Howard Way

Howard Way isn’t just the name of a street - it’s a way of life. 

Collier County Commissioners voted to rename Eustis Avenue in Immokalee to Howard Way in honor of the pioneering Howard Family with an unveiling ceremony held on January 31, just after Martin Luther King Jr Day and ahead of February’s Black History Month. Google Maps is yet to catch up with the name change as of March. 

“I’m tickled to the death they named the street after me and my wife,” said Huey Howard.

The people of Immokalee call him Mr. Sunset, because he worked sunrise to sunset, longer than almost anyone else.

“It’s a Howard thing,” said great-grandson Lavarius Linsay.

There are many financially successful families and landowners in Collier County, but few overcame times of segregation and Jim Crow Laws, preventing them from purchasing land, cattle, and cars the way the Howards did. The Howards overcame these and many other challenges. 

“Mom was always telling us, ‘Don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t. We’ll figure it out. Don’t accept no,’” said Ivan Howard, son of the late educator Dorcas Franklin Howard and cattle rancher Huey Howard, now 90 years old. 

That determination, along with faith, valuing education, and hard work, led to the success of the Howards, Ivan described. 

“Hard work was paramount, as was perseverance and treating others with respect,” he said of his parents' values instilled in the younger generations, which includes his three siblings as well as now grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Huey Howard - and Dorcas - overcame the hurdles of the 1960s South, before, during, and after the segregation of black and white people. He often did this through friendships and long work hours, eventually purchasing approximately 7,000 acres of cattle ranching land with approximately 800 cattle on it, still managed by the family today. She prioritized education, faith, and community.

Though the street name ceremony focused on Huey, the patriarch, the family continually included and lauded the accomplishments and contributions of their late matriarch, Dorcas. 

“My mom walked this path every day. How ironic. She walked this road to her first teaching job. Now, 60 years later, it’s got her name on it,” said Ivan. 

Dorcas was a role model and educator, first teaching at Bethune School in 1960, a black school in the then-segregated school system. She worked there through 1968 during desegregation.

She later became principal of Village Oaks Elementary School, working for the Collier County School District for more than 50 years, making her the longest-serving educator in the county. She was known for going beyond education to help students, many of whom lived in the Farm Workers Village, facing homelessness and poverty. 

The next generation of the Howard family, which includes children Kelvan, Twana, Ivan, and Huey, continues in her honor. They all valued education, with varying high degrees from multiple masters to PhDs. 

After Collier County renamed the street, the Howards invited anyone who wanted to join them for a celebration at their home - now on Howard Way. The old adage to build a longer table rather than a higher fence played out as guests sat around the Howards’ long line of connected tables, where they enjoyed food and refreshments outside the Howard family home. 

"I didn’t know this many people in the world loved me,” said Howard. “I know it now,” he said.

He invited an interview in his home, where he recounted first moving to Immokalee from Mississippi in 1953 at age 18, eager to earn money in agriculture. 

“I heard ‘Oh man, you go to Immokalee, you can make plenty of money,’ and I wanted to jump on that ship,” said Howard, as he sat at his kitchen table, chatting with his adult daughter, Twana, an educator. 

Huey and Dorcas met at the annual Harvest Festival parade, later marrying and building their home, family and business together for more than 55 years. 

“We got married in the house across the street,” he said. 

He recalled the additions to the home and the land, raising calves in the backyard and bottle feeding them. He showed a photograph of the oldest cow he had. “She’s part of the family. She was a pet,” he said. 

Howard saved up money from years of long hours and a man was willing to sell him land— but laws at the time prevented a black man from making a purchase. So the white man, who the museum has recounted was named Ralph Watlow, made the first 20-acre purchase with Howard’s money and transferred ownership.

Lawrence Silas of Osceola County was a well-known black cattleman and sold Howard his first beef cattle. He kept purchasing more. Now, sons Ivan and Huey do most of the cattle work. 

Dorcas passed away in 2018 to the heartbreak of Huey and the family. One day, maybe she’ll have a school named after her, Howard family members suggested.

“They have contributed to the economic vitality of this community and our region, as well as to the social fabric of our town,” said Helen Midney, manager of the Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch.