The War of 1812 begins. In West Florida, British forces enlist both Blacks and Native Americans. The ensuing fight in the region becomes known as the Patriots War. Sarrazota (also known as Angola) existed in the Tampa Bay-Sarasota-Manatee area. Florida was a sovereign territory of Spain. Free people of color, formerly enslaved Africans (some were called Black Seminoles and Seminole Indians) lived along the Manatee River in a farming community that stretched into Sarasota.

During the Patriots War, more Blacks ally with the British. Their forces are defeated. In 1815, the British leave a fort at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River to Blacks where they reside and create villages nearby with Native American allies. The place becomes known as Negro Fort.

Under the direction of then Gen. Andrew Jackson, the U.S. Navy attacks Prospect Bluff Fort. A cannon ball strikes the fort’s stockpile of ammunition causing an explosion that instantly kills about 270 of 320 inhabitants. Some survivors, including the fort’s Black commandant Garcon, were executed. Displaced Blacks moved south and throughout Florida.

Jeffrey Bolding, formerly enslaved in North Carolina came to the area in 1857 and worked for the Whitaker Family. He died at age 70 in 1904.

Lewis Colson came to Sarasota with his wife Irene. He drove the first stake into the ground to assist Richard Paulson in platting the town of Sarasota at Five Points in 1885. Sarasota was platted by the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company, a Scottish entity.

 In 1885 Colson worked with Robert E. Paulson to survey and plat the original town of Sarasota for the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company.

In 1897 Lewis and Irene Colson sold the deed for the land to build Bethlehem Baptist Church for $1.

In 1899, Bethlehem Baptist Church was the first church built by and for African Americans. John Mays, a carpenter and builder helped complete the construction of the church.

In 1899, Lewis Colson was appointed as the first minister of Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Between 1899 and 1937, twelve more African American churches are founded.

In 1900, Leonard Reid arrived in Sarasota from South Carolina. He graduated as valedictorian from Savannah Normal School before coming to Sarasota where he became a community leader.

In 1902, Sarasota is incorporated. Colonel John Hamilton Gillespie is elected as the first mayor. Leonard Reid worked for Col. Gillespie and assisted in designing Sarasota’s first golf course and became its first greenskeeper.

In 1903, Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church was the second church built by and for African Americans. Leonard Reid and wife Eddye Coleman were influential in forming this church.

The arrival of the first train of the Seaboard Air Line Railway.

Between the years 1905 and 1925, the Gillespie Golf Course was opened.

In 1910, Josie Washington opened the first kindergarten in her home. Lucinda Wiggins also started a home-based school.  

In 1912, the first formal school facility for African American children was established in the Knights of Pythias Hall. Emma Edwina Booker, who Wright Bush helped to recruit, became the principal.

Mt. Moriah Christian Church is established in the year of 1913.

In 1914, the first addition to the Newtown Plat was filed on August 6,  creating 74 additional lots.

In the year of 1914, Newtown was established. The neighborhood was platted by C.N. Thompson and son on April 20. The subdivision contained 240 lots on forty acres designated “exclusively for colored people”.

In 1916, the Free and Accepted Masons, Pride of Sarasota Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and St. Mary’s Calanthe Court organizations were established.

Congress passed the Selective Service Act on May 18, 1917.

Recruiting officer Charles Ayler (from Bradenton) recruited black and white men to serve for battle in WWI, October 2,  1917.

More than 100 “Colored Selects” recruited from Sarasota and Bradenton were sent to train as Army soldiers at Camp Devens, Massachusetts on August 4, 1918.

In the year of 1918, Truevine Missionary Baptist Church is established.