Florida History Podcast- Josiah T. Walls. Republican Josiah T. Walls was Florida’s first African-American Congressman, and a powerful symbol of the Reconstruction era in the state. Walls was born into slavery in Virginia and captured by the Union Army during the Peninsula Campaign. Eventually he was discharged in Florida after the Battle of Olustee and […]

The story of the African-American members of Congress during the Reconstruction era is often forgotten. The long standing Dunning School of history made every effort to paint reconstruction as a mistake and portray that the only way to truly reconcile the nation was to let white southerners do what they want in the region. Thus […]

“Gone with the Wind,” is one of the most famous films in history. Based on a Margaret Mitchell novel, It is a movie that tells a historically inaccurate picture of the Civil War, Reconstruction Era, North and South. It is also a film that in my opinion glorifies rape, something in this #MeToo era needs to be […]

On this week’s Florida History Podcast, we discuss the Bulow Plantation, Florida’s largest slave-driven sugar plantation which was destroyed by the Seminole Native Americans during the Second Seminole War in 1836. You can listen to the Florida History Podcast on Anchor (which hosts our show), Spotify, Google, Apple Podcasts, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Castro or Pocket Casts. Overcast, Castro, Spotify, Radio Public and Breaker have App […]

On a previous edition of tthe Florida History Podcast we discussed the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, manned by runaway slaves and armed by the British. The pro-slavery United States under General Andrew Jackson attacked the fort in 1816, violating Spain sovereignty, killing 334 mostly African-American defenders. You can listen to the Florida History […]