Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Side One: The Guzman House is a one-story masonry frame Vernacular style home. It has an irregular plan protected by a side facing gable roof with a front gable extension. The exterior walls are covered with wood shake shingles. The fenestration consists of bronze aluminum double-hung sash windows with one over one lights. The cottage has a closed-in front porch and a car porch, all-inclusive in the single story building. This cottage was built in 1963 as an American Beach summer home for African American professors Jessie P. and Ignacio L. Guzman. Both served on the faculty of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. The Guzman House is significant in that it represents the diversity of people who traveled to American Beach to enjoy the "Negro Ocean Playground," during the period of segregation. During the heyday of American Beach, individuals and families from all over the country purchased property to become part of the community. Abraham Lincoln Lewis' vision of a resort for all people provided independence and affirmed status among people of color during segregation. The Guzman family’s influence on American Beach provided inspiration, and became the "North Star" to people of color. Side Two: Jessie P. Guzman was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1898. From an early age, she was academically, professionally, and community oriented. She graduated from Howard University (A.B 1919, Alpha Kappa Alpha), Columbia University (M.A, 1924), University of Chicago, and American University. Guzman was an author, archivist, historian, civil rights activist, educator, and college administrator. In 1954, she ran for a seat on the Macon County Board of Education, the first African American to do so. For more than forty years, Jessie Guzman served as the Dean of Women and Director of the Department of Research and Records at the Tuskegee Institute, which included the management of records of lynchings in America for the NAACP. Her husband, Dr. Ignacio L. Guzman, was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in 1898. His career at the Tuskegee Institute began in the early 1920s, where he taught and ran their lithography department. There he met and married Jessie in 1940. They retired to American Beach in 1965. The two of them were lifelong supporters of Tuskegee Institute, active in the Macon County community, and prominent figures on American Beach.