Florida's Civil War includes the Battle of Olustee and the sinking of the Maple Leaf.
Everyday people make history happen including author Stetson Kennedy and Civil Rights activist Barbara Vickers.
From Spanish colonization to the manned exploration of space, Florida establishes the boundaries of the Modern Era.
The Windover Dig in Titusville, Florida, was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the world.
We visit Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Bok Tower Gardens, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.
Florida writer, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston was one of the most celebrated figures of the Harlem Renaissance, but died in obscurity.
On February 21, 1870, Sheriff David Mizell, his son Will, and brother Morgan went onto the property of Moses Barber to serve an arrest warrant. Tensions between the Barbers and Mizells had been growing for years, and the Sheriff had been warned that if he set foot on Barber land he would be killed. When the group stopped at Bull Creek, a shot was fired from behind some bushes. Sheriff Mizell was killed, becoming the first casualty of this long-running feud.
Hundreds of Greek sponge divers and their families moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida in 1905. Today, there are more Greek people per capita in Tarpon Springs than in any other American city. We explore the history of Greek culture and the annual Epiphany celebration in Tarpon Springs.
Established near St. Augustine in 1738, Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose was the first community of former slaves.
Stetson Kennedy was an American author, civil rights activist, and pioneering oral historian and folklorist.
The Luna Settlement Excavation. Archaeologists have discovered the site of Don Tristan de Luna's ill-fated 1559 settlement in Pensacola.
The annual Florida Folk Festival celebrates and preserves the stories, music, dance, crafts, and food of the Sunshine State.
Flagler County was established in 1917, but has historic sites from much earlier, including Mala Compra and the Bulow Plantation.
The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida, has the most comprehensive collection of work by Louis Comfort Tiffany anywhere.
Florida nature as seen by naturalist William Bartram in the 1770s, ornithologist, naturalist, and painter John James Audubon in the 1830s, and wilderness and landscape photographer Clyde Butcher since the 1980s.
People from as far away as the American Midwest visited Florida long before Europeans arrived. The ancient Maya may have come here, too.
A look at the life of educator and activist Harry T. Moore and his wife Harriette, the first martyrs of the contemporary civil rights movement.
Grassroots efforts lead to historic preservation in South Beach, Miami, and Eatonville.
The Spanish ruled Florida for two centuries before the British took control in 1763. The important role that Florida played in the American Revolution is often overlooked.
The Future of History. Florida historians and their students are creating innovative digital resources available to anyone with internet access.
The Florida Historic Capitol building, once in danger of being torn down, is now a museum documenting Florida government from the Territorial Period to the present.
People who lived in central Brevard County prior to the post-World War II population explosion gather annually to discuss how life used to be in Florida.
The Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Yearling" and "Cross Creek" is one of Florida's best loved writers.
Canoe Archaeology: Hundreds of canoes have been discovered in Florida, some created as long as 7,000 years ago.
Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac spent some of his most productive years in Florida. His Orlando home is the site of a writers-in-residence program.
The Highwaymen Artists. The Highwaymen are a group of mostly self-taught African American landscape painters who used their skills to create a profitable business model beginning in the 1950s.
Key West has a diverse history that includes "wreckers," writers, hippies, homosexuals, and U.S. Presidents. In 1982, the island seceded from the Union to form the Conch Republic.
Hundreds of filmmakers have followed their dreams to Florida. Films are part of the history of Florida, going all the way back to the silent era.
We explore the legacy of John and Mable Ringling in Sarasota including an art museum, circus museum, and the Ca' d'Zan mansion.
In July 1969, the USA sent three men to the moon and returned them safely to the earth. Florida's Space Coast played a vital role in making this historic milestone happen.
When the United States joined World War I in 1917, Florida was still a relatively small state but it was significantly impacted by the conflict.
At the time of European contact, dozens of indigenous groups with sophisticated cultures occupied Florida.
In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe was the most famous writer in America. By 1867, she was living and working in Florida.
Free black communities were established in Spanish Colonial Florida as enslaved people escaped from British colonies to the north.
In 1885, the tradition of offering a progressive, liberal arts education in Florida began in Winter Park, at Rollins College.
Crackers are pioneer settlers who first arrived in the 1700s, and their descendants.
From "The Florida Suite" composed by Frederick Delius in the 1880s, to the present, the musical legacy of Jacksonville includes classical, jazz, bluegrass, and contemporary works.
Since the 1800s, tourist attractions have allowed visitors to encounter Florida nature in controlled settings.
The Freedom Rides of 1961 are seen as a pivotal point in the Civil Rights Movement, but it's often forgotten that two groups of Freedom Riders came to Florida.
This panel discussion was presented as part of the Florida Historical Society Virtual Annual Meeting and Symposium. Historians compare pandemics from the state's past with COVID-19.
Florida historians discuss “Civil Rights, Equality, and Racial Justice in the Age of Black Lives Matter.” The panel discussion was presented as part of the Florida Historical Society Virtual Annual Meeting and Symposium.
Based on a panel discussion presented as part of the Florida Historical Society 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting and Symposium, historians and voting rights activists discuss “100 Years of the 19th Amendment: Florida Women Breaking Barriers.”
Musical performances highlight Florida history.
Fifty Years of Walt Disney World. Opening in 1971, Walt Disney World has had a significant impact on the economy, politics, and history of Florida.
Prominent historians discuss the diverse population of Florida 200 years ago.
The Ximenez-Fatio House was built in 1798 in St. Augustine, during Florida's Second Spanish Period.
The Shrimping Industry in Florida: Commercial shrimping and shrimp boat building thrived in Florida from about 1900 through the 1980s.
Mary McLeod Bethune was a larger-than-life educator and activist whose legacy is now remembered with an eleven-foot tall, 6,000-pound statue carved by Nilda Comas. She used the last piece of statuary marble taken from the same Italian quarry used by Renaissance artist Michelangelo. The statue will represent Florida in the US Capitol building.
Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. Completed in 1887, the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is the tallest in Florida, and a National Historic Landmark.
The John G. Riley House. Built in Tallahassee in 1890, the John G. Riley House is now a museum of African American history.
Mabel Norris Reese. Courageous journalist Mabel Norris Reese covered the infamous Groveland Rape Trial and Ku Klux Klan activities in Lake County in the mid-20th century.
The Florida Historical Society Public History Forum and the Annual Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society Conference were held together in Gainesville, in 2022.
The Leon and Jewel Collins Museum of African American History and Culture in Cocoa includes exhibits about Harry T. Moore who worked in the building, Zora Neale Hurston who lived nearby, and Original Highwayman Artist R.L. Lewis.
Carpenter Gothic Churches in Florida. Dozens of Carpenter Gothic style churches were built in Florida in the 19th century.
The Seminole (along with the Miccosukee) are the indigenous people of Florida. Seminole history and culture is preserved at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum on the Big Cypress Reservation.
Frank Lloyd Wright is known as one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. Wright wanted to create a uniquely American style of architecture that broke away from European models, and create geometrically interesting, organic structure that blended into the natural landscape. His largest single collection of building in one location is at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Wright’s only private residence constructed in Florida is Spring House in Tallahassee.
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison first came to Florida in 1885, where he built a winter residence and laboratory. In 1916, Edison’s friend and collaborator, automobile manufacturer Henry Ford, bought his own Fort Myers estate, right next door to Edison’s.
Memories of Palatka. By the mid-1800s, the historic town of Palatka was a transportation hub for steamboat traffic. In the early 20th century, it became a battleground against the Ku Klux Klan. In 1933, Ravine Gardens State Park became a WPA project. Beginning in the 1970s, The Florida School of the Arts provided performers for "Cross and Sword," the official state play of Florida.
Jonathan Dickinson's Journal. Newly discovered documents from 1696 add to familiar accounts of Jonathan Dickinson's shipwreck and survival in Florida.
Discovering A.S.J. Allen. In 1904, the African American community leader A.S.J. Allen was killed by a white neighbor over a property border dispute. Allen's great-grandson Alonzo Felder has researched his productive life and tragic death.
Plantations in Florida were part of an agrarian society that depended upon the labor of enslaved people. Remnants of Florida's plantation culture can still be seen today at places including Goodwood Museum and Gardens and the Grove Museum in Tallahassee, the Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island in Duval County, and at Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park in Flagler County.
Fort Christmas was built on December 25, 1837, during the Second Seminole War. A replica of the fort is at Fort Christmas Historical Park in east Orange County, along with a collection of pioneer homes and buildings.
Cassadaga. Established in 1894, Cassadaga is one of Florida's most unique historic communities. Known around the world as a center for Spiritualism, the residents of Cassadaga believe that life continues after physical death, and that mediums can be used to communicate with the Spirit World.
Henry Flagler. As founder of the Florida East Coast Railway, industrialist Henry Flagler played a major role in the development of the state. We visit St. Augustine, Palm Beach, and Key West to discuss his impact on Florida.
In 1935, the longest shootout in FBI history happened in Ocklawaha, Florida, resulting in the deaths of gangsters Ma Barker and her son Fred. The Ma Barker House is now a museum.