20 Oct
2026
When people think about the road to freedom for enslaved Africans in North America, they usually picture routes leading north. But long before the Underground Railroad, some people escaping slavery in the British colonies ran south, toward Spanish Florida. Near St. Augustine, they built a community called Fort Mose, an early haven of Black freedom on land that is now part of the United States.
The settlement's full name was Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose. It was founded in 1738 a short distance north of St. Augustine, the Spanish capital of Florida. It is often described as the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in what is now the United States.
Mose was both a town and a fort. Its residents built homes, planted crops and lived as free people, while also guarding the northern approach to St. Augustine. For the Spanish, the settlement served as a defensive outpost. For the people who lived there, it was something far more personal: a place where their freedom was recognized. Life there called for hard work and constant watchfulness, since the settlement stood on the front line between rival colonies.
In the early 1700s, Spain and Britain were rivals in the region. Spanish Florida bordered the British Carolinas, where slavery was spreading on plantations. Spain offered freedom to people who escaped slavery in the British colonies and reached Florida.
That freedom came with conditions. Those who arrived were expected to accept the Catholic faith, and men were expected to serve in the Spanish militia. For people who had been enslaved, the journey south through swamps, forests and rivers was dangerous. Many risked everything for the chance to live free.
Those who reached St. Augustine were not simply passing through. They were joining a Spanish colonial society with its own church, laws and military duties, and Mose gave them a community of their own within it. There, they built a shared life together.
The story of Fort Mose reminds us of a few important truths:
Learning about Mose also changes how we think about the colonial South. It was not only a world of plantations and slavery. It was also a place where enslaved people understood the rivalries between empires and used them to seek their freedom.
The militia at Mose was led by Francisco Menéndez, a man who had himself escaped slavery in the Carolinas. As captain of the free Black militia, he became one of the community's most important leaders and is remembered today as a key figure in its history.
His leadership shows what Mose represented. Here were formerly enslaved people not only living free, but organizing, defending their community and holding positions of responsibility. In a world built on taking that dignity away, Mose gave it back. Menéndez is remembered today as an example of leadership under extraordinary pressure.
The community's time in Florida did not last forever. In 1763, Spain ceded Florida to Britain. For the residents of Mose, British rule threatened the freedom they had fought for. Rather than stay, they left Florida with the Spanish and resettled in Cuba.
It was a painful departure. They left behind the homes and fields they had built and started over again on another island. But they left as free people, carrying their history with them. Their departure is a reminder of how fragile freedom could be when it depended on which empire controlled the land.
For a long time, Fort Mose was largely forgotten. Today the site is Fort Mose Historic State Park, and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Visitors can walk the grounds, learn the community's story and reflect on the courage of the people who made it home. Archaeologists have studied the site, helping bring its history back into view after it had been overlooked for a long time.
Fort Mose matters because it widens the picture of Black history in America. It shows that the fight for freedom happened in many places, in many ways, and much earlier than many people realize. It also shows that freedom is something people build together. The residents of Mose did not wait to be rescued. They took a dangerous road, made a home and defended it. It also belongs to Florida, the state where Jonathan Anthony Burkett was born, in Miami.
If you are in northeast Florida, consider visiting the park and learning more. And if stories of people who refused to be defeated speak to you, you can read Jonathan's own journey on the Books page.
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