The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP) at the University of Florida will host a series of public programs for the 2013-2014 academic year, presenting a dynamic selection of acclaimed speakers who will share their research with the campus and wider community. This series will illuminate consecutive generations of documentarians and scholars and illustrate how these individuals use their work to inform social change. This series was made possible by the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere Rothman Endowment for Workshops and Speaker Series in the Humanities.
On October 1st, 2013, SPOHP will launch the official premier of Siempre Adelante: A Look at Faith and the Immigrant Struggle. The screening will take place at 6 p.m. in the Pugh Hall Ocora in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month events. Siempre Adelante features the life narratives of four remarkable people living in Gainesville who emigrated from three different countries and share the struggle of always moving forward. This film offers an important glimpse into the growing immigrant community of Alachua county and north central Florida. This is SPOHP’s third full-length documentary, and the film was produced by Deborah Hendrix, Maria Munoz, and Jaime Zelaya. The screening is co-sponsored by Hispanic Heritage Month 2013.
On October 22nd, 2013, at 6 p.m. in the Pugh Hall Ocora,SPOHP will host a public panel entitled, “Stetson Kennedy: Re-Imagining Justice in the 21st Century.” The panel will commemorate the University of Florida’s acquisition of the personal papers of Stetson Kennedy, the renowned author,folklorist, and human rights activist from Florida. Panelists will include acclaimed author and FIU professor Marvin Dunn, former director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress Peggy Bulger, and Lucy Anne Hurston,author and niece of literary luminary Zora Neale Hurston. The event is co-sponsored by P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History at the University of Florida Smathers Libraries.
On December 4, 2013, SPOHP will host a student panel at 6p.m. at the Civic Media Center in downtown Gainesville entitled, “SPOHP in theDelta: 6th Annual Student Panel.” This annual event highlights student research initiatives resulting from SPOHP’s yearly research trip to the Mississippi Delta. Panelists will give a multimedia presentation and share insights after interviewing veterans of the civil rights movement, labor leaders, contemporary activists, and scholars living in the Delta region. This event is co-sponsored by the Civic Media Center.
On January 15, 2014, SPOHP will welcome Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Tia Lessin. Lessin is the director and producer, along with Carl Deal of Citizen Koch and Trouble the Water. Lessin also co-produced several of Michael Moore’s films, including Capitalism: A Love Story, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Bowling for Columbine. At 2:30 p.m., Lessin will participate in a public panel in Ustler Hall, and at 6 p.m. Lessin will host a public screening of Trouble the Water, a redemptive tale of a couple in Louisiana surviving failed levees, bungling bureaucrats, and their own troubled past in this portrait of a community abandoned long before Hurricane Katrin hit the Gulf. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2009 and an Emmy Award for best informational program in 2010. This event is co-sponsored by the UF Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research.
On March 12, 2014 at 6 p.m., SPOHP will host a public panel in Pugh Hall called, “”‘If It Takes All Summer’: The 50th Anniversary of the St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement.” The city of St. Augustine became a national stage for the civil rights movement in 1964 when the federal government allocated funds for a segregated celebration of the 400thanniversary of the city’s founding. Martin Luther King Jr. came to northeast Florida and remarked that St.Augustine was “the most segregated city in America” at the time. He pledged to defeat segregation using nonviolence, even “if it takes all summer.” This panel will be a vibrant commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the St. Augustine movement and will bring recognition to the foot soldiers that sacrificed so much for equality.
All of these events will offer free parking on campus and a reception after the program. In addition, all public programs will be recorded and shared on SPOHP’s YouTube page for public and educational access in the future. SPOHP would like to thank the UF Center for the Humanities and thePublic Sphere for their Rothman Endowment for Workshops and Speaker Series in the Humanities, which support this year’s speaker series. For more information, call (352) 392-7168 or visit our website .