Belle Glade, Florida

The existence of Belle Glade is related to the federal project of draining the land around Lake Okeechobee, the acreage to be used for agriculture. The town was built in 1925 and destroyed three years later by a hurricane which killed thousands of people. The town was subsequently rebuilt. The area around Lake Okeechobee is fertile and farming has been an important industry.[16]

Many migrant farmworkers from Belle Glade appeared in the 1960 television documentary, Harvest of Shame.

Men and women still gather around 5 a.m. in the same lot you see at the beginning of Harvest of Shame, waiting for buses to take them to the fields. The "loading ramp," as it's called, is a bleak, empty lot, surrounded by some small buildings with bars on the windows and a boarded up storefront.[17]

As of May 2014 the city has plans "to demolish the loading ramp and turn it into a park."[17]

The town is known for its football tradition, and together with nearby Pahokee has "sent at least 60 players to the National Football League".[2]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.7 square miles (12 km²), of which 4.7 square miles (12 km²) are land and 0.21% is water.

As of the census of 2010, there were 6,368 households, out of which 11.3% were vacant. In 2000, 39.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.9% were married couples living together, 22.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.3% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.04 and the average family size was 3.62.

In 2000, the population was spread out, with 33.5% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.6 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $22,715, and the median income for a family was $26,756. Males had a median income of $26,232 versus $21,410 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,159. About 28.5% of families and 32.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.1% of those under age 18 and 21.4% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2000, speakers of English as a first language accounted for 61.03% of all residents, while Spanish as a mother tongue consisted of 26.87%, Haitian Creole comprised 11.00%, and French made up 1.07% of the population.[19]

As of 2000, Belle Glade had the tenth highest percentage of Haitian residents in the United States, at 11.50% of the populace.[20] It also had the sixtieth highest percentage of Cuban residents nationally, at 5.98% of the population.[21]

African American migratory workers by a juke joint in Belle Glade, 1941. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott.

The cane sugar mill of the "Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative" (SCGC) is located at Belle Glade. During the crop season the factory employs 550 people.[22]

As of Feb. 2013, the official unemployment rate was about 15%; however, the town's mayor suggested the actual unemployment rate was closer to 40%. The number of jobs available locally dropped as local agriculture shifted from vegetables to sugarcane, a more highly mechanized crop.[15]

The United States Postal Service operates the Belle Glade Post Office.[23]

The Florida Department of Corrections operated the Glades Correctional Institution in an unincorporated area in Palm Beach County near Belle Glade.[24] It was founded in 1932, employed about 350, had a capacity of 918 inmates [24] and was scheduled for closure in December 2011.[25]

The Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail runs through Belle Glade.

School District of Palm Beach County operates public schools.

• Reidel Anthony, former NFL wide receiver, Tampa Bay Buccaneers[26]
• Brad Banks, CFL quarterback, Winnipeg Blue Bombers; 2002 Heisman Trophy first runner-up for the University of Iowa[27]
• Kelvin Benjamin, NFL wide receiver.
• Travis Benjamin, NFL wide receiver and punt returner
• Rashaad Duncan, Former NFL Defensive Tackle for Tampa Bay, Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins.
• Jessie Hester, former NFL wide receiver, Los Angeles Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams[28]
• Santonio Holmes, NFL wide receiver, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, and Chicago Bears; Super Bowl XLIII MVP[29]
• James Lee, NFL offensive lineman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers[30]
• Louis Oliver, former NFL safety, Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals[31]
• Jimmy Moreland, NFL cornerback, Washington Football Team[32]
• Fred Taylor, former NFL running back, Jacksonville Jaguars[33]
• Deonte Thompson, NFL wide receiver
• Andre Waters, former NFL safety, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals[34]
• Rhondy Weston, former NFL defensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns[35]

In CBS Reports' 1960 program Harvest of Shame, Belle Glade plays a prominent role as a source of migrant agricultural labor.

The final scenes of the crime novel Pretty Little Things by Jilliane Hoffman take place in a sugarcane plantation near Belle Glade.

The high school football culture of Belle Glade is the subject of the non-fiction book, Muck City: Winning and Losing in Football's Forgotten Town by author Bryan Mealer.

The psychedelic pop band of Montreal released a track titled, "Belle Glade Missionaries" on their 2013 album, Lousy with Sylvianbriar.

In Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, characters Janie and Tea Cake join other African American migrant workers in picking beans in Belle Glade.

• Eagle Academy (Belle Glade)

• Mealer, Bryan (2012). Muck city: winning and losing in football's forgotten town. New York: Crown Archetype. ISBN 9780307888624.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Belle Glade.

• City of Belle Glade
• Ovaska, Mark, "The Way Out", New York Times, February 2, 2013. "In Muck City, football is salvation, an escape from the likelihood of prison or early death."