history of “Old Smokey,” is to analyze the historical inequities around the pollution burdens and their ongoing health and justice impacts in the Coconut Grove neighborhood and other nearby areas.