Category Civil Rights
Florida and the march for Civil Rights in 1964
On this week’s Florida History Podcast, we close out our Black History Month series with a look at how events in Florida directly impacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s passage. 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 […]
Florida’s First African-American statewide official- Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs
Florida History Podcast :Florida’s first statewide African-American official, Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs. Johnathan Clarkson Gibbs served as the first black statewide official . The above linked podcast from 2021 discusses his career and legacy.
Black History Month: The First Underground Railroad led to Florida
Welcome to Black History Month 2023. Below is a short narrative about how Florida was the destination of the first underground railroad. On Tuesday February 7, we will release a podcast on the period in the 18th Century, when Spanish La Florida became a refuge for runaway slaves, which led to conflict with the British […]
TFS Archives – from 2020, has the identity-driven left betrayed MLK’s legacy?
Dr. Martin Luther King was a polarizing figure who brought out the best and worst in America. Eventually, the better angels of our nature prevailed and monumental legal progress was made through historic legislation. Socially, we are a far more integrated society than we were in the 1960s. Racism remains across the racial spectrum, but […]
MLK Jr Day Weekend: The St Augustine campaign, a written history
In commemoration of Martin Luther King Day 2021, it is timely to recall the critical role Florida played in the passage of Civil Rights legislation- specifically St Augustine which the epicenter of MLK Jr. and Southern Christian Leadership Council (SLC) activity during the Senate filibuster of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. Listen: The Florida […]
MLK weekend: MLK & LBJ reading and viewing
On this MLK Day, it is important to think about a time when a southern President who prior to 1957, had opposed Civil; Rights effectively partnered with Martin Luther King Jr. The amount of scholarship developed along with screenplays/movies about this period has exploded recently. This also helps explain the gradual shift in terms of […]
Florida League of Women Voters react to Appellate Court stay on (2021) SB 90
On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in League of Women Voters of Florida v. Lee. The initial lawsuit was brought by the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWV), Black Voters Matters Fund, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and individual voters challenging Florida’s Senate Bill 90 (2021). The plaintiffs are represented […]
Florida Democrats Chairman Manny Diaz reacts to Roe leak
The probable overturning of Roe v Wade should be a seminal moment in the modern history of the United States. No excuse remains to sit on the fence about the threat posed by the GOP on the national level. We can have our disputes about the transactional nature of local Democrats and other matters, but […]
DeSantis loses in court again – voter suppression law (SB 90) struck down
On Thursday, a U.S. federal court struck down multiple key provisions of Florida’s Senate Bill 90 that equated to voter suppression. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker ruled that 2021 Florida Senate Bill 90 violates federal law, by unconstitutionally impeding the federally protected right to vote for Floridians.The Judge stated that “the right to […]
Thoughts on Love, John Lewis, and more on the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday
By Neil Blackmon I wanted to share some thoughts on John Lewis, love, the power of the vote, and grief on this, the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the 2nd since we lost John Lewis. Over the weekend, looking at redistricting maps and thinking of prospective Voting Rights Act arguments for a VRA challenge to a […]
The Florida Squeeze 