Students Present Papers on Historical Fiction at Phi Alpha Theta Conference

From the Public Relation Department Campus News Feed................

Professor of History Claire Strom holds herself to a high level of excellence, and expects the same from her students. On April 2, the hard work to meet these standards paid off for three of Strom’s students—Matt St. Jean (Class of 2011), Sebastian Novak (Class of 2012) and Carlee Hoffmann (Class of 2013)—who presented their papers at the Phi Alpha Theta regional conference at Flagler College.

Rollins’ participation in Phi Alpha Theta, a national honor society for students and faculty of history, is nothing new, but this marks the first time since Strom began teaching at Rollins that students have participated in the conference.

As part of her class History of the South, offered in the fall semester, Strom assigned students Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Seraph on the Suwannee, which profiles a middle-class white woman named Arvay Henson living in Central Florida in the early 20th century. As part of their final paper, the students wrote about the historical accuracy of Hurston’s fictional writing.

Since the conference considers papers written by undergraduate students, Strom decided to encourage a few students to submit their papers to the conference committee. “I felt that Matt, Sebastian and Carlee really excelled on this assignment and could benefit greatly from the experience of sharing it with other historians,” said Strom. “Matt and Sebastian in particular did great work with primary documents to piece together the actual histories of citrus and turpentine production during this time period, and their research provided great insight into the author’s intentions.”

Through their work with these primary sources, St. Jean and Novak found key information about the levels of accuracy in Hurston’s novel regarding the production of citrus and turpentine in Florida during the early 20th century. While Hoffman’s research was less focused on primary documents, her paper offered an insightful comparison of Hurston’s portrayal of middle-class white women and actual women living at the time.

The papers were part of a larger project at Rollins called Project Mosaic, aimed at combining several educational facets to strengthen and enhance Rollins’ African and African-American Studies program. Novak and St. Jean used sources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop their points, and both students were honored to read their papers at the conference, which isn’t typical for undergraduate participants.

“It was very rewarding to be involved in this experience, but it was kind of scary not knowing exactly what to expect at the conference,” said Novak. “There were so many questions like how many people would be there, would they ask questions, would they like our papers? Putting yourself out there in that way is always a challenge, but they were very receptive to our participation, and I was proud that my paper was appreciated enough that it was deemed appropriate for the conference.”

By Sarah Hartman (Class of 2011)

Rollins Football History: Sport and Culture in the Southern Mind

Rollins Football Team, 1907

Rollins Football Team, 1908

Rollins Football Team, 1921










Do you remember the Rollins Football team? Probably not, the Football program at Rollins was dropped in 1949. The problems associated with college football are well known, especially for smaller colleges that try to support those programs. In the long run, the lack of football saved the college money and time.

Today, the football team is punchline for a college T-shirt and nice trivia question. Yet, the football program at Rollins also gives historians and those interested in sport history a chance to examine race relations in Florida. In 1947, the Homecoming game between Rollins College and Ohio Wesleyan was canceled because the Ohio Wesleyan team wanted to bring an African-American player. When Hamilton Holt, the college president, announced that the Rollins v. Wesleyan football game was canceled, he stressed that the college made this decision to preserve the racial balance in the community. The issue at hand was simple. Should Ohio’s Kenneth Woodward, a Black running back, be allow to play in the game.

The crisis was created in part because the Ohio Wesleyan team, which has promised not to bring Woodward, reversed their decision and press to bring their teammate. Face with allowing the African-American player to attend or suspending the homecoming game, the Board of Trustees and the President chose to stop the game. In deciding to cancel the game, Holt was force to articulate his position on race in United States. A founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Holt was known for his public stands against racial and social intolerance.

Holt argued that while his own family history and personal sentiment opposed racial discrimination, the decision to stop the football game was driven by a desire to preserve the racial climate in Winter Park. The decision to call off the game of course drew attention from people on both side of the issue. Some condemned the decision, while others were mindful of the problems that would have been created by allowing an African-American player to freely compete in the Jim Crow South. Indeed, the racial climate in 1947 offered ample proof that Jim Crow restriction on African-American would be enforced through violence and intimidation. Nonetheless, there was clear evidence that African-Americans were unwilling to take such abuse.

In 1944, a statewide NAACP chapter, under the leadership of Harry T. Moore, began a campaign against lynching and in 1944 the group won a major victory when the state's white only democratic primary was ruled unconstitutional. Moreover, Moore was instrumental in raising African-American voter registration in Florida from five percent in 1934 to thirty percent in 1950, the highest in the South. Moore's story emphasize African-American desire overcome segregation's restriction, but his death in 1951 in a bombing highlights the fears that drove Holt's decision.

The recent story about the creation of a football club on campus has refocused attention on Rollins' Football history. While football's appeal in southern culture has only increased since the end of Rollin's program, the reality of funding a football program have not gotten easier. Indeed, the controversy over the cost of collegiate sport has grown more heated as rising tuition costs lead observers to question the future of access to higher education. Strangely, while professor's salaries are an open question for many critics of higher education, costs associate with sport are seemly accepted. Indeed, while professor salaries have grown little, major salaries for coaches, especially football coaches at major programs have been and continue to be formidable. Whether or not the current effort will result in a return to Rollins' glory days as a football power is yet to be determined. Still, the issues tied to football's re-emergence on campus go beyond play and touch on vital questions linked to rising costs in higher education.