African American History at the University of Florida and Beyond
The University of Florida’s African and Native American History Task Force was created by President Kent Fuchs in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s death, and the killing of emergency room medical technician Breonna Taylor by Louisville police officers earlier that spring, reenergized the Black Lives Matter movement. The task force’s responsibility was to create a detailed report pertaining to UF’s historical oppression of People of Color and Indigenous People. Click here to read the report.
Florida Black History: Where We Stand in the Age of Barack Obama: SPOHP 2009 public program featuring *Joel Buchanan* and including speakers Bernie Machen, Mrs. Evelyn Mickle, Zoharah Simmons, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and others. This program launched SPOHP’s African American History Research Project funded by the Office of the Provost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkeBwBeKY7A&t=2411s (opens in new tab)
Florida Civil Rights Struggle: Past and Present: This SPOHP 2014 program celebrates those who fought for equality with a panel of Civil Rights Veterans and a showcase of stories from the Movement. Panelists include Dan Harmeling, John Due, Vivian Filer, and Rosemary Florence. Moderated by Dr. Paul Ortiz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-mZGRn1IpA (opens in new tab)
The Stage Performance of Gator Tales: A play written by UF faculty in partnership with SPOHP. Based on 14 SPOHP oral histories with pioneering African American students at UF. Playwright and UF Professor Kevin Marshall adapted the oral histories for College of Arts MFA students to perform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS4heJtVCMk&t=747s (opens in new tab)
Audience talk-backs after the performances of Gator Tales. Talk-backs feature dialogue between performers, current students and Gator alumni:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTCXsfqdJ4Q (opens in new tab)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Gv44XdM5Q&t=928s (opens in new tab)
Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn on the founding of African American Studies at UF: Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn discusses the founding of African American Studies at the 50th Anniversary of African American Studies at the University of Florida symposium. A frank discussion of the frequent failure of UF to address issues of systemic racism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBEPBuQYcPE&list=PLzMFflzfI0ESQb-YvZ2HuRGsnA_gE_NsOO&index=5 (opens in new tab)
From Segregation to Black Lives Matter: Celebrating the Opening of the Joel Buchanan Archive of African American History at UF: A 3 Day Symposium. Link to the panels:
https://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/catalogs/segregation-to-black-lives-matter-symposium (opens in new tab) (A program is available via SPOHP’s web site)
The Making of the Institute of Black Culture at the University of Florida: Student-produced documentary featuring UF alumni, students, faculty and staff discussing the origins and importance of the Institute of Black Culture at UF. Funded by the Office of the Provost:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXxJaiIPGgw (opens in new tab)
Authors@UF: A Conversation with Paul Ortiz on Emancipation Betrayed at George A. Smathers Libraries, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldm__qPy424 (opens in new tab)
From Colored to Black: Stories of North Central Florida. Public Performance @ the Harn Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcHPqF7wTNk (opens in new tab)
Anti-Racism, Intersectionality and Inclusivity
A Tale of Two Houses: A Dialogue on Black and Latinx History at UF. SPOHP panel moderated by Paul Ortiz. Featuring UF Alumni and current students discussing the intersections of Black and Latinx Histories at UF from the 1960s to present:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXnXVgmhaDM&t=1226s (opens in new tab)
Resistance, Respect and Regrowth: A student-produced documentary focusing on Black and Latinx students’ and staff experience at UF. from the Latina/o Diaspora in the Americas Seminar at SPOHP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khsuSuiyT7s (opens in new tab)
Stetson Kennedy’s America: Paul Ortiz and Sandra Parks discuss the anti-racist legacies of legendary Florida author and activist Stetson Kennedy. Filmed at the Civic Media Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4pxQSS7gHU&list=PLzMFflzfI0EQ-ZCUdeD0Q8ctdbCyexk5N (opens in new tab)
Relocating the Confederate Statue in Gainesville, Florida: A Teach-In (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7H9G9mWTE&list=PLzMFflzfI0EQ-ZCUdeD0Q8ctdbCyexk5N&index=5 (opens in new tab)
The Wonder of their Voices: The First Holocaust Oral History Interviews Public Program
https://www.youtube.com/user/SPOHP111/search?query=Holocaust (opens in new tab)
Voices from the March: A Documentary Play. Stories from SPOHP’s trip documenting the 2017 National Women’s March and the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/user/SPOHP111/search?query=racism (opens in new tab)
SPOHP’s Public Program: “Haitian Labor Enslaved: From Haiti to Florida” A public panel examining the continuing crisis of human trafficking in Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qou7kvh_hg (opens in new tab)
Rosewood and Ocoee, Florida Massacres & Elaine, Arkansas Massacre
Images of Rosewood by Lizzie Jenkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnmw4-ZQYpA (opens in new tab)
2009 Rosewood Traveling Exhibit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqfRlyUYayY (opens in new tab)
Mrs. Lizzie Jenkins: An African American History of Alachua County:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqT4yBX1LLg (opens in new tab)
An Oral History with Curtis Michelson and Julian Chambliss (On the Ocoee Massacre)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEBakC0pUUY (opens in new tab)
The 100th Anniversary of the Ocoee, Florida Election Day Massacre: Florida Humanities Lecture by Paul Ortiz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov6puXb1KJ4&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1KbzQQ0x_EM_daP7LfyWHjrSlPVyWiaFnyeudj8h2MjvCXzjWJx_0SAMQ (opens in new tab)
William Quiney, An Oral History and a Tour of Elaine, Arkansas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GygwZqxA3Qk&t=1283s (opens in new tab)
Elaine Workshop: Teaching Civil Rights History (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRPN2wnYUyQ (opens in new tab)
Mississippi Civil Rights Struggle of the 1960s as a Role Model for Change Today
Civil Rights History: A Workshop Discussion. Joint SPOHP-Delta State University public history panel in 2013 on the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement for today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wldj5XJQKxk&t=35s (opens in new tab)
Chaos or Community: Where do we Go From Here? Joint SPOHP-Delta State University public history panel in 2012 featuring Lawrence Guyot, co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2WnoEqzG1I&t=3590s (opens in new tab)
An Organizing Workshop with Lawrence Guyot. Guyot worked closely with Fannie Lou Hamer and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi. This organizing workshop was done for UF students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z7LoVgNYUI&t=21s (opens in new tab)
Civil Rights and Black Power Legacies: A Roundtable Discussion Joint SPOHP-Delta State University History Panel in 2009, Featuring Drs. Hasan Jeffries, Ohio State University, Curtis Austin, University of Oregon, Emilye Crosby, SUNY-Geneseo, Margaret Block and Zoharah Simmons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9DUcnc1jf0 (opens in new tab)
Dr. Gwendolyn Z. Simmons: SPOHP, 50 Years, 50 Faces. Dr. Simmons discusses going to Mississippi in 1964 to become a civil rights movement organizer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYpKPtWwJFI (opens in new tab)
Unfinished Business: Race, Democracy and the Ongoing Struggle for Civil Rights. At the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, members of this panel address race, democracy and ongoing struggles for civil rights in academia, communities and the nation at large. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rxA2sumV20 (opens in new tab)
Sample of Oral Interviews on Struggles for Racial Equality at UF
Oral History Interviews in the UF Digital Collections (UFDC):
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00054180/00001?search=harmeling (opens in new tab) (Dan Harmeling 10/25/14)
In this interview, Dan Harmeling talks about the Civil Rights Movement at UF and several student groups that took part in the fight for racial justice on campus. He also discusses how various members of the administration reacted to the Movement and sometimes impeded its progress.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00066209/00001 (opens in new tab) (Carlton Davis 11/23/2011)
Dr. Carlton Davis was one of the first Black professors hired to the University of Florida. He talks about Black Thursday, the founding of African American Studies, and the founding of the IBC.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00066577/00001 (opens in new tab) (Warren Arther McCluney 9/5/09)
In this interview McCluney touches on going to UF and how UF was just as racist as any other institution at the time. He also points out the divide between UF’s black elite and the other black people at UF who are more community oriented.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00066262/00001 (opens in new tab) (Diana Bell 9/5/09)
In this interview Bell touches on how in the 60s there weren’t any organizations for black people and how her first year they founded the Black student union.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00066469/00001?search=mildred+=hill (opens in new tab) (Mildred Hill Lubin 6/4/2009)
Dr. Mildred Hill Lubin, a champion of UF’s African American studies program, came to work at UF at 1974 as a professor in the Department of English. In this interview, she talks about what it was like to teach at UF in the 1970s. (pg 20)
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00053919/00001?search=061b (opens in new tab) (Joel Buchanan 10/14/2009)
Joel Buchanan, who was in the cohort of the first four African American students to attend Gainesville High School. He talks about race relations at UF in the 1970s.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00066292/00001?search=mickle (opens in new tab) (Evelyn Mickle 2/7/2010)
Mrs. Evelyn Mickle talks about her experiences as the first African American graduate of the UF College of Nursing. She also discusses current difficulties Black students face at UF.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00019974/00001 (opens in new tab)(podcast)
In this podcast, Evelyn and Stephen Mickle talk about what it was like to be among the first Black graduates at UF. Judge Stephen Mickle was the first African American to graduate from UF as an undergrad, and the second to graduate from UF Law.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00066195/00001 (opens in new tab)
Bernard Mackey entered UF in the late 1960s. He talks about the struggle for diversity and inclusion and reflects on the future of UF.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00066172/00001?search=gainey (opens in new tab) (Andrew Gainey 9/3/2010)
Andrew Gainey entered UF in the 1980s, and talks about racism he experienced, as well as some fond memories of his college years.
Latinx and Immigrant Histories at UF and Beyond
Interview with Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers: Discussing the role of women and immigrants in social justice and reform movements past and present:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHPhHJ6CzB0&t=544s (opens in new tab)
The Making of La Casita documentary: Student-produced and funded by the Office of the Provost. An exploration of the origins of the Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures (La Casita). Narratives primarily from the perspectives of Latinx students, staff, faculty and Alumni of UF on why La Casita remains a vital part of the UF community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNg0JLYP1Ac (opens in new tab)
SPOHP’s “History of the Jews in El Salvador” film documentary: The role of El Salvadorans and others in providing sanctuary to Jewish refugees from Germany in the years leading up to World War II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxGIC5kitIc&t=190s (opens in new tab)
SPOHP film Siempre Adelante: A Look at Faith and the Immigrant Struggle. In partnership with Gainesville’s Iglesia Hispana congregation, an in-depth look at the struggles of Latinx immigrants in the Alachua County region: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K74p9oD-kqQ&t=47s (opens in new tab)