Dr. Marvin Dunn Biographical Sketch
Dr. Marvin Dunn taught in the Department of Psychology at Florida International University for
thirty-four years, retiring as head of the department in 2006. He was born in DeLand, Florida, and was
educated in the Florida public school system. His family moved to Miami in 1951. In 1961, he earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He began his career
as a naval officer, serving from 1961 to 1967 aboard the aircraft carriers U.S.S Kitty Hawk and the U.S.S.
Saratoga, and was the Commander of the 14th Battalion, U.S. Naval Recruit Training Command in Great
Lakes, Illinois. While still on active duty he studied at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois and
received a Masters degree in education administration and supervision in 1965. In 1972, Dr. Dunn earned
a Ph. D in psychology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Dunn became an assistant professor of psychology at Florida
International University, in Miami, Florida. In that position he was a seminal influence on students
working for positive social change. He began such innovative programs as the Cultural and Human
Interaction Center, which addressed racially motivated violence in the Dade County schools of the early
1970s. During that same period he shaped and guided the Institute on Sexism and Racism at Florida
International University. In 1981, he founded the Academy for Community Education, an innovative
program which addressed the needs of youth at risk of becoming school dropouts. He served as the
school’s principal for fifteen years while continuing his duties at the university. His first book, a coauthored work with Bruce Porter, The Miami Riots of 1980: Crossing the Bounds, is the definitive work
on that event.
In 1999 he designed and traveled an extensive photographic history of blacks in Florida with a
grant from the Florida Humanities Council. This exhibit is still being widely circulated in Florida. He
has also developed Florida black history photographic exhibits for Florida International University and
for Camillus House’s Brownsville Christian Community Center, which was Miami’s Negro hospital in
the days of segregation. His book, Black Miami in the Twentieth Century, was published in 1997. It is
the only comprehensive history of the presence of blacks in Miami. His next book, “The Beast in Florida:
A History of Anti-Black Violence is due for publication in February 2013 by University Press of Florida.
Dr. Dunn has appeared on numerous national television programs including several appearances
on the CBS, NBC and ABC evening news programs as well as on CNN, Fox News, the BBC, The Today
Show, Good Morning America, Black Entertainment Television, The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and
Nightline. Dr. Dunn has also written articles for many newspapers including, the Miami Herald, the
Orlando Sentinel, the St Petersburg Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the New
York Times. He has directed three documentary films, Black Seminoles in the Bahamas: The Red Bays
Story, Murder on the Suwannee River: The Willie James Howard Story and Rosewood Uncovered. Dr.
Dunn is currently serving as Scholar-in-Residence for Camillus House of Miami. He is also founder of
the non-profit organization, Roots in the City, which hires indigent people to develop community gardens
in Miami inner-city areas.
dunnfiu@bellsouth.net