Once upon a time in Florida : stories of life in the land of promises / edited by Jacki Levine ; foreword by Nashid Madyun.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Levine, Jacki, editor.

Madyun, Nashid, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Humanities--Florida.

Humanities.

Florida--History.

Florida.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (427 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

St. Petersburg, FL : Florida Humanities, [2023]

Summary:

Curated from the archives of FORUM, the award-winning magazine of Florida Humanities, this anthology presents 50 often surprising and always intriguing stories of life in Florida by some of the nation's most talented writers and scholars.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I. Beginnings

1 The First Floridians: They survived many millennia of a changing environment until disease and deadly conflict came from across the sea.

2 Who Started the Myth of the Fountain of Youth?: Exploring the murky beginnings of Florida's most enduring fable.

3 The Real First Thanksgiving: Half a century earlier-and 1,200 miles south-a feast of gratitude.

4 Uncovering Fort Mose: In America's first free Black town, enslaved Africans found sanctuary and liberty.

5 He Persisted: Francisco Menéndez escaped slavery, became a militia leader, and then did it all again.

6 How Seashells Saved St. Augustine: This modest mollusk displayed a secret strength.

7 On the Backs of the Enslaved: How Middle Florida and its planter class built wealth and power.

8 Florida Gives Its All to the Civil War: Whatever their loyalties, few Floridians were spared the conflict's costs.

Part II. Florida Comes of Age: Promise and Paradox

9 The Eye of the Beholder: Swampy hellhole or perfect paradise, travel writers have portrayed visions of vastly different Floridas.

10 Taking the Waters: For Victorian-era visitors, Florida held the promise of miracle cures.

11 The Florida Century: Through boom and bust, this outback became a megastate.

12 Along the Backroads, 1930s: Remembering when Zora and I chased the vanishing folklife of Florida.

13 Dear Honey: Wartime life and letters of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

14 When the WACs Came Marching In: How Mary McLeod Bethune-and the Women's Army Corps-rescued struggling Daytona Beach.

15 The Mighty Orange Faces Its Uncertain Future: Changing tastes, stubborn disease put the squeeze on a beloved state symbol.

16 Recollections of a Space Traveler: Former congressman and astronaut Bill Nelson shares the perils that lurked before, during, and after his historic mission.

17 Memoirs of a Child of the Space Program: Blasts from the past, in a time and place like no other.

18 Florida's Fields of Dreams: How sports have boosted our fortunes and, at times, healed our divides.

19 The Mouse That Roared Quietly: With secrecy worthy of a spy novel, Walt Disney set his sights on Orlando.

20 How They See Us: The small screen portrays a Florida you may not recognize.

Part III. All Things Unequal under the Sun

Parallel Lives: Growing up in Florida in the 1950s and '60s, two Floridians, one white and one Black, describe wildly different experiences.

21 Raised with Love, Schooled in Cruel Realities: In childhood, he learned the harsh lessons of Jim Crow and, finally, the power of being seen.

22 A Sheltered 1950s Childhood, Then an Awakening: All this minister's daughter knew was segregation, but slowly her eyes opened to the damage and the loss.

23 That Summer of '64: Martin Luther King Jr. and the fight for racial justice in St. Augustine

Part IV. When a Deadly Pandemic Strikes

24 A Lesson in the Pandemic: Teaching our young daughter to cope when Dad was on Covid-19's frontlines.

Part V. We Were Strangers Here Ourselves

25 Finding Florida: Out of so many puzzle pieces, how can you create one state identity?

26 We Are Here to Enlighten, Not Accuse: A Seminole historian urges accuracy as Florida commemorates the Spanish landing.

27 Observations of a Native Son: Former governor and US senator Bob Graham on the "Cincinnati Factor" and why Florida remains the "State of Imagination."

28 Adiós a los Niños: Parents waved farewell in sadness and hope, as their children were secreted out of Castro's Cuba.

29 When Life Takes Flight: Thirty years after fleeing Cuba, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen made history in the US Congress.

30 Sweetness of Memory: Photographer Andy Sweet poignantly captured the waning days of South Beach's elderly Jewish community before his own life was cut short.

31 What You See When You Look at Me: A Haitian immigrant meets her neighbors.

Part VI. This State of Inspiration

32 Finding a Literary Path Home: Learning to love Florida, through the writers who knew it first.

33 Many Voices from Afar: For 500 years, Florida's literary life has thrived on the state's complexity.

34 Echoes in the Wind: In search of the poetry of Florida's Native people.

35 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Florida Snowbird: Winters in a Mandarin cabin transformed her writing and sparked a tourist boom.

36 Lift Every Voice and Sing: James Weldon Johnson's song for Jacksonville schoolchildren became an anthem for the ages.

37 Jack Kerouac's Florida Farewell: He found a fertile place to work but no escape from his demons as his road reached its end.

38 Muse over Miami: How a hopeless kid from New Jersey became South Florida's "Queen of Crime."

39 Once Upon a Time in Key West: Writer Philip Caputo laments what's been lost and what still stirs his soul.

40 The Highwaymen: Painting fast and selling their dreamy landscapes cheaply, these young Black artists created a lasting vision of a Florida Eden.

41 Singing the Songs of Florida: A White Springs festival celebrates the elusive music that is Florida folk.

42 The Great State of Rock: A star-studded group of Florida guitar masters electrified rock and roll.

Part VII. Roots and Rivers

43 The Wondrous Gulf: How its bounty and its bluster have shaped the story of Florida.

44 The Tales They Tell: Fish camps preserve the soul of a vanishing way of life.

45 The Marvelous, Misunderstood Mullet: Tracing the storied past of Florida's least respected and most important fish.

46 Florida's Deep-Blue Destiny: From the depths of a spring it is clear, we lose connection with the state's waterways at our peril.

47 Remembering Bill Belleville: His storytelling celebrates the mystery and glory of our state's waterways.

48 River of Grass: How a New England transplant came to champion and name an unloved but extraordinary wetland.

49 Clyde's Quest: Neither snakes nor alligators nor giant mosquitoes can keep this photographer from his beloved Everglades.

50 And on to the Sea: Thinking of Uncle Cooter, on the banks of the river he gifted to me.

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9798987660829

9798987660812

OCLC:

1410923359