Thanksgiving Reflections: African-Americans and Autonomy

The semester has been busy, so this year's thanksgiving is a welcomed break. As I think about ongoing work and plan for next semester, I realize that one theme comes through--the unique experience of African-Americans in Florida. As one faculty out of many concerned about Florida as prism to understand the American experience (and I mean the Americas, not the United States alone), I keep seeing unique links between the Florida experience and how we understand the past. Case in point, Thanksgiving!! Dr. Michael Gannon, of course long ago pointed out the first thanksgiving celebration took place in Florida. A story he shared when he visited the college in April and received the Alfred J. Hanna Award in recognition of his long career and work. I'm not going to step into that hornet nest, but it reminded me, as I attempt not to over eat, that the Florida experience is different.

This semester several departments on campus as getting together to support and participate in programs and discussions about Zora Neale Hurston. As many of you likely know, Eatonville, FL hosts the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities. The festival, celebrates Hurston's life and work. The festival in 2010 is unique in that it marks the 50 year anniversary of Hurston's death. For Rollins's this is a unique opportunity to explore our relationship with Hurston. While others may stress their interest in the Hurston, the fact of the matter is that Rollins has a real and important place in Hurston's life.

Considered one of the most important writers of the African-American experience in the twentieth century, Hurston’s work is closely linked to the African-American cultural and intellectual invigoration associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston wrote two books of folklore and four novels using her training as an anthropologist and extensive fieldwork as a foundation. While it is not well known today, in 1932, Professor Edwin Osgood Grover and Professor Robert Wunsch helped Hurston develop her ideas about folk theater. While teaching and working at the college, she wrote and staged From Sun to Sun (1933) and All De Live Long Day (1935), both of which, explore southern work culture. The Olin Archive's Zora Neale Hurston Collection contains archival letters related to these events. Moreover, Rollins was and continues to be an institution interested in promoting dialogue. As the program for the Interfaith and Race Relations Committee listed above suggests.

Hurston's renewal, driven by writers like Alice Walker and media tycoons like Oprah Winfrey has made her a cottage industry. Yet, some of the most interesting parts of Hurston's story are often overlooked. Her time at Rollins is one example, but her conservatism is another. One thing, I hope that comes from the projects we are planning right now is a better understanding of how Hurston, a product of an all black community, could be resistance to the integration message associated with modern civil rights movement. I know from oral history and primary document research that the black communities in Florida felt a great sense of pride. That holiday celebrations, such as Thanksgiving were a time for families to come together and celebrate their good fortune. Indeed, communities like Eatonville and Hannibal Square in Winter Park had much to be thankful about. Self-governed and containing a large number of property owners, these all black communities provided security and protection for African-Americans in the later nineteenth century, a time when rising anti-black violence and political disenfranchisement was crippling black autonomy from its heights durng Reconstruction. Hurston always express great pride and rejected any suggestion that somehow African-Americans were not equal to whites. Indeed, her literary legacy is an investigation of black belief and black thought that practically omits whites. She has been branded a conservative, but is this conservatism is the classic sense that historians have used to describe schism within the black community? I think Hurston's story offers a more complex narrative about what it means to be African-American in the late nineteenth century. Part of that story I believe is a story of Florida's frontier status, the independents that existed in state and was enjoyed by its residents. Am I suggest, lesser racism in Florida? No, the strange case of the detachment and annexiation of the Hannibal Square proves that the politics of race in Florida was and continues to be a powerful force. Nonetheless, the flexibility offered by unsettled space and the power gained by creating community is a worthy topic to consider.

History and the World

This semester Dr. Yusheng Yao is teaching in Shanghai, China. Rollins, as you probably know, has strong historical and contemporary links to China. The China Center at Rollins works to promote cross cultural learning. Dr. Yao has been on the forefront of these activities at Rollins teaching about China for the History Department since his arrival. One of his most popular courses is HIS 212/212F A Journey to the Middle Kingdom, field study that takes students to China.



Get more information about international travel opportunity by contacting the Office of International Programs and look for more field study opportunities coming from the Department of History in the future.

The Social in History

The irony of summer vacation for an academic is that you "work" more during the summer on certain projects than you do during the year. This summer, I have spent some time honing my oral history skill with a workshop sponsored by the Maitland Historical Society (MHS). The MHS sponsored a NIH approved certification program for oral history techniques. I have done some training, but new regulations are always being created. The NIH certification is important part of making sure I know the rules and regulation governing oral history projects. The workshop was great and I got a chance to use my new and hopefully improved skills to conduct an oral interview with a Maitland resident this week. Louise Franklin, the subject of my interview, is from one of the pioneer African-American families in Central Florida. Her parents, Larkin and Effie Franklin purchased land in Maitland in the early 1900s. The ten acre parcel they purchased on Lake Sibila became a focal point for the African-American community in Eatonville and Maitland. Louise Franklin, the youngest living member of the Franklin family, expresses great pride in the fact that her family retains control of the property today. Their home is a bit of living history, the trees on the property were planted by Ms. Franklin's father and you can see evidence of the effort he made to make his property a center of community life. As a large landowner, he opened his home to his neighbors in times of celebration and emergency. The Franklin family story challenges the traditional narrative of African-American life in the deep south. Rather than a story of landless desperate African-Americans at the mercy of the white majority, the Franklins owned property, educated their children, and served as pillar of their community. Their home serve as center of activity for holiday celebrations and with a basement, the Franklin home was the community's shelter from harsh Florida storms. Larkin Franklin worked as chauffeur for the mayor of Maitland, but he was maximized his land value planting oranges and other crops. The Franklin family history does not discount the problems faced by African-Americans, indeed their success was built on a rural Florida where black and white interaction was tightly controlled. The Franklin worked in the white society, but lived in a black world. Central Florida African-American community developed with small overall population, punishing climate, and lack of infrastructure acting as barriers to interaction that might lead to violence. Nonetheless, violence was a concern, especially for those African-Americans that dared to challenge Jim Crow rule. Understanding the Franklin family story broadens our understanding of how black life in Central Florida developed.

More stories to come.

A Hundred Years Later: Our Link to the NAACP

The U.S. Senate's passage of a resolution apologizing for slavery and of course the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP give me reason to focus on African-American history. The fact we have an African-American president in 2009 and the Senate passed a resolution saying, "Sorry about that slavery thing...." can't be unconnected. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created in 1909 and driven by the desire for the immediate achievement of African-American political, economic, and social rights. Of course, as the best known, and in some circles, most respected civil rights organization in the United States, this anniversary should and is important. Perhaps it is more important in 2009 because some observers are asking themselves, "Is the NAACP still needed?" The question is misguided, but worth thinking about. The case for the end of the NAACP is obvious. There is a African-American president, one elected by the majority of U.S. citizens. If this is possible, we must have "solved" our race problems. These comments have some merit. Indeed, if we could talk to the group that founded the NAACP in 1909, I think some of them would feel the NAACP had accomplished much of what it wanted to achieve. I know, bold words, but given that one founding member of the NAACP was Hamilton Holt, we can judge from his writing and comments what his hopes were in terms of race relations. Holt's work as editor of the Independent, a liberal weekly prior to becoming college president made it clear he believed that race should not be used as barrier to opportunity. His support for racial equality in the pages of the Independent continued as college president. His decision to give Mary McLeod Bethune an honorary degree in 1949 challenged southern racism. Yet, Holt's thinking about race did not and could not take into account structural barriers left behind from Jim Crow segregation. While we no longer have "separate but equal" as a standard, we have a legacy of race base thinking that diminishes all Americans.

The hope that race no longer plays a role in defining the lives of American citizens is worthwhile goal. Reaching a moment in time where race is neutral factor in people's live will mean that we have let go prejudices and beliefs that marginalize people of color. The problem is that race continues to define lives of many Americans in ways that have been documented by cold hard statics on hiring, wealth creation, and access to basic service and my random event like the arrest of well known black Harvard professor like Henry Louis Gates. The belief that African-American spend too much time speaking about race, a comment that emerged several time over the last few weeks. It is an easy comment for white commentators. The reality, often ignored by conservative critics, is that African-American must think about race because they face the negative effects from racism, while White people never need to think about the positive effect that come from whiteness.

The goal of a post-racial society, where racial identity doesn't effect perception or opportunity is far from a reality. If that is the case, a civil right organization like the NAACP still has some role in society. Whether or not the NAACP current agenda is the right one is a better question to ask. Fighting the battles that you fought a hundred years ago is not going to win the war. Indeed, if we consider the problem facing African-Americans: access to education, chronic unemployment, the effect of drugs(crime related to drugs)and chronic health concerns. We see that a more complex and nuisance approach to understanding how race affects African-American life is needed. Case in point, the Henry Louis Gate incident. Some people will say the policeman was racist. Indeed, the police in Cambridge have a history of defending themselves against charges of racial profiling. Gates' reaction will also be put on trial. Did he overreact to the police answering a call about a possible crime? For my part, I want someone to interview the "neighbor" who forgot she lived next door to one of the most famous African-American intellectuals alive today!?!?!


There is no question race played a part in the incident, but not in ways that are cut and dry. No doubt the officer, face with a possible crime, needed to be sure of Gates' identity. As an expert on racial profiling he will never admit color might has effected his actions. Nor will observers agree that Gates had a right to demand the officer badge number and name (something he did have the right to ask) For Gates, the implication that his civil rights were being violated by a police officer and his determination to assert his rights (something African-American have not been able to do for much of the country's history) added to a tense situation. Would a white guy have gotten angry about this incident? The answer is probably yes. Would the white guy have been arrested? The answer to that is probably no. This incident only matters because it was a white officer and black man. Two white guys or two black guys would not have been a media moment. Indeed, the media moment represents the reality of race. White observers feel frustrated that they have elected an African-American president and yet, they are still being called racist. African-Americans are frustrated that the real problems associated with race has never been acknowledged or dealt with in a systematic way. The NAACP will point to the problem of racial profiling and talk about the problem of minorities facing undue attention from the police. Yet, the dialogue about race, power, and opportunity in the United States remains just over the horizon. The reality of an African-American president make this dialogue more likely, but other pressing national problems stand in the way. In the meantime, I think we can expect a low-level simmer on the race question as the United States struggles to find a balance between silence and truth about the importance of race in the American experience.

July 16, 1969

The anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon is this month. While there is some question about the future of the current space program. There is something to be learned from taking a moment to remember how much was accomplished with the Apollo Space Program. Twelve men walked on the moon beginning in 1969. The technical problems associated with getting to the moon are almost forgotten today. The fact of the matter is the smartphones we used everyday have more computing power than the computer used in the space program. While that seems amazing, it only represents the tip of the iceberg when we consider also every technical detail involving going to the moon was conceived and quasi-perfected between May 25, 1961 when President John F. Kennedy gave his memorable speech in front of Congress and July 1969 when the landing actually took place. Kennedy's proclamation had everything to do with the politics of the Cold War. Indeed, without the specter of the U.S.S.R reaching the moon first--its unlikely we would have committed the money to the space program. Critics then, and critics today, are quick to point out more hard science can be done with unmanned vehicles and the cost associated with keeping a person alive in space make manned flight a waste. Indeed, the dangers associated with space flight are well known. In the Apollo Program the death of the Apollo 1 crew: Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee marked the first example of the danger when they died testing Apollo systems. In recent times, the Challenger explosion and the loss of the Columbia have reminds Americans space exploration is risky. These dangers however, are not the real barrier to exploring space. Today, the cost question represents the most powerful challenge to space exploration. However, historically the question is not new. Even as men walked on the moon, protest over Vietnam, urban race riots, and rising social tension cause many people to question the wisdom of spending money on the space program. Today, in the midst of a massive economic downturn, people are once again asking why spend money on a space program? NASA to it credit, has played the politics of budgets as well as any government body, but they have always been fighting a loosing battle. Nixon began cutting the space program when he came into office and every president since Nixon has had questions about spending money on NASA's budget. Indeed, there are always plenty of people worried about the our national debt and those people look at the manned space program and say cut it. Given the challenges, plenty of people, especially observers in Florida are looking beyond the government to help keep the dream of exploring space alive. The idea of a commercial space program to fill the gap is interesting. Whether or not private corporations going into space grows into the business advocate hope for is a question. Another key question is whether or not this commercial space business will be in Florida. Florida is linked to the space program and because of that connection we hear more about funding problem and economic impact of space program than most communities. In case you haven't notice, fears about the end of the shuttle program and what will happen while the Orion capsule is made ready to fly are in the news regularly. One things that give me hope is that while politicians aren't traditionally concerned about long term science issues (hard to get elected saying this will pay off in 20 years) they are concerned about appearance and they are reactionary. Given those facts, the specter of the rise of China as a space-faring nation might translate into continued health for NASA. The trick will be to avoid the militarization of space, something that we have been struggling with since the 1950s. The case for a manned space program can be made, but it needs to be made at every level. We don't hear a lot about space in school and unless there is trouble, you don't hear about it in the news. NASA's efforts to raise awareness about the benefits of space are pretty weak. It's a shame because NASA is the place where breakthrough in solar power, recycling, environmental engineering, and material science can happen the fastest. Just look at the Apollo program, the innovations created there are still affecting our lives today. President Obama's desire to create a new green economy works in favor of the space program and the fact the infrastructure associated with NASA is already up and running make it hard to say the program will disappear. Still, looking back at the Apollo moon landing remind us to consider what a U.S. space program can accomplish with big goals that push our imagination.

Golden Personalities: Rollins and Digital History

The summer is suppose to be a time of sitting lounging by the pool. Not so much for academics, I have been working on this project and that project since classes ended. As I mentioned before I am putting together the tenure review file. With that 90% done I have more time to spend on my summer collaborative research project. Rollins has a Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Program that take places every summer. This summer, I'm working with Wenxian Zhang, the head of Rollins archive on a project called Golden Personalities. Our goal is to create a web-based biographical listing of important early town settlers and College teachers, benefactors, and notables. The project is great example of digital history. Our students utilize the archive's resources to write these short profiles. Wenxian and the Olin Library Archive have been at the cutting edge of digitalization for years. Rollins has a extensive digital archive that provides photos and documents about the college, Winter Park, and wider region. This project will give us a chance to explore the lives of a diverse group, including African-Americans that current students, faculty, and staff have little knowledge. So far, the project has been going well. Students have completed profiles on subjects such as , Gus C. Henderson, Franklin Fairbanks, Loring Chase, Charles H. Morse and Alonzo W. Rollins to name a few. Overall, I think we will cover more than 70 individual from the early history of Rollins College and Winter Park. As always, work in the archive reveals thing you didn't expect. I think this project will be learning process for everyone.

MORE TO COME..........

Review of Reviews: The African-American Experience

I'm stuck in the midst of the "reviews of reviews" and have everything to do. Still it is a time of reflection and as I consider theory and practice in small ways and big--I see what I have done and can still do. The upside is, it occurs to me, I've done a lot! The downside is, it occurs to me, I haven't done as much as I would like:( Case in point, public history projects, of which I have a few, haven't developed fully into the forms I think necessary to provide the information to the wider community. Not to say things haven't been done, they have, but they need to look and feel better. I was talking to Vidhu Aggrawal about the next issue of her journal SPECS. SPECS is a world class publication done with small budget and staff. By comparison, I could do better. I have been thinking about it. The key is to create some sort of mechanism to standardize content and style. This mechanism (whatever it may be) will allow work done my students and faculty to be presented in clean and organized way. There is plenty to explore and once I get it working I think the public will be interested. For me, Central Florida offers a unique story about Gilded Age and Progressive Era, African-American experience, and Art and Culture in the twentieth century. As the coordinator of the Africa and African-American Studies Program, I am of course interested in getting students and the public exploring that history. The fact that Winter Park was designed with the assumption that African-Americans would live west of the railroad tracks and work in white community as support staff created a unique opportunity for a stable and in some ways, very prosperous black community to develop. I think you can see a strong connection between Hannibal Square in West Winter Park and the other more famous black community in Central Florida, Eatonville. Eatonville is famous because of Zora Neale Hurston, but of course, Zora had a unique relationship with Winter Park through the support provided to her by members of the Rollins College English Department. Indeed, the Olin Library Archive at Rollins has a Zora Neale Hurston collection that highlight the link between the author and the college. Still, a bigger question of autonomy and agency needs to be explored in the Central Florida area. I think the effect of leisure economy and Florida's existence as a frontier space allowed for greater sense of freedom for African-Americans in communities like Hannibal Square and Eatonville. Of course Jim Crow racism existed, the story of Hannibal Square's detachment from the town of Winter Park as way to undermine African-American Republican voters testifies to the power of white supremacy in Florida. Yet, the family history collection on display at the Hannibal Square Heritage Center demonstrates that African-Americans found ways to continue to function and thrive.


MORE TO DO

The Alfred J. Hanna Symposium on Florida

Since Rollins’ founding, it has had a long history as a home for inquiry and reflection on the culture, people, and institutions in our state and region. In recent years, the national and international community has come to realize what many residents have always known, that Florida’s unique cultural, political and social experience place the state on the frontier of the U.S. experience. Not surprisingly, in recent years Rollins’ commitment to effective and innovative liberal arts education has provided students and faculty a living laboratory to pursue ideas grounded in local experience yet linked to global concerns. Rollins’ pragmatic, effective, and innovative liberal arts education has explored issues as wide-ranging as Disney Corporation’s community impact, New Urbanism’s anti-sprawl gospel, the transnational Americanism represented by the Latino experience, environmental protection and restoration, and African-American sociocultural life.


Last week, the Florida Studies Initiative (FSI), a multi-disciplinary work group made up of faculty from several departments, continued this tradition by building on the effort of Dr. Bruce Stephenson and organizing two events open to the entire college community and the public at large. Last year, Dr. Stephenson organized Florida Studies: A Pragmatic Vision of Curriculum Reform a call to examine how Florida could be a laboratory for students to understand pressing global issues. This year FSI continued this critical dialogue and celebrated ongoing efforts with two events. On April 14th bestowed the first Alfred J. Hanna Award. The award is named for Dr. Alfred J. Hanna, a Rollins graduate who went on to become a history professor and vice president of the college. Over his long career Hanna was a well respected scholar in Florida and Latin American history.

The recipient of the first Alfred J. Hanna Award was Dr. Michael Gannon, distinguished service professor emeritus of history at the University of Florida. Dr. Gannon is the author or editor of several books, including Florida: A Short History and The New History of Florida.

In celebrating the history of scholarship associated with Florida, the FSI also wants to acknowledge Rollins’ ongoing innovation in the study of Florida. Therefore, in addition to the Alfred J. Hanna Award, we would like to announce the first Alfred J. Hanna Symposium on Florida sponsored by the FSI. The decision to create the award and symposium grew out of discussion about ways to raise awareness of both Rollins' long connection to Florida Studies and to bring attention to the innovative new research being conducted both on-campus and elsewhere about Florida and its place in the world.

The Alfred J. Hanna Symposium on Florida allowed Rollins faculty and special guest the chance to discuss issues that link Florida's experience with issues of national and international concern. As the schedule below demonstrates, the plenary organized for this event offer unique insights into Rollins' faculty ongoing work.

Schedule of Events:
2:30-2:45 A Welcome from Dr. Roger N. Casey, Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost
2:45-3:30 Plenary 1: Florida and the Popular Mind
Julian Chambliss, Leslie Poole, and Melanie Shell-Weiss
3:30-3:45-Break
3:45-4:30 Plenary 2: Florida, Ethnicity, and the American Experience
Gabriel Barreneche, Roberto Fernandez and Rick Foglesong
4:30-4:45 Break
4:45-5:30pm Plenary 3: Florida as Global Laboratory
Michael Gunter, Paul Stephenson, Rachel Simmons
5:30-7:00 Break
7:00pm Keynote Address: Melanie Shell Weiss, John Hopkins University
Dr. Shell-Weiss is author of Coming to Miami: A Social History (2009) and co-editor of Florida's Working-Class Past: Current Perspectives on Labor, Race, and Gender from Spanish Florida to the New Immigration (2009)


The symposium's theme, Why Is Florida Important? represents a powerful assertion on the part of the FSI that Florida is worthy of serious discussion from numerous disciplinary lens. The symposium offered quality discussion and interesting insights from guest such as Cuban-American author Roberto Fernandez and historian Dr. Melanie Shell-Weiss. There will be more to come on Alfred J. Hanna Award and the Hanna Symposium on Florida. This year's event represent Rollins' return as a center for scholarly inquiry and discussion on subjects crucial to our community and the nation.

History Department Profile: Dr. Yusheng Yao

Rollins College has always acted as a resource for the Central Florida community. While Winter Park residents have longed understood the college as a center for the arts, they sometime forget the dedication to academic innovation and excellence associated with Rollins. Yet, the school's history is one of innovation in teaching, scholarship, and service to the community. Today, with issues of global cooperation and competition daily headline, you can find professors in many academic departments dedicated to understanding these new global circumstances. In the history department, the history and future of China are a central focus for Dr. Yusheng Yao.

Tell Us About Your Research




Dr. Yao grew up in Beijing, China. As a sixth grader, he welcomed the Cultural Revolution when it started in 1966 because it relieved his worry about the upcoming examination for entering junior high school. Like millions of the Chinese youth of his generation, Yao was sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, where he worked in the fields at first and later on as a carpenter. Without opportunity for school education and ample time to kill in his spare time, Yao began to study English by himself in 1972. When national examination for college was restored in 1978 after Deng Xiaoping came to power, Yao could enter Peking University. After receiving his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English literature in 1982 and 1984, he had taught in the English Department of Peking University for three years.

Yao came the United States for graduate study on Harvard-Yenching scholarship in 1987. He received his M.A. in American Studies in 1992 and Ph.D. in history in 1999 at the University of Minnesota. His research on Chinese modernity can be found in numerous academic journals.

For more information on China, investigate the China Center at Rollins College.

Community Outreach and the Rollins History Departments

One of the things that concerns historians is their connection to the general reading public. Professional historians are required to publish their research. Indeed, there was a time when historians dominated the non-fiction bestsellers list.



Today, for all the hundreds of history books produced annually, few become bestsellers. Those history books widely read by the average American are often not the same books admired within the academy. The reasons for the gap between public history consumption and professional production are complex. One problem, if you wish to think of it as a problem, is that historians have, since the 1960s, been less likely to provide the "feel good" history Americans seem to prefer. Social history, and it emphasis on adding those voices "left out" has displace traditional political histories with new work focus on women, racial minorities, and class conflict. Conservative critics have warned that the shift away from classical history that celebrate national triumph invite balkanization. Nonetheless, history about everybody else has been the focus for most historians for decades. Indeed, the assumption we make within the department is that current history scholarship can find an audience outside the ivory tower. The Winter Park Public Library's Lifelong Learning Institute provides monthly speaker series and history is a popular subject for this program. Rollins History Department has worked to strengthen our relationship to the library in the hopes of promoting public interest in the diverse historical scholarship available. Dr. Jim Norris, the most recent speaker at the Jack Lane Colloquium was happy enough to take time out of his schedule to talk about his book North for the Harvest at the Winter Park Library. This kind of community outreach has been a cornerstone of Rollins' relationship with Central Florida since its founding and the Department of History has worked to live up to that tradition. By making the effort at community outreach we bolster an important institution like the Winter Park Public Library and spark further interest in innovative historical literature.

The Jack Lane Colloquium Presents: Dr. Jim Norris

The Jack Lane Colloquium began in 2006 as part of an effort by the Rollins History Department to engage with our majors, the college, and with the wider community. Our goal is to bring history and historical scholarship to a broader audience. This is both a great and horrible idea. As primary organizer, I try to bring scholars to the college who have interesting work and popular appeal. Now,if a historian thinks something is interesting, will a theater student and a biology professor agree? I try not to dwell on the answer to that question.



We have brought in outstanding speakers and highlighted our own faculty at the colloquium. Today we are proud to welcome Dr. Jim Norris from North Dakota State University to Rollins to discuss his new book North for Harvest: Mexican Workers, Growers, and the Sugar Beet Industry (2008).


NORTH FOR THE HARVEST IS ABOUT?



As a Latin American historian, Dr. Norris is engaged in an exploration of one key issue currently vexing American policy makers. How do you balance the worker rights and marketplace dynamics. For much of the twentieth century, the United States has welcomed Mexican workers as their labor allows U.S. agribusiness to flourish. The cheap price we pay for agricultural products is directly linked to growers attempts to control costs. The social justice and human rights questions raised by these activities have been the focal point for student and faculty research here at Rollins. The complexities of these issues cannot be understood by the sound-bites offered by media outlets on the left or right. We need scholars to provide context and information about these issues. With a better understanding of the history surrounding how we get our food, we can engage in a discussion about the treatment of agricultural workers, the demands of industry and role of regulation. Dr. Norris' work offers important insights on these issues and we are lucky to have the opportunity to share his work with our Central Florida community.


Dr. Norris will discuss his book March 24th at 6:00pm in the Faculty Club on campus. His talk is free and open to the public.

Focus on Central Florida History: Historic Winter Park & The Depugh Nursing Center

For several years I have been working with students to explore local history. The project, called Historic Winter Park, experimented with different formats to display the primary source research conducted in my classes. In the past, we worked closely with Winter Park Historical Association, but their recent website redesign removed the Historic Winter Park webpages. In the future, I hope to create a new permanent home for student created web-pages hosted on-campus. In the meantime, I want to keep those of you (if there are any of you) that might be interested in Central Florida's unique history in the loop. To accomplish that goal, I have decided to share some of the student research on the History Speaks blog. Winter Park has a unique African-American history and so, this has been a direction I have pushed the students to explore. The Depugh Nursing Center is the oldest African-American institution of its kind in Florida. The Olin Library archive has great archival materials that allowed students in my U.S. history survey to write the piece below.




The DePugh Nursing Center is a small building that sits on 550 West Morse Avenue in Winter Park, Florida. When you walk inside, everyone smiles at you and the atmosphere is light, not tension filled like many nursing centers often are. What many people do not know about the DePugh Nursing Center is that it is one of the oldest organizations in Winter Park, and was one of the first of its kind. The DePugh Nursing Center was Florida’s first state approved nursing home dedicated to the African American community and it helped to pioneer medical centers and nursing centers for African American communities, not only in Florida, but all across the country.

Mary Lee DePugh moved to the town of Winter Park, Florida in the winter of 1937. She moved with her husband, Baker, from Evanston, Illinois to escape the harsh northern winters. She moved at the request of her friend, Maud Kraft. Maud knew the DePughs when she lived in Evanston ten years prior. Maud’s late husband, George, was a wealthy Evanston businessman, and she needed help when he passed away. When the DePughs agreed to move to Winter Park, Maud bought a home for them in Westside Winter Park. This allowed the DePughs to live in a comfortable home in the black community instead of working as “live ins” in the white community. Mary Lee was happy in Winter Park, but she thought something was missing. Both Mary Lee and Maud were members of Woman’s Clubs in Evanston, Illinois, and they shared an appreciation for women’s clubs activism. Maud was a member of the Woman’s Club of Winter Park and she supported Mary Lee’s idea to establish a woman’s club on the Westside. Maud assisted DePugh in obtaining a building from the Congregational Church. On July 29, 1937, the Ideal Woman’s Club was chartered and May Lee DePugh was its first president.

As the club grew, the women found more services to provide to the Winter Park community. The first project the women undertook was to provide medical services to those in the community who could not otherwise afford it. After several fund raising efforts, their goal was achieved. The women were able to establish a dental and medical unit.

On February 14, 1954, Dr. Louis Schulz, president of the medical-dental clinic board, suggested the board turn its assets over to the Mary Lee DePugh Nursing Home Inc. A board for the nursing home was quickly established and they met for the first time on April 11, 1954. The Ideal Woman’s Club offered to contribute a plot of ground adjacent to the Club and the medical-dental clinic for the nursing home. The board began to plan what would be within the nursing home. They wanted to be able to accommodate an average of ten patients. They also wanted a maternity ward and an operating room for minor surgery. When the estimated costs were added up, it was said the cost of such a building would be approximately $30,000. The board was overwhelmed and unsure whether they could raise those funds.

Fortunately, a resident of Winter Park, who wished to remain anonymous, offered to give $15,000 toward the building fund, which meant the residents of Winter Park and the surrounding areas would just have to match that to have the funds they needed. The residents rallied, and they were able to raise the money needed. It was later found out that the anonymous donor was Mr. R. T. Miller, a winter resident of Winter Park. He lived in Winter Park for over twenty years and was a constant benefactor to its social and charitable organizations. He never, however, allowed his name to be mentioned in conjunction to his donations. This led him to be known as “Mr. Anonymous.”

The nursing home facility ended up having twenty-eight beds and was completed in a year and a half. The opening ceremonies took place in January 1956. The nursing home’s first patient was admitted on January 25, 1956. All resident rooms were furnished by memorials and all tasks around the home were performed by volunteers. The DePugh Nursing Home was Florida’s first state approved nursing home dedicated to the African American Community. Mrs. Chaney Laughlin was the home’s first supervisor. She was forced to retire due to health reasons, so she secured the services of Mrs. Hazel Venable to succeed her in early 1957.

Mrs. Hazel Venable worked hard to keep the home up and running. In the early years, this was very difficult because income was low and most of the patients were supported by welfare. In February 1957, a group known as Friends of the DePugh Nursing Home was organized by Harriet Peasley and Mrs. W. H. Bowles became the first president. The Friends of the nursing home were there to assist with any financial needs the DePugh Nursing Home found they had. The first project assisted by the Friends of the DePugh Nursing Home was a sun porch on the south side of the facility. It was built in 1959 and cost approximately $2,600 . The Friends of the nursing home paid a major portion of the cost.

With the help of the Friends of the DePugh Nursing Home, the facility was slowly able to grow and more services were offered. The facility also became more well-known in the community, and soon benefactors would offer donations without being solicited. An example of this occurred in August, 1961. A.G. Bush was passing the facility and felt concern for the patient’s comfort in the Florida heat. Bush made a contract to place air conditioning units in the building. Bush assumed the responsibility for maintenance and operating costs until his death in 1966. Even after his death, the Bush Foundation continued to cover maintenance costs until 1970. They gave approximately $5,000 per year.

In 1964, it was decided by the board of directors that the home needed to expand. Under the leadership of Gen. T. J. Du Bose and Robert Langford, Winter Park enabled a financial campaign to raise money for the expansion. In the end, the sun porch built in 1959 was eliminated, but it enabled the home to increase its beds from twenty-eight to thirty-five. It also allowed the home to acquire a refrigerator, stove, and a cleaning cart. They were also able to remodel the nurses’ station in the main corridor and create a new conference room and storage closets.

It was around this time the home began to operate on a more sound business basis. They were able to hire someone to keep track of bookkeeping and medical records. In 1966, Winter Park attorney Kenneth Murrah became president of the home. During his tenure, he was instrumental in securing the home for more expansion. In 1967, the home received a bequest from the estate of Mrs. Georgia Nelidsky of $153,000. The home purchased new lots for the addition to the home in 1968. Kenneth Murrah insisted the expansion was necessary. The facilities would not allow separation of patients who needed medical care from those who required constant custodial care. Because of the crowded conditions, the home did not qualify for benefits under medicare. If the home received medicare, they would be able to bring in a medical doctor to certify needs of a care home, and the DePugh Nursing Home could be qualified as a care home . Fortunately, the home was able to expand.

In October 1976, the Mary Lee DePugh Nursing Home cut the ribbon to officially open the nursing home’s new addition. The addition included a lounge, kitchen, dining room, multi-purpose room, and a patio .

Though Mary Lee DePugh passed away in 1949 at the age of 83 and was unable to see the DePugh Nursing Center flourish, she would have felt her vision had been fulfilled. The DePugh Nursing Home continues to give a loving home to those who need it most. The history of the DePugh Nursing Home has many stories of human kindness. Many members of the Winter Park community gave aid to those who society left homeless and without care. The DePugh Nursing Home has given hope to so many throughout the years, and will continue to do so. The nursing home still stands in Winter Park on its original site, 550 West Morse Boulevard. Their website proudly states their motto, “We’re family when you’re away from family...” . They have provided amazing care for the community of Winter Park, and will continue to do so.

Created in HIS 142: United States History to 1877, Written By: Madeline Obler and Nick Sweeney

The Department of History is proud to present: Dr. Jim Norris, author of North for the Harvest: Mexican Workers, Growers, and the Sugar Beet Industry (2008)

Throughout most of the twentieth century, thousands of Mexicans traveled north to work the sugar beet fields of the Red River Valley. North for the Harvest examines the evolving relationships between American Crystal Sugar Company, the sugar beet growers, and the migrant workers. Though popular convention holds that migrant workers were invariably exploited, Norris reveals that these relationships were more complex. The company often clashed with growers, sometimes while advocating for workers. And many growers developed personal ties with their workers, while workers themselves often found ways to leverage better pay and working conditions from the company. Ultimately, the lot of workers improved as the years went by. As one worker explained, something historic occurred for his family while working in the Red River Valley: “We broke the chain there.”