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
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
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
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Gv44XdM5Q&t=928s
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
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 (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
Authors@UF: A Conversation with Paul Ortiz on Emancipation Betrayed at George A. Smathers Libraries, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldm__qPy424
From Colored to Black: Stories of North Central Florida. Public Performance @ the Harn Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcHPqF7wTNk
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
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
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
Relocating the Confederate Statue in Gainesville, Florida: A Teach-In (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7H9G9mWTE&list=PLzMFflzfI0EQ-ZCUdeD0Q8ctdbCyexk5N&index=5
The Wonder of their Voices: The First Holocaust Oral History Interviews Public Program
https://www.youtube.com/user/SPOHP111/search?query=Holocaust
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
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
Rosewood and Ocoee, Florida Massacres & Elaine, Arkansas Massacre
Images of Rosewood by Lizzie Jenkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnmw4-ZQYpA
2009 Rosewood Traveling Exhibit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqfRlyUYayY
Mrs. Lizzie Jenkins: An African American History of Alachua County:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqT4yBX1LLg
An Oral History with Curtis Michelson and Julian Chambliss (On the Ocoee Massacre)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEBakC0pUUY
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
William Quiney, An Oral History and a Tour of Elaine, Arkansas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GygwZqxA3Qk&t=1283s
Elaine Workshop: Teaching Civil Rights History (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRPN2wnYUyQ
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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(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
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 (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
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
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
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