Encore: Miami author on her Pulitzer-winning Harriet Tubman book, South Florida's new boating laws and Florida's weak patriotism

Published July 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM EDT

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Boat on a cart — FILE: Damage to the 29-foot Robalo piloted by George Pino, who crashed his boat into a concrete channel marker in Biscayne Bay on Sept. 4, 2022. The boat crash led to the death of Luciana ‘Lucy’ Fernandez, a 17-year-old student at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, and severely injured her classmate, Katerina Puig.

On The South Florida Roundup for this Fourth of July weekend, we revisited our Memorial Day weekend conversation with Miami native Edda Fields-Black about her Pulitzer Prize-winning history of Harriet Tubman and a pivotal Civil War raid. We also examined Lucy’s Law, which strengthens the state’s boating codes after Luciana Fernandez’s tragic death. And we looked at how we measure patriotism — and why Florida keeps finishing near the bottom in one patriotism survey.