The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater

Opened in 1913, the Lyric Theater quickly became a major entertainment center for blacks in Miami. The 400-seat theater was built, owned and operated by Geder Walker, a black man from Georgia. In 1915 the Miami Metropolis newspaper described the Lyric Theater as “possibly the most beautiful and costly playhouse owned by Colored people in all the Southland” The Lyric Theater served as a symbol of black economic influence, as well as a social gathering place-free of discrimination- and a source of pride and culture within Overtown.