Speaker: Jarrett Eady (JE) Moderator: Kinsey Brown (KB)
Moderator: Melissa Minds VandeBurgt (MVB) Transcriptionist: Adrian Sanchez
Event Date: February 11, 2021
——————–———————————————————————————————— KB:
Alright. So, the Bradshaw Library’s University Archives and Special Collections fundraising efforts have been significantly impacted due to the COVID-19 crisis. We ask that if you would like to make a contribution, please use the donation link in the chat box to visit our Donations page to support the archive. When you’re making a contribution, please be sure to select the Library Archives as your gift designation; that will make sure that the money comes to us. A suggested donation of thirty dollars or more will make it possible for us to continue to expand our social justice collection, which we are curating in conjunction with the “Fight for the Ballot” exhibition. We thank you so much for your support. Contributions from the community are truly what make it possible for us to bring events like this, both to our students and to the public at large, so thank you.
And now to move into our programming for this evening. Jarrett Eady is fourth-generation resident of Fort Myers, Florida, and he is an alumnus of Fort Myers High School. He entered the garnet and gold halls of Florida State University where he majored in Political Science with minors in History, Urban and Regional Planning, and Black Studies. While at FSU, he served as the Student Body President, a member of the Florida State University Board of Trustees, and a member of the Florida Board of Governors. Jarrett serves on various Southwest Florida boards, including serving as chairman of the Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board, the Alliance for the Arts Board of Directions, WGCU’s Content Committee, the Lee County Black History Society Board of Directors, and the Xi Omicron Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He is the director of Diversity and Inclusion and the director of Advancement via Individual Determination for the School District of Lee County. With that, it is my pleasure to turn it over to Jarrett Eady himself. Thank you so much for joining us tonight, sir.
JE:
Thank you so much for having me. Can you hear me? Just checking, making sure. KB:
Sir, you’re on. JE:
Alright. So, I appreciate the opportunity to have this conversation related to “Fight for the Ballot” and to support the initiatives at the university. Tonight’s conversation, it’s going to center on looking at the state of Florida, but specifically looking at elements of voting, the fight for the ballot here in Southwest Florida, mainly the Fort Myers communities. To get us started for tonight, I want to take this back to the year 1868. As we get to the close of the Civil War, the state of Florida enters the period of Reconstruction. So, Reconstruction is traditionally put from the year 1868 to
the year 1877. In my opinion, why does this matter for our conversation tonight? It matters tonight to be able to understand the legislation as well as the barriers that were put in place after Reconstruction, and some of the legislation that was authored in Reconstruction to hopefully provide some of the privileges of voting for the Black community, and specifically Black men, since at that time of course women were not allowed and given the right through the suffrage movement to vote.
The first amendment worth our conversation for tonight would be the thirteenth amendment. The thirteenth amendment is passed on April 8th, 1864 by the House, and… I’m sorry, the Senate in
1864 and the House in 1865. The ratification essentially abolishes slavery within the United States and it gets rid of the system of servitude that we had legislated in place with the United States of America as a condition of readmission into these United States of America. These would be the amendments that would be pivotal for the state of Florida as well as the states of the former Confederacy.
Along those lines, connected with that, is the fourteenth amendment. The ratification of the fourteenth amendment occurs in 1868, and the fourteenth amendment grants citizenships to all born or naturalized citizens in the United States, including the former enslaved persons and extending equal protection under the law. When we have a chance to have the conversation in March, the equal protection under the law and the fourteenth amendment is very critical as the United States starts to grapple with Jim Crow as well as segregation and the eventual desegregation of our schools. The fourteenth amendment is a pivotal part of that conversation.
For our conversation tonight, the fifteenth amendment, the ratification of the fifteenth amendment occurs on February 3rd, 1870, and that amendment prohibits the state from disenfranchising voters
on the account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. However, the amendment left open the possibility for states to have different levels of qualification that could be applied across all the races, but specifically looking at the Black community. States have the opportunity to take advantage of those loopholes and the provision by instituting things such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and other opportunities for qualifications to remove the privilege of individuals being able to vote.
In conversations, we always talk about that the fifteenth amendment guaranteed and gave individuals the right to vote, it removed the barrier on the account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, but as we see, the former Confederate states took advantage of those provisions and said, we can do things like poll taxes, literacy tests, and other qualifications that were put in place. Essentially, the conversation would be that you can be denied the right to vote not based on your race, but we can deny you the right to vote based on payment of a poll tax, based on a literacy test and other qualifications that were structured.
So let’s take this story and bring it down to our area here in Southwest Florida. Bottom right hand of your screen, there is a gentleman, Nelson Tillis was the first permanent African-American settler in the city of Fort Myers. Mr. Tillis arrives in 1867 on Christmas Day. He also comes with his wife. His wife was Caucasian, she was white, so the first couple in Southwest Florida, an interracial couple, was Mr. Nelson Tillis and his wife Ellen Summerell Tillis. Mr. Tillis had various occupations here in the Fort Myers and Southwest Florida community, and those occupations
included serving as a commercial fisherman, a fishing guide, and he also hauled buttonwood. And so on the foreground of your screen, in the background, is an image of a buttonwood tree. The establishment of Mr. Tillis is essential because at that time, in 1867, Mr. Tillis arrives in Fort Myers very soon after the very first settlers for the permanent level of establishing foundation here in Southwest Florida and the city of Fort Myers. So when I speak of Southwest Florida and the city of Fort Myers, of course there were other outposts and other areas around here when we were still Monroe County, before we became Lee County, but Fort Myers remains and was a part of a county seat, so a lot of the growth and development that happens, happens with the city of Fort Myers as the centerpiece.
Another quizzical part of history, Mr. Tillis is said to be a close neighbor to Mr. Thomas Edison and that the Tillis children would often go out with Mr. Edison on fishing expeditions.
Reconstruction is a real essential part of the conversation, so as we talked about in our earlier slide beginning in 1868, the reconstructing of the state’s government as well as the country’s government after the end of the Civil War is very important. In the foreground and background of our screen, you see pictures of the legislature gathered in the state’s capital in the city of Tallahassee. If you noticed a gentleman that’s directly in the center of our screen, his name is Robert Mecham, and Mr. Mecham is important for this conversation because he goes on to serve as a senator in the Florida legislature on the opposite side of the House of Representatives. Mr. Mecham was a Black man. There is a larger picture of him on the right side of our screen. His connection to Southwest Florida is very interesting. He went on to win the seat in the state legislature as a state senator in 1876 and he eventually becomes the postmaster of the city of Punta Gorda’s services.
Now, why is that important? Not just because Punta Gorda’s serving as our neighbor, but Mr. Mecham was also very prominent and well-known in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. So after his tenure serving in the Reconstruction legislature, he makes his journey down to Southwest Florida and the city of Punta Gorda as well as establishing local Methodist denominations for the Black community here in the city of Fort Myers. So if you look through the histories of our local churches, namely looking at the history of Trinity Methodist Church as well as Mount Olive, there is a distinction and both lay claim to connection of being established and having connections to Mr. Robert Mecham, who has a resident of our community and also a member of the Reconstruction legislature.
So we’ve established the foundation that those amendments that we referenced removed the barriers for voting based on condition of servitude and based on condition of race. On August 4th, 1898, going through the records here provided for our local community, I was able to find as you will notice in the center part of your screen with the highlighting, that is the active voter list from 1898 that includes, all the way down at the bottom on the right hand side of the list, Marion Tillis and Eli Tillis, children of Mr. Nelson Tillis, and then further down you will see Mr. Nelson Tillis himself. The list in front of us includes all of the men who were given the provision to vote in 1898 and I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting all of those names on the screen.
If you notice on the screen after each one of those gentlemen’s names, you will see col period. That was a denotion that those were men of color. So as we talk about the fruit of Reconstruction
on a level of registration, we do have evidence and record in the city of Fort Myers that these Black men were provisionally allowed to register. Now, of course in the conversation can we have evidence and proof and primary sources that they actually went and executed their right to vote, that of course has been lost to history, but we do have occupational understanding that they were provisionally given the opportunity to register and have access to the ballot. Now, that does not always mean that access to the ballot was always easy. We talked about some of the qualifications that were provided and put in place to keep people from accessing the ballot.
On the left hand side of your screen, it might be a little hard to read but I’ll give you a version, a Readers’ Digest version, of what you see. So this was an interview that appeared on one of our local papers and extension outside of Southwest Florida, and it speaks to a gentleman who recalls his memory from 1894 over the provision called an eight-box ballot, so the eight-box ballot, which say that, okay, I am going to give you the opportunity to maybe have access to the ballot and vote, but we will label the ballots to be able to prove that you can actually read what is on the ballot and then you have to take your ballot and put that in the proper location for that specific election. So the gentleman on the screen, he says here, the quote that I found really interesting, as he reflected on Florida, he stated: “The land of little gray foxes where, for a dollar bill, you can vote in the eight-ballot boxes.”
So there are two elements of voter disenfranchisement mentioned in that, the eight-ballot box as well as the dollar, and the dollar is a reference to the poll tax. This interview was conducted with a Black gentleman at the early turn of the century and giving his recollection of what it was like in 1894 for the barrier of being able to vote. So as establishing the element of that, Mr. Nelson Tillis was allowed to register as well as the men who were listed on our screen.
To place the proper context and understand the fight for the ballot, it’s important to understand the growth and development of the Black community in the city of Fort Myers, and of course with outputs from the city of Fort Myers throughout Southwest Florida. The year 1900 through 1919 would be an incredible period of growth for the Black community in Fort Myers. At the top left hand corner of your screen, you will see pictures of the community known as Safety Hill. So, in many instances now when we speak of the Dunbar community, we automatically make the connection to the African-American or Black community. However, prior to the community being known as Dunbar Heights, the Black community was collectively known as Safety Hill. At the top left hand corner of the screen is an early picture of what the Safety Hill Community looked like around the turn of the century.
Also at around the turn of the century, the importance of the African-American Black Church Experience continues to resonate. After 1898, the establishment of churches like St. John Baptist Church as well as the prior existing African Methodist Episcopal and Methodist congregations established by Robert Mecham continued to grow and develop. The bottom right hand side of our screen is a picture of the congregation of Friendship Baptist Church, which is still a very prominent congregation in the community and they’re gathered outside for their early service at around 1914. In the center of the screen is Williams Academy. Williams Academy is important. In the 1913-1914 school year, Williams Academy is established as the first government-funded school for Black children here in the city of Fort Myers. Prior to that, Mr. Nelson Tillis did hire educators to come and educate his children and the children in his neighborhood, but in 1913-1914, the first
organized initiative and funded by local municipalities to educate Black children was Williams Academy. An interesting quizzical note, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting the Lee County Black History Society’s Williams Academy Black History Museum, at the far rear of the picture in the center of our screen, that is the building where the museum is currently housed. So the first part of the building is the original Williams Academy, and then the back portion is where the local Black History Museum is now housed in Clemente Park. And then down in the bottom left hand corner of the screen, that is the picture of the funeral for Mrs. Sarah Williams. Mrs. Sarah Williams, of course, dies in the early part of the twentieth century, and she is the mother of Mrs. Ella Piper, Dr. Ella Piper, who is at the top right hand side of our screen.
So, it’s important to note that this community starts to develop along with the growth and development of the city of Fort Myers, the Black community was an example of reliance and also resiliency. Excuse me for a second. [clears throat] As I mentioned, Safety Hill’s growth, the growth patterns continued in 1914 as we talked about, the congregation of Friendship, and more up-close and personal shots of the community and what those houses looked like around the Safety Hill community. So if you picture where the Dunbar community is located now near the Downtown Fort Myers River District, these are early, early settlements of the homes which would eventually be known as Dunbar.
Going a little bit closer, we notice that for the 1913-1912 school year, the colored school is being planned. At the top left hand corner of the screen, that is a snapshot from an article from the local newspaper that talks about the plans for the colored school. The article is dated June 3rd, 1912, so
again, I know our conversation is centering on voting, but to really understand a lot of the resistance toward voting and also the organization of the Black community to make sure that there were access to the ballot, it’s important to know the upward mobility and the resiliency of the Black community from a historical aspect here in our city, and that’s an up-close and personal picture of the Williams Academy that we spoke of about two slides ago.
At the top hand right of our screen is Ms. Clara Session and Ms. Clara Session was a very instrumental educator who provided education and educated very, very, very… in a very stern way, as some would say, she was a taskmaster and disciplinarian, but many of her students have fond recollection of her and the education that she provided to them as an educator at Williams Academy, and then thusly, when Williams Academy became Williams Primary.
Taking our eyes back to the quest and the battle and the fight for the ballot, in our earlier slides when we laid the foundation for Reconstruction legislation, we spoke of a lot of the barriers that were put in place outside the confines of the Constitution. So the provisions provided through the amendment said that voting could not be denied based on race or condition of servitude, however, what other clauses could be proposed or discussed to ensure that Blacks in the community and across the state were not given the right to vote? On our screen in 1915 in May, this is an article that appeared in the Orlando Morning Sentinel that discussed a resolution of being discussed in the state legislature in Tallahassee, and the proposed constitutional amendment called for the adoption of a grandfather clause.
So the grandfather clause simply put that you would not be denied the right to vote based on your race, based on your condition of servitude, but there’d be consideration of you not being able to
vote based on the condition of your grandfather. So could your grandfather vote after or before a specific time? And of course knowing that before 1867 that men of color were not given that opportunity to say that their grandfathers were allowed to vote, so thus you’d be denied the right to vote based on the condition of your grandfather, not necessarily on your race. So this really goes back to the understanding of the barriers that were being proposed, and the key part of this as the article tells us, this was a proposed resolution with the grandfather clause of having that as a qualification, and of course the article says that it would eliminate practically every Negro voter in the state after having passed the House several days ago, the final passage was moving toward the Senate. So it would have required an amendment to the Constitution for that to take effect. So in the research and having these conversations related to the election, it was important to go back and see, okay, well, where there men of color being able to vote about after 1915? So that took me back to someone named Ella Piper. Ella Piper will appear in our conversation a little bit as we get into the 1920s, but before progression of the community continues to go forward. Mrs. Ella Piper, professionally known as Dr. Ella Piper, or at one point Ella Jones Piper and Ms. Harvey after 1930, 1940 was her name. She was arguably the first owner of a beauty parlor here in the city of Fort Myers, and in the center of your screen you will see a picture of the Fort Myers beauty parlor as well as advertisements that were displayed in the local Fort Myers News-Press. At the bottom left hand corner of the screen, you will see Ella M. Jones, Fort Myers Beauty Parlor with her patronage being solicited around the city of Fort Myers, and in the center there is another advertisement for the Fort Myers beauty parlor, Ella Jones Piper, proprietor.
It’s important to note that Mrs. Piper was a socialite around the city of Fort Myers in the Black community. But all of her clients were not people from her community. Her clients were the wives of the powers that be in the city of Fort Myers, including the wife of Mr. Thomas Albert Edison. This position and having this influence and connection would give Ms. Piper an opportunity to meander across and provide levels of support for the community to bring back from those connections that she had. The name Dr. Piper is still very relevant here, the Dr. Piper Center as well as the new restaurant at the Luminary Hotel has reference to Dr. Piper. So Dr. Piper is an example of we’re moving forward, onward and upward is what I always like to call it. The community was always moving onward and always moving upward.
I ask myself if the legislation is proposed in 1915 and there was no for sure path to a constitutional amendment, were there still barriers in place at the turn of the century? I was able to find record on the center of our screen from the year 1918, March of 1918. This is a public notice that was placed out for the community to know that there was going to be removal of names from the voting record. On the right hand side of our screen, I found a name that was of interest at that part of our community and in that time, E. E. Velasco. E. E. Velasco was the first Black doctor here in the Fort Myers community and well-known. If you’re familiar with the Velasco Village Community, then that is the community named after Dr. E. E. Velasco, who was a well-known property owner and also married Lela Price Velasco who was the daughter of a well-known and wealthy, at the time, Black businessman and philanthropist connected to the community. She became a teacher at the Dunbar high school eventually.
On the other side is a record of Mose Primus, also known as Moses Primus. Moses Primus is an ancestor of our current judge, Judge Archie Hayward. So in 1918, we do see these two men as
examples of going toward the registration to vote, but they were removed from the record based on non-payment of property taxes as well as non-payment of poll taxes. Now, it’s important that the litany of names right on the list were not just men of color, but it does show that there was a quest to make sure that these two men of course for record and example, were at one point on the voter registration list prior to the year 1918.
I think the time 1920 to 1940 are the highlights of the efforts here in this community to deny the ballot through various methods of intimidation and outright passing of resolutions from the local powers that be in governmental bodies to deny the right to vote to Black men and of course we know after the passage of the amendment to the Constitution, Black women as well. However, going back to our theme of resiliency, we do know that there are progress and steps forward always occurring in the community. So those four pictures we’ll go on in a little more in depth in the next section of the presentation, but it’s important to know that that is Dr. Ella Piper, top right hand side of our screen. Adjacent to Dr. Piper is the earliest known picture of Dunbar High School. Dunbar High School is completed and dedicated to the community during the 1920s. Down at the bottom right hand side of our screen, we take our trip back to Safety Hill. That is a picture of one of the businesses and homes that were damaged in the disastrous hurricane that occurs in the 1920s. It also takes out Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was on then-known as Anderson Avenue.
And then in the bottom left hand of our screen is Fort Myers’ favorite son at the time, Mr. Thomas Albert Edison, gathered with a group of students. The postmark and credit on the back of the photo says Jubilee Singers. We’ve tried opportunities to compare pictures at the local Black History Museum and we feel there may be some elements of singers but we think those are also early students of Dunbar High School, and in fact we believe that one of the first graduates, Ms. Oceola Hodges is located in this picture. So this group of residents in the 190s gathered with Mr. Thomas Edison at the infamous estate.
It was important to lay the foundation of what was occurring in the 1920s to show the level of progress, but toward progress, progress was not very easy and did not come without resistance. The title of our side for this one is The Ku Klux Klan, 1923 to 1924. I included several snapshots of articles and advertisements to show that there was a definite presence here of the Klan in the 1920s and we know that if we take Southwest Florida and place it in the narrative of what was occurring across the nation, then there was a rise of what would call themselves as the New Ku Klux Klan.
Top left hand of our screen, we notice that the Klan is now visiting churches in East Fort Myers, so they’re giving residents to all across the neighborhood, the community, religious as well as civic-minded individuals, were listening to the message provided for and to them connected to ensuring that the races were indeed separated. If we look at 1923 and place the election conversation in the greater narrative and conversation in the state of Florida, we know that the Ocoee election day riot also occurs in the 1920, 1920s, excuse me. So, that lets us know that of course we see things all across the nation, but here in our state and in our city in our community, there were elements to intimidate and ensure, or what they perceived to be intimidation, to keep the Black community from accessing the ballot or even asking questions related to the ballot.
However, the community example of resiliency, that word is not coming out in headphone, resiliency, excuse me. So 1924, I thought it was very interesting, so we noticed that the Democratic Party was still a stronghold in the South and a stronghold in the state of Florida, holdover from the Civil War. However, in 1924, what was still then having connection to the party of Lincoln, started the conversation here in Southwest Florida. In the center of your screen is a notice provided in the 1924 newspaper to establish a conference of Republican Party. On January 21st, 1924, it was agreed
upon to organize a Republican county executive committee. It’s important to note that those two pictures on our screen are the locations referenced in this article and notice. To the left hand side is St. John Missionary Baptist Church as it would have looked when this meeting occurred in 1924, and then circling back to Williams Academy as we discussed in the early 1900s. Those two locations were the primary meeting places for the Republican Party of Lee County as it was discussed in 1924. It’s noted that all Republicans, both male and female, white and colored, are asked to be present at the above date and the signatories included at the end of the notice.
So, some would say that the early birth of the Republican Party here in Lee County with those connections have close connected roots to the Williams Academy and to the St. John Baptist Church considering the factions that occurred between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party after the end of the Civil War. We know that one party was considered to be the party of Abraham Lincoln at that time for emancipation and the Democratic Party was seen to be the party and the stronghold of the South. A lot of those of those factions and conversations started to change in the latter part or early part... latter part of the 1950s, but for sure in the 1960s with some of the elections, specifically the election in 1968 and the conversations connected to George Wallace running for president.
If we see the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan on the local level, then we ask ourselves, well, what did the community experience as it relates to racial violence? In 1924, the answer to that question is provided. The Fort Myers press covered in their conversation the lynching of RJ Johnson and Milton Wilson. 1924, those two young men were students at the Williams Academy. Those were teenagers at the Williams Academy, not adults. Those two men were lynched and eventually drug through the city of Fort Myers for allegedly committing inappropriate acts with two young white girls who were said to actually be their friends. The lynching caused lots of conversation across the city and many members of the Black community were attesting to the fact that they knew a lot of the people who were involved in the lynch mob, but those names were never publicly declared or mentioned, in fact the sheriff at the time said that the young men lost their lives at the hands of unknown assailants.
We don’t have any pictures from that time period, but to the left of our screen, a book was written called White Mother, and the book White Mother was a recollection of Mrs. Bennett Sam Pool was a local person, Mrs. Bennett, Jessi Bennett Sam, she was a local woman who eventually wrote a book, and in her book, her book chronicled and categorized her life growing up here in Fort Myers. As a part of the book, she gave her personal reflection through the story that she provided of being a young person at the time of the 1924 lynching, and that is an illustration included from the book’s depiction of what she experienced watching it.
The Fort Myers press, or News-Press in the 1970s, recorded a lot of the first hand anecdotal conversations of some of the younger members of the community when the lynching happened in
1924, including Ms. Mary Childs, who gives a great depiction of what she remembered occurring the day of the lynching. As we say, the conversation connected to resiliency also shows that in the midst of those tragic moments, the community was still very resolute toward moving forward. In 1924, the community comes together to build the Jones-Walker Hospital as we see in the center of our screen. We talked about the distinction between Safety Hill and Dunbar. We still note in the article that the community is still reserved and known as Safety Hill, and I say reserved because it was through city ordinance that precluded members of the opposite race from residing on the opposite side and intermingling in social atmosphere, so the Black community was confined based on border and platting and ordinance to the area known as Safety Hill and eventually known as Dunbar. And conversely, several of our local neighborhoods did implement restrictive covenants, saying that those properties were not allowed to be sold to folks who were not of white descent. And then on the other side, it’s important to note that the community had to come together to build its hospital. This shows a fundraising initiative for the Jones-Walker Hospital from 1924 and someone who’s going to be of great interest to us, she is listed in the picture as the photo record would say, Mrs. Melissa Jones, who was the founder of the Jones-Walker Hospital. She will make an additional appearance in our story about fighting for the ballot.
As we talk about monuments to progress, it’s still important to note that in addition to fighting for the right to the ballot, there are also ordinances that continue to pop up across the city. Here’s an example of the Tampa Tribune’s coverage of a 1925 article that discussed a proposal that would make it pretty much illegal for you to be a Black man or a Black person in the city of Fort Myers and in the Safety Hill district without a job. So I’ll give you an opportunity to look at that article and process it. There is no denotion that this ordinance actually passed, but it’s important to understand that in addition to fighting for the ballot, there are connections of course to other elements of Jim Crow legislation and the formal segregation of the races that also existed in the period of the 1920s, along the goal to provide access to voting rights and provisions connected thereinto.
1926, very fascinating year. We saw Dunbar High School in the early part of our presentation with the slide introduced in the 1920s. Dunbar High School is opened in 1926, 1926-1927 school year, but it becomes the centerpoint of the Safety Hill community, so much so that the community adopts its name eventually as Dunbar Heights for the connection to the pride that the community had in Dunbar High School and its emergence in 1926-1927. The teachers at Dunbar High School and the administrators of Dunbar High School become the leaders of many of the initiatives to ensure that there is access to the ballot as we move forward to the next part of our decade, however, the Dunbar High School centerpiece is still a level of pride for the Black community and remains the lynchpin of pride and engagement and dedication to education. On our screen, we see various pictures of graduation classes. To the bottom left hand of our screen, there are a group of young men outside of Dunbar High School playing instruments, that is the latter part of the 1930s, as well as many of the early football teams and students having their educational pursuits at the commencement ceremony.
However, as we know, monuments to progress, they’re always opportunities to show that Jim Crow was alive and well. The election of 1928 proved to be very contentious, and so during the research I was wondering what exactly was happening around here in 1928. In 1928, you’ll notice
on the screen there was an infamous recall election where there were conversations related to removing the councilmembers on the Fort Myers city council. What you see on your screen are the official notices and advertisements and stories that appeared in the local Fort Myers paper as well as the Tropical News, making sure that those “Negroes” who were given the right to vote, who were able to overcome things like the poll tax, were not participating in that election. Some of the highlights of these conversations goes to the fact, down at the bottom, the very bottom of the end of the article, the undersigned hereby ask the cooperation of every citizen, both Black and white, so that in the coming recall election, there shall be no ballots cast by Negroes.
So, this article is not saying that you should be denied the right to vote, we’re going to keep you from voting based on any law or provision; this is an example of voter intimidation for the members who were able to register of the Black community and those who were interested in voting, the message is very clear. We’re calling on all members of the community, Black and white, to ensure that the recall election contained no ballots cast by Negroes. So, it’s very clear that members of the city council who participated on both sides of the recall process, who did not want the presence of the Black community to register and be a part of the recall election. However, did it work?
Here’s another editorial that appeared in the newspaper. This is someone in his conversation is saying that I’ve had good connections with the local community, the colored community as referenced in this article, the mailback article, and so the advice for your pretty much safety and wellbeing, down at the bottom, everything I own is in Fort Myers and I do hope that this letter will be accepted in the spirit in which it was written. He’s saying, for your own safety, for the Black community, colored community as it’s referenced in 1928, it should not be advisable for you to participate in this very contentious election or recall election as it was occurring in 1928.
So to my original question, did it work? Going back in the records in the archives in the voter registration listed, I was able to find, in October 28, these individuals and their names, and not to say they’re the only ones, but these are some of the notable names that I was able to find that showed, in addition to being told not to vote, and not to register, at the bare minimum, these community individuals said no, I am going to register. And I mentioned Melissa Jones; on the left hand side of our screen is Ms. Melissa Jones, who was the founder of the Jones-Walker Hospital. She is listed in the 1928 record of registered voters. In the center is a gentleman who was a business owner, Mr. Homer Cox is listed in the record of individuals who registered. And Mr. J. R. Dixon, Mr. James Dixon, who was the first principal of Dunbar High School, were registered and listen on the record of registered voters even after all of those conversations and threats and intimidation of saying you should not vote. Another example of resiliency.
So, that’s why Dunbar High School and Jones-Walker Hospital were important to lay the foundation, to show the level of leadership in the community that in spite of those odds, there were still pushed forward to say, I want to make sure that I am still going to exercise my right to register and to be a part of this process. It’s also important to note that in 1928, we do know by then that women are now given the right to vote, so this is the record I wanted to show, that we do have the inclusion of women who were going down the path of registration in spite of the intimidation and in spite of the removing of some of the barriers that were established. So it’s fair to say that some
of these individuals were able to pay the poll tax and participate in the process very similar to what noticed in 1915, with Nelson Tillis and some of his descendants.
By 1929, we now have discussions of Negro votes are being cast. So, it’s interesting push and pull, and so we notice now that we saw one push away from voting that does not deter the community, and then we see the pull away from it from other acts of intimidation that we really will see ramp up in 1930s. And that takes us to 1933.
In 1933, there was the gentleman in the center and the mayor at the time, Josiah Finch, and the other gentleman, William Wood, who was a representative of this local community to the legislature. The major conversations centered on the changes to the city charter. In addition to the headline, another proposal to the city charter would eliminate the inclusion of poll taxes for consideration in city election. If you notice, off to the left hand side, there was a mass meeting that occurred to ensure that the citizens had their voices heard in the conversation as well as mail-back articles that discussed the levels of dissent and pushback on the decision being pushed by the representative. Eventually, this will come to as, what I would call, one of the major levels of explosion from the overt level of intimidation provided by those individuals in the city who wanted to ensure that if I remove the poll tax, would that now give additional opportunities for the Black community to register and subsequently vote?
It takes us to 1933 moving to May. In May of 1933, we discussed earlier the distinction with the Democratic Party and how it was a predominant part of course executing the closed white primary system and other barriers keeping the Black community. The Young Democratic Party establishes a resolution and the Young Democrats of the party provide the following resolution, and I’ll give you an opportunity to read it and peruse it on your own before we discuss some of the elements included in it.
So the Now Therefore Be Resolved Clause of the resolution says that the Negroes of this city be and hereby are requested to refrain from participating in any city election, that the candidates for city offices be and are hereby requested to cooperate both in letter and in spirit with the organization’s movement and that any candidate not following in writing as approval of this resolution and pledge of cooperation shall be considered not in sympathy with this movement. Finally, the last clause of this resolution be published in the Fort Myers News-Press for the benefit of the citizens of Fort Myers. So, it is for the benefit, but it’s also a form of intimidation. If the resolution is published, of course, there are members of the Black community who are subscribers to the newspaper, so they see this resolution telling them, I don’t care if the provisions are in place, and some of those barriers are removed, it is still confirming the supremacy of what was the all-white Democratic Party and primary system.
So I’m wondering then, does this just stop with the local Democratic Club to ensure that people are intimidated and encouraged not to vote, that the Black community is told that you should not vote and anybody who is thinking of running for election, it is the requirement that you take this pledge and say that you will not solicit and ask for votes from the Black community. Well, that takes us to an actual formal resolution. This is a resolution passed by the Fort Myers city council during the 1933 conversation that affirms and supports many of the whereas clauses and tenets provided in the resolution from the Young Democrat Club. The second whereas clause goes to our
conversation with the elimination of poll taxes, whereas one of the principal provisions of such new charter is the elimination of poll taxes in all city elections, and whereas is the opinion of the city council that this provision was made for reasons contrary to the best interests, and so this goes back to that political fight back and forth between the representative and mayor, and that therefore the benefits intended to be derived by such provisions should be prevented as far as possible and whereas the principal class that will be made eligible by the elimination of the poll tax, we all see... oh, taking out, got rid of that part of the screen... one second.
Okay. And whereas the principal class that will be made eligible to vote by the elimination of the poll tax will be the Negroes, and whereas but few of the Negroes have any personal knowledge of city affairs and are liable to be misled therein by unscrupulous candidates, and whereas participation by the Negroes in city elections will tend to react against their own best interest, so there’s that terminology again, against your own best interest, an overt, and what we conceive to be, a covert suggestion of intimidation, but it is against your own best interest to participate, therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Fort Myers and council assembled that the registraton of voting of Negroes be discouraged as far as it is possible. And we note here the signature and approval by the mayor and the councilman and attested by the city clerk. So the 1933 election was very interesting, but doesn’t stop there.
No, it doesn’t. During the same time period we now see the article that says “Fiery Cross Fails to Halt Registration.” In addition to the initiatives to deny the ballot, we now notice that the fiery cross is present again in this part of our conversation connected back to what was happening in the 1920s and the conversation related and connected to the Klan.
So this is a story that shows registration was going to be halted, however, on the far left hand side of our screen in the second paragraph, it tells us, four brave the warning to qualify if the election board office for voting in the coming city election. One was a woman who said she was employed in a Safety Hill beauty parlor. She registered in the second ward and seemed pleased to learn that she was listed with “quality folks” of Dean Park. So, it is safe to make the assumption that the woman on Safety Hill beauty parlor was Dr. Ella Piper. That will be the connection with Dr. Piper knowing the location of her beauty parlor as well as her home near the Dean Park portion of Fort Myers. So it goes to show that even though the threat was made, there still was a movement toward registration, as this article said, the four who braved the warning to go on the second wave of the registration process.
We notice, it continues. “Negroes Flock to Register as the List is Closed – Seize the Balance of Power As Last Day Sees 44 Bring Total to 341.” So in addition to the resolution offered by the Democrat Club as well as the city of Fort Myers, we note that that did not deter members of the community from going toward the quest of being able to register. We have here more evidence of the community coming together to coalesce and the connection with the ‘33 conversation.
So, would that have been enough? The context continues with the Young Dems trying to bar candidates who failed to sign. Not everyone initially went along with what the Democrat Party was trying to do with the Young Democrats, and so if you notice the center of our screen, there was a listing of those individuals who refused to sign, or at that point refused to sign, and who did not make the statement saying that they would not solicit and did not support.
So the ‘33 election was very interesting. The local paper in its archives provide lots of evidence as to the conversation, the opportunities to intimidate, and the general nexus of the right to vote versus am I fearing for my life, my safety, and my wellbeing, and we did know that there were members of the community who stood up against that and moved toward registration.
1940 to 1959. That takes us to the tail end of our conversation for today, but the 1940s were proved to be just as pivotal as the latter part of the ‘30s and 1933. The community continues to move forward with educational attainment. In the bottom left hand of our screen, that is the faculty of Franklin Park Elementary School and the gentleman in the center, Mr. Wardell Salters, the principal of the elementary school, will make an appearance in this section of our conversation as a leader of a progressive voting coalition group. So I wanted to offer some snapshots of how the community was moving forward. The two young ladies at the top of our screen, that is Ms. Constance Bennett Jennings and also Ms. Gladys Cohen, who were educated and graduates of the Dunbar High School experience in the previous portion of our program in the 1930s, but who returned to teach at the Dunbar school and more specifically the elementary school grade level. The community continues to move forward. In the top left hand side of our screen, that is a prom from 1942, supposedly located in now the infamous McCollum Hall in the city of Fort Myers, and adjacent to Mrs. Cohen and Mrs. Connie(?), there is Mr. Edgar L. Barker, who was a native of the community and returned to be an educator and was the principal of Dunbar High School. That screenshot is a screenshot from the program booklet from the football season, I believe, in the 1948 school year.
So why is 1940 and 1940s going forward will really have an impact here in Southwest Florida. An organization called the Progressive Voters League really starts to be a centerpiece in the state of Florida in support, as you notice with the citation, with the NAACP. The NAACP in the local branch will really have a strong presence in the next part of our presentation in the 1960s, but the archives and records show that it was the Progressive Voters League who took the lynchpin and the conversation connected to pressing for voting rights, but these two organizations on a national and state level were interconnected, and here’s why. Thurgood Marshall wins a victory overthrowing the lily-white, as they call it, Democratic primary, and said that it was unconstitutional based in the Supreme Court’s decision. A gentleman by the name of Harry Moore, who is at the bottom of our screen, and his wife. Mr. Moore starts to organize the Progressive Voters League, and in the next six years after the establishment, over 116,000 Blacks were registered to vote in the state of Florida with the Democratic Party. That represented 31% of our eligible Black voters in the state and it was 51% higher than any other Southern state.
However, only six weeks in 1951 after that great percentage number that we referenced, Mr. Moore was killed when a bomb was placed under the floorboard and it was exploded killing him on way to the hospital and his wife nine days later. So why does that matter? It takes the city of Fort Myers and places it in the larger context of fight for ballot access across the state of Florida, and what does that look like here in Southwest Florida with the Progressive Voters League? Was there a presence here? Is there an intimate and close connection with the NAACP? What were we doing in Southwest Florida while Mr. Moore was fighting in the upper parts of the state? Well, the answer to that question appears to us in 1948. The Progressive Voters League of Florida has a local affiliate and establishment here in the local community and it starts to resonate in the 1930s. 1930s, 1940s.
If you notice with the Progressive Voters League, you have fiery crosses that start to reappear again, in the center, in the Fort Myers News-Press, you have a fiery cross that is burned adjacenrt to Friendship Baptist Church as members of the community are trying to vote. There is a picture of Friendship Baptist Church in the top left hand corner of our screen as it was located on Cranford Avenue. I mentioned the principal of Franklin Park, Mr. Wardell Salters. In the 1948 conversation connected with the further advancement of the Voters League, Mr. Salters was the vice president of the Voters League which of course had the connection to Mr. Moore from the previous slide. So the Progressive Voters League, a lot of those conversations I guess have been lost to history, and this organization is not always, well, referenced, and well-known through the local community, but they were the major piece of taking the banner and the mantle from Mr. Moore and moving forward in the 19 late 30s, and early ‘40s to register folks to vote here in the local community under the banner of the organization that had connections to individuals also with the NAACP.
So this is Mr. Wardell Salters who is in our picture as the principal of Franklin Park. He was a graduate of Dunbar High School and of course someone who was pushing for using his education and position as a part of the Voters League to register individuals to vote as a centerpiece states, but a fiery cross was burned here as they were trying to vote. And then the next article was telling us that the Ku Klux Klan goes on to deny that they had any involvement with the burning of the cross that was near Friendship Baptist Church.
So, going back to starting to get us to wrap up for the evening, we talked about the election tricks. That goes back to the discussion that we had earlier in 1894, but then, did the state have literacy tests, and did we have anything connected to a grandfather clause? This is an article again from Orlando that talks about the 1951 legislative session for the supervisor of elections discussing legislation to institute literacy tests here in the state of Florida as an additional barrier with the assumption that they felt members of the Black community would not be able to pass the literacy tests, but many of those things were under the interpretation. There are elements and examples of that across the South. People were asked to interpret sections of the state’s Constitution to the satisfaction of the registrar. So even if you immaculately explained it, if the registrar said it was not explained to the satisfaction, that would be a denial to vote, not denying you to vote based on the fact that you were Black but based on the fact that you did not interpret that portion of the Constitution to the registrar’s satisfaction.
So, it goes to show in elements of ‘48 and other examples, in addition to those intimidation attitudes and factors, the progressive Negro group, the Progressive Voters League continues to meet at Friendship Baptist Church. This is another example I found through the archives of 1948. Right after the issue that we saw with the cross burning, they turned back around and were still having those meetings back at Friendship Baptist Church, not to be deterred.
Another interesting element and example of the Progressive Voters League came in 1951. In 1951 to the left of our screen was the first and only female mayor of the city of Fort Myers who was eventually recalled. To the right hand side of our screen you’ll notice the headline that appeared in the newspaper that talks about the mayor and members of the council subsequently facing and being on the other side of a recall election. However, a center article talks about the quest to have
the local Black community take part and have a position on the removal and recall of those elected officials and you’ll note that once again we see the presence of the Progressive Voters League, who said, in summarizing the article, that they’re remaining strictly neutral in this matter because they see no involvement that would concern our people in any way. So now we’ve gone form the 1920s and 1948 of trying to keep people from voting, but then 1951 we do see elements of those who probably were pro and con recall asking for the Black community or Negro support, as the article said.
1952, we see now that a lot of the provisions, of course the community starts to grow and get larger, but it really is starting to organize fully around engaging in the electoral process, being able to access the ballot now with the removal of some poll taxes, but we won’t see an explosion in voter registration until the next part of our conversation in the 1960s, but we see the organization and moving toward it. This is an article from 1952 that talks about a rally hosted by that same group we just referenced, the Progressive Voters League, at the infamous Dunbar High School. And at that time, you had some, not all, candidates for local office who showed up to solicit the votes from the Black community and engage in a forum sort of format and fashion. So, we see now from where we started with the barriers put in place and the subsequent elimination of the poll taxes in the 1930s, we see organization to increase the number of Blacks who were eligible to vote in the community in spite of intimidation and pushback from elements like the Ku Klux Klan and some of the factions of the Democratic Party. We see the community continuing to be resilient and moving toward gaining the access as provided by the Constitution and subsequent amendments and barriers being pushed aside, such as the poll tax and then moving toward breaking down additional barriers that we will see be put in place in the 1960s with many of the voting rights acts that would happen in the middle part of 1960s, ‘64, ‘65.
So, for the first part, from 1900 to 1960, I know I was going really quickly to get through, I’m being a good custodian to the hour that we had from 6:05 to 7:06. I wanted to be able to get through that, so sorry if I was going really quickly, but there was a lot of information to cover and we have tonight and we also have time in the latter part of the month of March to have the conversation. But before we go back to any questions, I'd like to say that donations help to bring programming like this not only to FGCU and the community, but also to the Southwest Florida community and beyond. I would ask you to please consider making a contribution to the FGCU University Archives and Special Collections so they can continue to do the important work that they do, and the link will be provided for you in the chatbox.
So I do hope that you were able to learn a little bit about the fight and the battle for the ballot. I started with the fight and I ended with the battle, so our title slide was “The Fight for the Ballot,” and I wanted to end it with the battle for the ballot, and that would set us up for part two in the month of March. So, that’s what I have. Any questions?
MVB:
Thank you, Jarrett, for sharing with us these incredible stories and for shedding light on the rich history of Black lives in Fort Myers. We are so grateful for your willingness to share your time and your incredible knowledge. Good evening, everyone. I am Melissa Minds VandeBurgt, and I have the daily honor of leading the incredible team here at FGCU and the Archives and Special Collections. And tonight, I have the privilege of asking Jarrett your questions. I do want to
acknowledge really quickly, I know we’re running a bit over, but that Jarrett will be sharing his experience with us again on March 9th from 6 to 7 to discuss the Black experience post 1960. The
registration link is being dropped in the chatbox now, and you can also register from our home page on the digital exhibition, “Fight for the Ballot.” Alright, so Jarrett, you ready for your questions?
JE:
We’ll see, I hope so. MVB:
Alright, so Lyn Millner, hi, Lyn. “Why was the Dunbar area initially called Safety Hill?” JE:
Alright, so, thanks for the question, Lyn. I will give you the definition and the explanation [audio feedback] I’m getting feedback, just let me... Okay. So, from the definition, some would say that, in many instances, it’s where the Black community felt the safest. I’ve heard people say that, and then on the other end, if you look at the elevation, the elevation of the city of Fort Myers, some would say that the Black community was the highest point of elevation and it was a place where you could feel safe, based on, of course, we live in Southwest Florida, we drain the Everglades when water and the rain start flooding. So I cannot personally attest to the actual definition but I can share that those are the two compelling stories. It seems like most people felt like, but from what I know from conversations locally, that the Safety Hill approach based on the elevation is probably the predominant reason as to why that name stuck.
MVB:
Alright. So Bailey Rodgers asks, well, first she says, “I love hearing all this history.” And then asks, she would love to know how you compiled all of your research.
JE:
So, I guess this goes back to me, I started my first time capsule when I was in fifth grade, and my first time capsule conversation was over the, I just call it what it is, the assassination of Dr. James Adams, who was a superintendent of schools that time, who we all know from having the connection, was murdered in the school district headquarters, which was in Downtown Fort Myers. That was really the first story I followed and started collecting it. I had the honor and privilege of being a part of the Lee County Black History Society’s board of directors, and so they gave me access to their archives, their collections. I see a lot of my other history friends now on this call, looking at this chatbox, Dr. Jonathan Harrison is in here, Dr. Jerry Reeds is here, I see Gwen is here, I see von Hill, connected to what they do at their historical society near the Alliance for the Arts, they have great resources. Dr. Reeds was so gracious to allow me to come in on a Saturday to do some research being able to go back to the 1800s and find some of those voting records. And then also having access to the local Black history at the Black History Society, a lot of the pictures are pictures provided and archives and collections, and then the newspapers.com, newspapers.com, that search yields a lot of information for history nerds like myself to be able to find stories and the primary sources connected to it, and a lot of the primary sources connect to a lot of the oral tradition stories that we’ve heard, so of course you know that there’s always going
to be slant in how the paper presented information, but I provided how it was covered here, but then also stories like Mr. Salters who was the principal, his name was listed there but there’s more that we would know about him that might not have been provided in the newspaper, individuals like Mrs. Melissa Jones and Candace Walker, so you know, being able to create that nexus and connect it, and I thank the Black History Society for their resources as well as my other friends, who I mentioned earlier, as a part of the historical community.
MVB:
Well, this archivist really loves that you talk about primary sources. I have a follow-up question, actually. So as a board member of Lee County Black History Museum and the History Society, can you share with the community a bit about their mission? We do work with them, we love the organization, and so I think that anything that we can provide, some general information about what their mission is and what hours they’re open and how to gain access.
JE:
Okay. The Lee County Black History Society was established under the leadership of Dr. Janice Cass, and established under the goal of making sure that Black history was known and presented in a formal fashion in the Fort Myers community. They eventually were able to acquire the building where the museum is located in 1936 Henderson Avenue in Clemente Park. That building is the 1942 addition to the original Williams Academy after it was constructed, and that building is, I call it hallowed ground and sacred space. If you get an opportunity to visit, you will see the tribute to what we thought a 1942 classroom would have looked like, so the living learning classroom space, as well as changing archives and exhibits that are provided.
Right now, there’s a great unrolling of an exhibit for Black History Month, making the nexus from Black Lives Matter and then connected to the Civil Rights movement that is available, and you can also visit the website, leecountyblackhistorysociety.org, there’s a virtual tour that wold give you an overview of the museum under the leadership of the current chairman, Mr. Charles Barnes. I’m still a member of the board of directors, I see there are a couple of members of the board who are participating tonight, and I had the pleasure of serving as the chair for a number of years and it’s just a joy and passion of mine, so I encourage you all to visit the website. A few of our multimedia, mini documentaries are available, giving the history of the museum and a history of educational attainment in the community.
MVB:
Thank you so much. Madelon Stewart asks, “How can students in Lee County schools gain access to this information and to your expertise?”
JE:
Serving as the director of Diversity and Inclusion gives us an opportunity to make intentional connections with academic services and also the structure of the school district’s governance team. Our school board members. A few months ago, probably at the tail end of October, early November, the governor’s team and the school board gave the district Diversity and Inclusion as well as Academic Services partnership team to go forward with an exemplary status, so the Florida Department of Education awards exemplary statuses to school districts who are moving toward the intentional inclusion of Black history within its curriculum. We’re in the very middle part of
that to ensure that we have those things in place to go toward the exemplary status. It is something that is established by the Department of Education and the legislature. There is legislature that requires, I shouldn’t say requires, that talks about the teaching of Black history but toward the district’s goal path, we want to ensure that we do a good job of covering the history, but specifically having opportunities for kids and students to make the nexus between what is happening across the greater society in that particular time in history and what that looked like and what it was like here in the Southwest Florida community.
So that is something that we’re in the midst of now. Hopefully establishing some intentional partnerships with the university. I see Professor Millner’s on the call. She’s been great with that, and having her students work on documentary presentations. I really, a key note of being on the lookout for Dr. Henry Lewis Gates, his expose about the Black church, we can go on and on about the role that the Black church’s played on the community and the collective community, but the Fort Myers community, and that’s something that Professor Millner has her students working on, and with that connection, anything that they provide would then be able to roll in and have resources for teachers, so, that’s what we’re working on.
MVB:
It’s such important work, and all of us who live in the community thank you all that are doing it. Thank you so much. There’s a few more questions coming up in the chat, let me see if I can sift backward to see if I can get all of them. Rachel asks, “What are some existing barriers that are aimed at preventing the Black community from voting? I’m thinking of the felony ban on voting. Are there others we can work against locally or statewide?” Great question.
JE:
I think that’s a great question, Rachel, and Rachel provided an answer in her question, so I agree with what she said, but we’re looking at barriers, but also looking at structures that are in place. When we go really a little bit more looking toward the ‘60s and the later part of the ‘50s, we look at the single-member districts, so that is another way to preclude people’s access to the ballot, and the ballot to be able to elect their chosen representatives, so when we talk about the election of Veronica Shoemaker in the 1980s and the election and the election process for Mrs. Melvin Morgan who ran for county commissioner in the early 1980s, she won her district but she lost county-wide, so those are barriers that have to be considered. The school district of Lee County, recently, a few years ago, did away with their at-large system, they have two at-large seats, but they went to a system where those individuals who reside in the district are able to select their representatives. So, single-member districts are an extension of a lot of these barriers that we talked about as a part of tonight’s presentation. So that would be my thought, Rachel, looking at some of those systems that are provided and things like a single-member district and how do we overcome those, and we still have elected bodies within our community that are still operated on a single-member district basis. At-large, I’m sorry, the at-large basis.
MVB:
Well, Ms. Amy Bennett Williams is here and she asks, “Do we know what became of the infamous partition ordinance? Who got it removed from the ‘books,’ and thanks so much for this.”
Which, wait... Good question, Amy, what was the last part? The petition...? MVB:
So, what do we know... Do we know what became of the infamous partition ordinance, and then the second piece is, who got it removed from the books?
JE:
Which partition ordinance? A little more context. Help me out, Amy. Could you come off mute? MVB:
Amy, can you type or chat with us? ABW:
Yes, hi. JE:
How are you? MVB:
Hi! ABW:
Hey. That was, I think the word they used was divisional, and it’s the one that restricted Blacks to what they were calling the Safety Hill area, I think after sundown.
JE: Right. ABW:
I've seen this several times, you probably have as well. It was in the city code for a while. JE:
Yes. ABW:
And, what... I just wondered, I don’t think it’s still there, because I looked for it and couldn’t find it, but who removed it, if it was removed?
JE:
So, it eventually was removed and it talked about, I believe in the Black History Museum we have a blown-up image of, I believe it was 1950, the code book that provided that physical barrier that showed the Black communities on one side and here you’re confined based on where it was platted. I’m looking, I’m actually looking at the chat, thanks Glenn. Glenn confirmed it was 1950, he also says the Historical Society. Amy, I’m not sure, I think for the second piece of our conversation that’s going to be more my intentional research, because I know it was not a part of our first chunk from 1900 to 1960, but if I find it, you know, I’ll definitely let you know.
MVB: Alright. ABW: Thank you. MVB:
Thanks, Amy. So, Lyn also asks, “How do we see the exhibit that you mentioned?” JH:
I'm sorry, wait, can I just hop in? I’ve actually got the ordinance was scrapped in 1963, yeah, I actually have found it.
JE:
Is this Dr. Harrison? JH:
Yes, correct, yeah, Jarrett, it was, I can send you the... I can load this now, so it was actually [unintelligible] in ‘63, August ‘63, and I’ll put that into the chat.
JE:
Okay, and so, that’s great context, Dr. Harrison, because by August of 1963, we will see the leadership of Reverend Isador Edwards in the NAACP.
JH:
Absolutely, and I’ll get that uploaded straight away for you. JE:
Okay, thanks, Dr. Harrison. JH:
No problem. JE:
Dr. Harrison and I, we go back and forth, he’ll find something, he asked me a question last week and I'm still trying to find information about his question about Safety Hill.
JH:
No problem! JE:
So, thanks, Dr. Harrison. JH:
MVB:
So Lyn also asked, “How do we see the exhibit at the Black History Museum about Black Lives Matter and civil rights?”
JE:
Sure. Professor Millner, you can contact the Black History Office or also check the website. I believe, now, because of the issues related to Covid and social distancing, the museum is not fully opened for visit, however, some of those tours can be arranged based on having conversations with the office manager. So if you look up Lee County Black History Society, I don’t have my phone in front of me to get the number for you, but Lee County Black History Society, she, Ms. Betty Adams could be able to give you some context on that one, as well as, I know that the office intern is going to work on recording and giving a virtual walkthrough of the exhibit to be put out on the organization’s social media as well as YouTube and website proper.
MVB:
Fantastic. Okay, I think we have one more question. JE:
Thanks, Bailey. She put it in the chatbox for us. MVB:
So Steven asks, “Since Black History Month is part of American history all year, have you found it easier to do your work with the month that’s specifically focused on Black history?”
JE:
Well, I think it’s important from my history teacher’s brain, and I will always be the history teacher, it’s important that Black history is instructed as well as women’s history and history total for groups that have been marginalized, it is told in the proper chronology and sequence as to how the history has been developed, it should not just be a footnote on history that the only time that we talk about Black history is in the month of February. An adequate preparation of Black history would give the context of, one, the story of the Africans in America, the story does not just start in slavery, it starts with the wonderful kingdoms in Africa. The story of course picks up from the American perspective here, but understanding that there were communities of color that were free, you know, the impact of individuals like Crispus Attucks and seeing throughout the continuum, the 54th Massachusetts that’s a part of the Civil War.
Even the connection here that we have with the Battle of Fort Myers. So how do you tell that story and put it in its proper nexus and its point, so that it naturally and logically occurs throughout the course and structure and scope and sequence of history, but I look at it like Mothers’ Day. The loss of conversation of some folks, I think it was Morgan Freeman who might’ve made the comment about, you know, should we still have Black History Month. Well, I look at it like Mothers’ Day. You still love your mother on Mothers’ Day, that is your special time and opportunity to really highlight what she’s done for you, but hopefully you recognize and appreciate her throughout the year, you just take that opportunity to commemorate who she is and what she accomplishes, very similar to Fathers’ Day, very similar to the Fourth of July. You don’t say you’re not patriotic