The DEIA Committee would like to honor members of our League who engaged in Civil Rights protests and desegregation efforts. Their heroism and resilience is an inspiration for all of us to continue to resist oppression in all its forms.
Dr. LaVon Bracy: Among the first three students to integrate Gainesville High School and the first Black woman to graduate in 1965. She referred to her experience as a "year of total isolation" and has declined to attend class reunions citing her discomfort in reliving painful and abusive memories of her experience at Gainesville High School.. Learn more about Dr. Bracy, Civil Rights pioneer and author of "Brave Little Cookie" here: https://bravelittlecookie.com/about-the-author/
Florida State Senator Geraldine Thompson (Senate District 15): Senator Thompson was one of the first Black students to integrate the University of Miami. She has been a fierce advocate for the protection of voting rights and civil rights for over 40 years including during her tenure in the Florida Legislature where she has served as both a Representative and Senator. As a former classroom teacher, Senator Thompson understands the importance of an equal and quality education for every child and has supported increasing teacher salaries. Senator Thompson is also the founder of the Wells' Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando, FL.
As we continue to learn more about the inclusive teaching of American history and Black Resistance, here are more recommendations for your continuing education: a recent opinion/news article by Henry Louis Gates, Jr, a book by Clint Smith and a documentary about Marian Anderson: All have been given a "thumbs up" by members of our Committee.
An article by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in the New York Times that cautions our leaders who seek to restrict how American History is taught:
This documentary about Marian Anderson: Voice of Freedom: Turbulent times turned an artist into a hero.
The DEIA Committee invites you to continue to deepen your knowledge and understanding of an inclusive and comprehensive US history. We recommend these resources to support your learning about the many contributions to Us History by African Americans:
Visit
Wells Built Museum of African American History and Culture
https://www.wellsbuilt.org
In the 1990s, the former hotel became one of Central Florida’s historic-preservation success stories. Dr. William Monroe Wells opened the two story brick hotel in 1929 on South Street near Division Avenue – a name long associated with the dividing line between white and Black Orlando.During the days of legalized segregation, it was very hard for Black travelers to find accommodations, and Wells, one of Orlando’s first African American physicians and a business leader in the community, remedied that. The Wellsbuilt Hotel housed many of the great jazz artists of the 20th century and was listed in the Green Book
Harry T Moore and his wife, Harriet V Moore, were pioneer activists and leaders of the early Civil Rights Movement and became the first martyrs of the movement. Their home in Mims, FL was bombed on Christmas Day, 1951. The Cultural Complex explores the history the Moores and the Civil Rights Movement through exhibits, historic collections and speakers.
Learn
Acknowledging the shadow of our racial past; Liberating our communities to heal: Alliance for Truth and Justice
Visit the website of the Alliance for Truth and Justice: to learn more about Central Florida's racial history. The AJT is a partnership organization with the Equal Justice Initiative.
Listen
Freedom Ridersis the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.
Read: Some more suggestions from our bookshelves.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon Line to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Amani Perry
Any Book by Octavia Butler: Butler, a MacArthur Fellow, was an award winning science fiction writer. One of her novels, Kindred, has been adapted for TV and is available on Hulu.
How to Be a (Young) Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi and Nic Stone: A guide for teens seeking a way forward in acknowledging, identifying and dismantling racism and injustice.
The DEIA Committee invites you to join us in expanding our knowledge about the contributions, struggles, resistance and joy that is Black history.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson
Learn about the founder of Black History Month, Dr.Carter G. Woodson and ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History)
Visit their site https://asalh.org/
The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, (later ASALH) was founded by Doctor Carter G. Woodson. Woodson, the son of formerly enslaved people and the second African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University initiated the celebration of Negro History Week in 1926. In 1976, this celebration was expanded to include the entire month of February, and today Black History Month garners support throughout the country as people of all ethnic and social backgrounds discuss the black experience. ASALH views the promotion of Black History Month as one of the most important components of advancing Dr.Woodson’s legacy.
The Central Florida Branch of ASALH honors the life and legacy of Dorothy Turner Johnson, historian, librarian and longtime resident of Celebration, FL. Originally from Dublin, Georgia, Turner Johnson made history as a member of the "six triple eight", the only all African American Women's Army Corp battalion to serve overseas in World War II. She lived to be 100.
BHM Events
ASALH's Black History Month Festival offers a variety of panels and author talks throughout the month. Check out the events calendar.
StoryCorp
Central Florida has a rich history of resistance and courage. Listen to the story of Harold Lucas who found joy in watching Jackie Robinson play baseball after Black leaders in Daytona Beach stood up to hatred and gave Robinson a place to stay and play in segregated Florida in the 1940s.
How Jackie Robinson inspired one Florida man to be someone.
Bookshelf
Here's some of the titles that are favorites on our Committee's bookshelves. We would welcome your feedback.
Magnolia Flower by Ibram X Kendi: (adapted from a short story by Zora Neale Hurston about an Afro Indigenous girl looking for freedom.; beautifully illustrated by Loveis Wise.)
Raising Our Hands: How White Women Can Stop Avoiding Hard Conversations, Start Accepting Responsibility and Find Our Place on the New Frontlines by Jenna Arnold
Black Resistance/White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America by Mary Frances Berry
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement by Bettye Collier Thomas and V.P. Franklin
The theme of Black History Month, February 2023 is Black Resistance. We encourage all to get involved and explore the resources and event links listed below from our DEIA Committee
The moderator for our Feb 8 Hot Topics-Black Resistance is Valada Flewellyn. Learn more about her on our Hot Topics page. Hear her read her compelling poem "Skin on the Rope," in this 2 minute CLIP via YouTube which was featured during the 100th Anniversary of the Ocoee Massacre.
And in celebration of the "First Black Vote" lauding Thomas Mundy Peterson:
FIRST BLACK VOTE
By Valada Flewellyn
Thomas Mundy Peterson
First at the poll
Exercised his freedom
God bless his soul
First Black man
To cast his vote
An historical fact
Worthy of note
May all Americans
Do the Same
A man of courage
Remember his name
Thomas Mundy Peterson
And Vote
*Photo of Thomas Mundy Peterson courtesy of Smithsonian Institute.
Zora Neale Hurston
We also celebrate the brilliance of anthropologist, filmmaker, author and Eatonville native, Zora Neale Hurston. Ms. Hurston challenged assumptions about race, gender and cultural superiority during the early-1900s in the American South. The most popular of her four novels is "Their Eyes Were Watching God," published in 1937.
The American Experience series on PBS has recently released an in-depth biography about Ms Hurston's life: Zora Neale Hurston: "Claiming a Space".
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/zora-neale-hurston-claiming-space/
Resources
ASALH Central Florida-Dorothy Turner Johnson Branch
https://asalhdtj.org/
BHM Events
City of Orlando
https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Executive-Offices/Office-of-Multicultural-Affairs/Black-History-Month
Visit Orlando
https://www.visitorlando.com/blog/post/black-history-month-orlando/
Orange County Regional History Center
https://www.thehistorycenter.org/event/celebrating-black-art-culture/
onePULSE Foundation in partnership w/Orange County MLK Initiative, Bethune-
Cookman U.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/emotional-rollercoaster-love-letter-to-life-tickets-
519105938837
The Equity Council Corp-1619Fest Orlando!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-black-history-month-at-the-fourth-annual-
1619fest-orlando-tickets-517364510177?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church presents Tolton: From Slave to Priest
https://www.stlukeproductions.com/events/tolton/2023-02-25-180000
LWVOC Members who engaged in Civil Rights Protests/Desegregation Efforts We thank you!
Kitty Majors Woodley – Integrated Florida State University; Eatonville native
Lavon Bracy – Integrated Gainesville High School, University of Miami
FL Sen. Geraldine Thompson – Integrated University of Miami, Founder of the
Wells’Built Museum
Local African American and Historic Institutions
Wells’Built Museum – Orlando, FL
https://www.wellsbuilt.org/
Jones HS (formerly Johnson Academy) – Orlando, FL
Town of Eatonville
NAACP Orange County Branch
Guardian Care Nursing & Rehabilitation Center – Orlando, FL
Phyllis Wheatley School (currently Phyllis Wheatley ES) – Apopka, HS
Parramore Neighborhood
Hannibal Square Heritage Center – Winter Park, FL
http://www.hannibalsquareheritagecenter.org/
Zora Neal Hurston Museum – Eatonville, FL
http://www.zoranealehurstonmuseum.com/