ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The award-winning Samuel Proctor Oral History Program has served as the oral history program of the University of Florida since 1967. Our mission today is to gather, preserve, and promote living histories of individuals from all walks of life. Oral history puts students in direct dialogue with people who have changed the world. SPOHP emphasizes rigorous collaborative research, civic engagement, and digital technology that makes history accessible, democratic, and fun. In the last 50 years, we have conducted over 8,500 interviews. SPOHP is committed to engaging in the scholarly and educational life of the University of Florida and our state, as well as the broader world through public history programs, academic conferences, and scholarly collaborations.
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Connecting classroom with community, using history to inform civic engagement, and putting students in dialogue with elders are among SPOHP’s greatest strengths. Our founder, Dr. Samuel Proctor, first established these traditions of experiential learning which Professor Julian Pleasants, Sam’s successor, carried forward.
Today, we support oral history dissertation research in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and other parts of the world. We are offering courses at UF and we are working collaboratively with educational experts to make narratives of World War II veterans, Puerto Rican workers and Holocaust survivors accessible to K-12 students in classrooms across the country.
The Proctor Program just completed our 12th annual Mississippi Freedom Project field trip to the Mississippi Delta. This summer, residents of Phillips County, Arkansas invited us to travel “across the Big River” to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Elaine Massacre. Our students interviewed descendants of the victims of the worst anti-black pogrom in American history with an eye towards building historical truth and reconciliation in our own time.
Your support makes all of this possible. I hope that you will join me in helping us celebrate the work of our students, staff and volunteers by making a tax-deductible donation to help sustain the work of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.
On behalf of SPOHP, best wishes for a joyous Holiday Season!
Paul Ortiz,
Professor of History and Director, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program
Joel Buchanan Project
The Buchanan Project is undertaking several projects including our continuation of interviews with the White Springs community. Olivia La Fuente created a short documentary showcasing the history (told through food) of one of the community’s beloved chefs, Teddy Bear Marshall, who has been a longtime SPOHP collaborator and friend. We have also been invited to the town’s Beautiful Dreamer Award Dinner in February 2020 so that we may thank the community for their continued trust in our program and spread the word on how everyone can access all the interviews, photos, videos, etc. Additionally, through Julian Valdivia’s continued work in Fort Myers, this November we are sharing newly digitized tapes with the Lee County Black History Society and the Southwest Florida Historical Society. Included in these tapes is audio from figures like Pat McCutcheon his role in booking musicians like Duke Ellington at Dunbar’s McCollum Hall.
Latinx Diaspora in the Americas Project
Our Latinx Diaspora in the Americas team accomplished a number of efforts this year. This fall our team completed Part 2 of the Black and Latinx Histories of UF documentary as well as expanded our interview archives with Latinx alumni, faculty and staff at the university. In the Spring LDAP will be working to screen this documentary for as many students as possible in an effort to educate and empower them through this collection of interviews. We also organized a trip to Immokalee, Florida to conduct interviews with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in an effort to create educational materials that can be used to further their fight for fair labor conditions for farmworkers. LDAP also presented fieldwork on ethnic studies in K-12 schools and higher education at the Imperative for Social Justice in Schools conference where they engaged with teachers seeking to diversify their lesson plans.
This team is also diligently working to digitize our mass collection of LDAP interviews to be readily accessible to the general public. Part of this effort is being accomplished through our collaboration with Spanish language classes who are assisting in the transcription process. Our LDAP Familia Blog is updated regularly with student reflections on intersectional identity, immigration reform, and on oral histories we conduct. This upcoming Spring semester, students will also be working with other educational organizations to advocate for policy and legal reform as well as planning another trip to Immokalee to collect the stories of and support Florida farmworkers. LDAP will be presenting at the Southern Oral History Association Conference in Nevada in March of 2020 and will begin fundraising for a Fall 2020 fieldwork trip to UCLA.
History of the Jewish Community in El Salvador
We are adding incredible interviews to our collection of stories about the Jewish community in El Salvador, such as interviews with Erich Meissner, Soeurette Joseph, and Ruth Meissner. Soeurette was a member of the French organized resistance against the German occupation. Erich and Ruth, before getting married, also had amazing early-life experiences: Erich was deported to Yakutia during the war, and Ruth was a survivor from the ghetto of Theresienstadt.
Commemorating Hernán Vera
The Latinx Diaspora in the Americas Project is commemorating Dr. Hernán Vera, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at UF and an internationally-recognized scholar of comparative race and ethnicity as well as education and other fields. Born in Chile, Dr. Vera relocated to the United States after the US-backed coup of his home country made life unsafe for independent-minded intellectuals. He fought for equality at UF and became president of the United Faculty of Florida Union for two years. Dr. Hernan Vera's writings highlight the elimination of social oppression through his works in, White Racism and Liberation Sociology. He acquired a film collection of 1,000 titles on video and DVD for UF students and faculty, reflecting the changing demography of the state of Florida, where over a third of the population is of acknowledged Latinx ancestry. A commemoration in the Fall of 2020 will highlight his biography, the struggles he went through during the Pinochet regime, and his contributions to UF.
Ottoman Greeks of the US Project
The Ottoman Greeks of the US Project was well-represented at this year's Southern Sociological Society's annual conference in Atlanta, and the Modern Greek Studies Association's bi-annual conference in Sacramento. Additionally, project members are collaborating with UF Libraries' Digital Collection staff members to upload images collected during interviews with descendants of immigrants from regions of the Ottoman Empire that constitute modern Turkey. Finally, in May of 2020 OGUS staff members are travelling to Texas, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to conduct interviews.
Florida Judges Project
The Florida Judges Project continues the documentation of the legacies of senior judges from Florida's three federal districts. This past year we interviewed two judges in Florida's Middle District. In 2020, FJP research team members will be traveling to the Florida's Southern District to conduct interviews. George Topalidis, Deborah Hendrix and Abby Lovett will conduct the interviews with the help of the gracious and helpful staff in Florida's Southern Federal Court District.
People’s History of Gainesville
In collaboration with the Cultural Arts Coalition and the Division of Cultural Affairs for the City of Gainesville, SPOHP staff designed, developed, and produced a people’s history of Gainesville timeline. This was a staff-wide team effort, which enabled us to compile a wide variety of historical events in a democratic process. We sent out a project description with an invitation to contribute content and as the timeline grew, the project took shape through consensus. The timeline’s five vertical banners were displayed at one of Gainesville’s sesquicentennial (150-year) celebrations, and like any big endeavor, this exhibit remains a work in progress and part of a larger discussion about the nature and meaning of the city’s history. We plan to share the timeline with schools, libraries, and special events. It will be available online soon.
Black and Latinx Histories of UF Documentary
This fall our documentary team wrapped up production on the Black and Latinx Histories of UF documentary. Funded by the office of the provost, this documentary compiles oral history interviews with UF alumni, faculty and staff to relay the histories of Black and Latinx presence at the University of Florida in two parts:
The Making of the Institute of Black Culture chronicles the history of Black students and faculty at the University of Florida. Drawing on oral history interviews from UF alumni, this film examines the student movements that led to the creation and preservation of the Institute of Black Culture. These accounts demonstrate that the fight to maintain the existence, as well as the historical integrity, of these cultural spaces are inextricably linked to the struggle for ethnic studies and cultural programming throughout campus. Exploring the recurring waves of student activism surrounding this cultural center reveals that this struggle is ongoing and that it will be up to future generations of students to reclaim the space as their own.
The Making of La Casita is a documentary film chronicling the history of Latinx students and faculty at the University of Florida. This film draws on oral history interviews to explore the historical and political complexity of identifying as Latina/o/x as well as the diversity within the Latinx population. Tangentially, it explores how the need to cultivate one’s own Latinx identity in higher education through exposure to ethnic studies is imperative to the success of Latinx students throughout the US. The Making of La Casita recounts the many ways students, faculty and past directors have worked to make La Casita a space for education, advocacy, community and empowerment.
For more information on this project or to arrange a screening, contact Aliya Miranda at aliya.miranda.mail@gmail.com
Celebrating Laura Scott Reaves 100th Birthday
This November, SPOHP attended the 100th Birthday celebration of the venerable Laura Scott Reaves in Perry, FL. Ms. Reaves is a retired school teacher who has extensive knowledge on the history of Perry, FL and its residents. We, along with her friends and family, paid tribute to her remarkable life through poetry, prayers and songs. Selecting excerpts from the interviews that Marna Weston conducted with Ms. Reaves back in 2009, and combining them with pictures shared with us by her granddaughter Ms. Waltis Gadsden, we created a zine that we distributed to everyone in attendance.
We hope to return to Perry soon to help record and preserve more of the African American history of Taylor County, building on the legacy that Ms. Reaves generously shared with us.
Poarch Creek Project
SPOHP is in its sixth year of working with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to process archival audio materials in an effort to preserve their tribal history and federal recognition status. This collaboration continues a 40+-year legacy of documenting tribal history through oral history and archival research. During the year of 2019, we have digitized and optimized 1370+ audio files, burned 1370 audio CDs, and transcribed 150 audio files. This completes the digitization of all the cassette tapes Poarch has on hand. The physical materials, as well as a hard drive with the complete collection, will be delivered to the tribe in December 2019.
Mississippi Freedom Summer
The Mississippi Freedom Project continued its decade-long legacy this year of engaging students in oral history fieldwork in the Mississippi Delta. This award-winning fieldwork initiative is focused on interviewing civil rights veterans and participants of The Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964, but also includes the voices of contemporary activists, local politicians, labor organizers, educators, and students throughout rural Mississippi. This year we visited Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Georgia to explore museums, to interview people who participated in the Civil Rights Movement and to interview current civil rights activists in an effort to preserve their narratives. SPOHP also facilitated civil rights education teacher’s workshops in Natchez, Mississippi and Elaine, Arkansas. These workshops were led by Proctor Program alumna Chris Duryea, who has seven years teaching in Baltimore public schools.
Newene Nap
Associate Program Director Ryan Morini is continuing his work with Western Shoshone (Newe) communities throughout central Nevada. This past October, he was able to visit old friends and collaborators, and talk over plans for future work. Maurice Frank Churchill of the Yomba Shoshone Tribe brought him out to see a distant place in the mountains where his grandmother Emma Bobb lived as a child, and Laura Rainey, Bob Stark, and James Rainey of the Ely Shoshone Tribe then brought him out to an old ranch in the White River Valley where their aunt Lizzie Lee used to live. Dr. Morini is now planning for a longer and more sustained fieldwork trip, and developing plans for two books that will draw significantly on the interviews people have recorded with him for the Newene Nap (Western Shoshone History) collection.
Barbara Higgins Documentary Project
In collaboration with Mr. Mac McDowell and Mrs. Yvonne Higgins Parham, our Joel Buchanan Project team is conducting interviews for a documentary on the life and legacy of Ms. Barbara Higgins. Ms. Higgins was a lifelong civil rights activist and a true pillar in the community. We have been truly moved to see just how warmly and reverently she continues to be remembered by so many people. This documentary will share the reflections of those who knew her from some of the many circles that she moved through in her lifetime. Just some of the most visible examples of her legacy include the annual Barbara Higgins Scholarship for residents of area housing projects currently pursuing A.A. or A.S. degrees or certificates, and the Barbara Higgins Park in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Gainesville.
Oscar Mack Documentary Project
In collaboration with James Brown and Dr. Julian Chambliss, SPOHP is working on a documentary following the story of Oscar Mack, an African American man who escaped a possible lynching after having received a job at a post office in Kissimmee, Florida. He lived the rest of his life out in Ohio under the name Lanier Johnson. There is a lot of mystery regarding Mack’s story, but the theme of truth and reconciliation remains clear and integral throughout the piece due to the subject matter. To emphasize this theme, we have been using materials gathered by Dr. Chambliss, his students, as well as interviews with Mr. Brown from our archive. The documentary has been in the works since this past summer, and continues its production swiftly using these materials.
Veterans History Project
In the past few months volunteers have reached out for names of new veterans to be interviewed, both at the Veterans’ Day Tribute at Veterans Park, and to organizations such as the Exchange Club of Gainesville, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Vietnam Veterans of America. Thirty-one new oral histories have been accomplished, most of them Vietnam War and/or Cold War veterans. Other oral histories include four from World War II, four from the Korean War, and one who served during both the Gulf War and post-9/11. In addition, volunteer Don Obrist interviewed a home-front widow. Fourteen new transcriptions have also been completed.
This past semester students from Dr. Ortiz’s oral history internship class concentrated on the twenty-seven oral histories of the U.S. Marines survivors of the April 1966 Alpha North ambush near Da Nang, Vietnam. These oral histories had been conducted by SPOHP staff and volunteers at the survivors’ first reunion in 2012. In addition to transcribing some of the interviews and conducting their own oral histories with veterans, the interns have collaboratively produced a podcast which debuted on December 11.
Courses for 2020
Oral History
AMH 5930/4930 | Dr. Paul Ortiz
This interdisciplinary seminar is an intensive introduction to the theory and practice of oral history, including interviewing and digital production. We will study the burgeoning impact of oral history in human rights and racial truth and reconciliation initiatives, social justice documentaries, digital archives, public museums, other contexts.
The History of Education in the South
AFA 4931 / SYA 4930 | Dr. Rebekah Cordova
This course chronicles the creation, development, and function of schooling and education in the South, with a focus on the experiences of Black students, teachers, and communities. Learners will explore the most patterned dilemmas within Southern schools from 1850-1980.
Black and Latinx History of the Gator Nation
HIS 4944 | Dr. Ryan Morini
This course is about students developing the tools and honing the methods to record unwritten histories of the University of Florida. We will take our approach through Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, critical theory, and oral history to help write new chapters of a people’s history of UF. This course builds on previous student-led and community-led work at SPOHP in documenting Black and Latinx histories.
Settler Colonialism, Anti-Blackness, and Women’s Resistance
WST 6930/4930 | Dr. Ryan Morini
This course explores the linkages between settler colonial genocide and anti-Black racism in what is now known as the United States, focusing on intersections of race and gender. We will engage with scholarship that directly analyzes these linkages and intersections, but also look at the work of Native feminists and Black feminists past and present to draw further connections and comparisons.
Events for 2020
African American Studies Symposium
February 20
Smathers East & IBC
The African American Studies Program (soon to be Department) is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a day-long symposium in February. The program includes reflections by current and former faculty and staff on the historic legacy of this program and its contributions to the field of African American Studies more broadly; discussions from alumni on the impact that the program had on their intellectual development and professional experiences; the program’s role and the work ahead of it in fostering meaningful relationships with neighborhoods and off-campus communities; and a screening of SPOHP’s student-produced documentary film, The Making of the Institute of Black Culture at the University of Florida.
Baldwin | Achebe Africa | America @40
April 2-3, 2020
In April 1980 renowned African writer Chinua Achebe and African American literary giant James Baldwin met for the first time in Gainesville, Florida. On the 40th anniversary of Baldwin and Achebe’s historic encounter at the University of Florida, this two-day event invites return and reflection. The first day probes the experiential archive through oral history, memoir, and artifact. The second day invites literary engagement around reading, representing and writing the nexus of Africa and America in the present on the UF campus and across the community. Speakers will share their work and reflect on Baldwin and Achebe’s legacies.
SPOHP Course Collaborations - Fall 2019
Geriatrics Clerkship with COM
The Art of Aging Project collaborates with the University of Florida College of Medicine to provide medical students with experience in the craft of oral history. Every month, students interviewed elder volunteers in the Gainesville area and developed short presentations highlighting their favorite moments. This project helps to bridge the humanities and the sciences, giving students a special opportunity to listen, and narrators a chance to convey wisdom to future doctors.
New Production Workstations in Keene-Flint
The production area of SPOHP is very excited to unveil new media workstations to create audio and video pieces from the rich material housed in the SPOHP archives. Rolling out in early 2020, the workstations will allow both staff and students to take advantage of 50-plus years of recording oral histories and documenting events to power short videos, documentaries, and podcasting. Stand by for fascinating stories and powerful content!
In Memoriam of W. George Allen
We would like to take this opportunity to honor the late W. George Allen. Mr. Allen was the first Black graduate of the University of Florida. In an interview with Mr. Allen he discussed his insistence on attending UF, even though he had been accepted to both Harvard and the University of California law schools, and could have attended either for free. He was committed to assuring his presence in his state’s flagship institution, as a means of compelling Florida to comply with the United States Constitution, and to admit all people without regard to race, creed, or color. W. George Allen concluded the interview with his hopes for all students to enjoy the fruits of access to the highest quality of education available. His efforts were for Virgil Hawkins and George Starke Jr., and he emphasized that their sacrifices, and their historic presence at UF were important. When something important can be ignored, he said, “that’s important, because the absence of something is as significant, as its presence.”
Volunteer Spotlight for Ann P. Smith
In recognition of Ann P. Smith’s dedication, patience, and creativity in being the founding coordinator of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s Veterans History Project at the University of Florida. Ann’s commitment to preserving and promoting the voices of America’s military veterans has been an inspiration and a model for oral history programs across the nation. Under Ann’s leadership, the Veterans History Project became a contributing member of the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project. Thanks to Ann Smith’s incredible organizing skills the voices and experiences of hundreds of military veterans have been shared in K-12 classrooms, university seminars, national conferences, newspaper articles, books, public programs, film documentaries and other venues. The Proctor Program is eternally grateful for Ann Smith’s giving spirit which has resulted in one of the premier oral history repositories of US military veterans’ narratives--which will be accessible for generations to come.