INTERVIEWER: Dr. Rebekah McCloud



Dr. Rebekah McCloud is a public scholar and retired educator. She has spent nearly 50 years researching, writing, telling stories, and giving voice to Black life, culture, and history. A recent retiree, Dr. McCloud spent 40 years as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Central Florida and a former school principal and award-winning classroom teacher in Orange & Seminole County Public Schools.

A published author, an award-winning journalist, and the former editor of The Florida English Journal, she has served on the editorial review board for six national peer-reviewed journals. She currently writes a weekly blog and is a guest writer for the Florida Sun Newspaper. A recognized Black Church historian, Dr. McCloud researched and published two books that chronicle the beginnings of Winter Park, Hannibal Square, and the development of the twelve black churches. It highlights several of the citizens who contributed to the development of the West Side.

Dr. McCloud serves as Vice President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Central Florida Dorothy Turner Johnson Branch (ASALH), and serves on the board of the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Garden and WVIP Kids. She is also a member of the Central Florida Section of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., and a member of the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. (Beta Xi Chapter)

Dr. Marvin Dunn, Author of A History of Florida Through Black Eyes

Dr. Marvin Dunn, a native Floridian, is professor emeritus and retired chairperson of the Department of Psychology at Florida International University. Born during the Jim Crow era, he brings a perspective to black history that has been missed, distorted, and minimalized in the past.

He co-authored The Miami Riot of 1980: Crossing the Bounds (1984). He authored Black Miami in the Twentieth Century (1997), A History of Florida: Through Black Eyes (2016) and The Kingsleys (2022).

Dr. Dunn is the founder and President of the Miami Center for Racial Justice, a non-profit organization created to tell and preserve the true black history of Florida – especially those stories that are difficult to hear.

Dr. Dunn is a renowned expert on race and ethnic issues in America and a nationally respected scholar, author, historian, documentary filmmaker, and community activist. He lives in Miami Florida. Much of his work can be found on Dunnhistory.com