Samuel Proctor Oral History Program

The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program in conjunction with Gainesville Community

Redevelopment Agency will host a free film screening of “Gator Tales,” the award-winning

theatrical performance which highlights the experiences of the first generation of African

American students at the University of Florida. The screening will be Friday, February 17, 2017

at Bo Diddley Plaza in downtown Gainesville. Live performances will begin at 6 p.m. and the

film will start at 7p.m.

“Gator Tales” is an original play devised and directed by UF Arts Professor Kevin Marshall in

conjunction with the Proctor Program at UF which premiered in 2015. This special film of the

live theatre performance brings vividly to life the voices of those African Americans in

Gainesville who struggled for civil rights and educational equality for all. Gator Tales was

nominated for the 2015 Freedom Expression of Award by Amnesty International at the

Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.

Special Guests and Performances:

• The Flossie B. McLendon Memorial and Reichert House Drill Teams will perform color guard presentation.
• Special guests will perform dance entitled “Young, Gifted and Black,” and sing the “Negro National Anthem”
• An invocation by Prophet George Young III will be followed by opening remarks from Commissioner Golston

The character’s stories in “Gator Tales” are drawn from the oral history archive of the Samuel

Proctor Oral History Program. Interviews with Joel Buchanan, Ron Coleman, Bernard Hicks,

Thomas Holland Fay, Joseph McCloud, Maime Lee Leath, Evelyn Moore Mickle, Stephan

Mickle, Leitha Nichols, David Padgett, Laura Scott Reaves, Samuel Taylor, Gladys Thompson

and Albert White are featured in the production.

Free copies of the “Gator Tales” DVD will be available to audience members.

This event will be free and open to the general public. Please bring chairs and seating. Early

arrival is encouraged to obtain preferred seating. Free parking will be available near the Bo

Diddley Plaza.

For more information please contact:

• The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, 352-392- 7168
• Tamarra Jenkins, tamarraj@ufl.edu
• Nigel Hamm with Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency, (352) 393-8202 or HammN1@cityofgainesville.org