Monthly Archives: May 2021
Guest column: Return of the Workhorse
By Thomas Conboy Thomas Conboy is a Professional Engineer and small businessman who actively works to improve his community. As the founding Vice President of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, Mr Conboy arranged to have Alan Grayson kick off the first caucus meeting to an overflowing room at the Democratic State convention. Tom has been the […]
Will DeSantis Statism define a new successful Florida GOP electoral strategy?
This past week Governor Ron DeSantis signed a piece of legislation effectively dictating to technology companies that they cannot regulate their own platforms for business when politicians are impacted. In other words, free enterprise and media is choked by the need for those who are in power to communicate. When I was growing up we […]
New podcast series: Freedom in Florida, the first underground railroad, 1693-1818
Beginning this Tuesday on the Florida History Podcast we begin a series on African-Americans escaping to freedom in Florida beginning in the 1690’s. Spanish Florida had been a thriving colony in the early 1600’s but beginning around 1650, measles outbreaks, raids from the English, the French and from Pirates began weakening the mission-based economy of […]
Fort Mose II: The second free African-American settlement in the current US.
In recent years as the experience of African-Americans in North America has become a serious topic for historians to explore, more emphasis has been placed on Fort Mose, which in 1738 became the first free African-American settlement in what is now the United States. Next week on The Florida History Podcast we will discuss the […]
January 1838 Battles of Loxahatchee site
In a future Florida History Podcast we will discuss the two January 1838 battles near the Loxahatchee River that took place in the Second Seminole War. Below is a video taken at the battlefield site. The video is silent but scans the site and focuses on markers that tell the history better than any narrator […]
Walking Andrew Young Crossing in St Augustine – Civil Rights Icon honored
We’ve discussed the critical importance of Martin Luther King Jr’s St Augustine campaign many times in the past. In 2011, the City of St Augustine dedicated a memorial to the steps taken by one of King’s right-hand men, future Congressman, UN Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. Here is a short video on Young and […]
Jim Williams
Robert Buccellato talks about his late friend Lt Gov Jim Williams on the Florida History Podcast this week. In early 2017, shortly after Williams’ passing he wrote this. Jim Williams was my friend. I can’t claim that I was the nearest or the dearest to him. But, we got along very well during the three […]
Hernando De Soto marches through Florida
Hernando De Soto became the first European to explore deep into the mainland of the current United States. Landing on Florida’s west coast in 1539, De Soto made his way through Florida in 1539 and 1540. On this week’s Florida History Podcast we discuss De Soto’s exploration of the peninsula and panhandle areas of present […]
Dempsey Barron: The Master of the Florida Senate
The late Dempsey Barron is a titan of Florida Political History. This week on The Florida History Podcast we discuss Barron, the most influential member of the State Senate in Florida’s contemporary political history. Serving from 1960 to 1988, Barron was the undisputed king of the Senate. You can listen to the Florida History Podcast […]
A case for Crist: Why Charlie Crist for Governor makes sense for Florida’s citizens (but maybe not for Democratic partisans)
Charlie Crist has announced he’s running for Governor for a third time – he was elected to the office as a Republican in 2006, becaming an independent during the last weeks of his final legislative session in 2010, and ran as a Democrat, winning the nomination but losing a close General Election in 2014. National […]
The Florida Squeeze 