Authors

nid: 3523
uuid: 4389ea82-339c-4b1e-8d4a-56fd57e3aadd
path-alias: /authors/sarah-whitmer-foster
pathautostate: 0
title: Sarah Whitmer Foster
firstname:
Sarah Whitmer
lastname:
Foster
body-summary:
body-text:

Sarah Whitmer Foster was successful in every aspect of life except in her struggle with Alzheimer's. Sarah was loving, outgoing, and very bright, graduating from James Madison University (B.S.), University of Pittsburgh (M.S.W.), and Florida State University (Ph.D.) After graduating from Pitt, Sarah worked for seven years in the Dept. of Defense Dependents Schools in Wiesbaden, Germany. In 1970s, she joined the faculty of Florida A&M University and served in the Dept. of Sociology, holding every rank from Instructor to tenured Professor. Dr. Foster will be remembered for her research that included co-authoring a book about Harriet Beecher Stowe in Florida and a biographical article about Florida First Lady Chloe Merrick Reed. She has the distinction of having had a book published by a university press and another by a state historical society. These works offer a new understanding of the birth of modern Florida and the role of women in founding it.

In 1987-89, Sarah Foster and her husband represented the National Council of Churches, Church World Service, in Southern Africa. While on leave from FAMU, Sarah risked her life at the end of the Apartheid era. The National Council opposed the policies of the South African government and she and John Foster traveled back and forth across the region, visiting refugee camps, hoisting American delegates, and encouraging church leaders. On one occasion, she helped expedite the delivery of 5,000 blankets to refugees. Among the Fosters' most treasured possessions is a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Sarah was happier than many women of her generation. She was raised to engage the world rather than to be limited by traditional roles. Committed to a career and to travel, Sarah lived in Europe for years before she meet her husband.

The greatest pleasure in life came to Sarah Whitmer Foster from her family. Her son, Bruce W. Foster, has been a constant source of wonder and love. He has been far more than the "apple of her eye." It is a tragedy that Sarah did not know her daughter-in-law Kayla and granddaughter Charlie Kate. She was survived by husband, John, mother, Louise Whitmer, sisters, Sandra Lineweaver (Price), Becky Aiba, Barbara Hill (Donald), nephews and nieces, and seven grandnephews and nieces.
 

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/sarah-whitmer_soccer.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/sarah-whitmer_inchair.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/sarah-and-john-foster.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/sarah-whitmer-foster.jpg
image-alt:
Sarah Whitmer Foster▼Sarah Whitmer Foster▼Sarah Whitmer Foster with husband John▼Sarah Whitmer Foster
image-title:
Sarah Whitmer Foster▼Sarah Whitmer Foster▼Sarah Whitmer Foster with husband John▼Sarah Whitmer Foster
links-text:
Obituary
links-url:
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/sarah-foster-obituary
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3524
uuid: cb6c97c8-4bb0-4e9e-a164-d776674ce852
path-alias: /authors/stetson-kennedy
pathautostate: 0
title: Stetson Kennedy
firstname:
Stetson
lastname:
Kennedy
body-summary:
body-text:

Carrying a cumbersome audio recorder that he called “the thing,” Stetson Kennedy traveled through rural backwoods, swamps, and small towns from north Florida to Key West, collecting oral histories, folktales, and work songs. He spoke with the diverse people of Florida including Cracker cowmen, Seminole Indians, Greek sponge divers, African American turpentine still workers, and Latin cigar rollers.

The result of Stetson Kennedy’s trek through Florida’s multicultural communities was the classic 1942 book Palmetto Country.

Born in Jacksonville in 1916, Stetson Kennedy traveled the world but always returned to Florida. He left his studies at the University of Florida in 1937 to join the Works Progress Administration’s Florida Writers Project, and was soon named the head of the unit on folklore, oral history, and socio-ethnic studies. During this period he was the supervisor of writer, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, who also collected material for the WPA.

Stetson Kennedy’s work helped to establish the collection of oral history as a valid method of historical research among twentieth century historians. In a 2009 interview, Kennedy reflected on his role as an early oral historian: “I am a great believer in oral history because [of what] I call…the ‘Dictatorship of the Footnote.’  The academicians are quoting each other instead of going out and getting first-hand primary source material.  And oral history, of course, is [the perspective of] a participant and a witness, at least, and seeing it with all their sensory organs, and for that reason it has more validity from my point of view.”

While collecting oral histories in Florida’s diverse communities, Stetson Kennedy was particularly moved by the plight of African Americans suffering under the state’s restrictive “Black Codes” and the South’s tradition of “Jim Crow” laws. A social activist as well as an author, Kennedy risked his life by infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan and exposing their secrets. Using the name John Perkins, Stetson Kennedy was able to gather information that helped lead to the incarceration of a number of domestic terrorists. These experiences led to the 1954 book I Rode With the Klan, which was later republished under the title The Klan Unmasked

Much has been made of Kennedy’s creative choice in The Klan Unmasked to blend information obtained by another KKK infiltrator with his own experiences, presenting them with one narrative voice. The accuracy of the information in his book cannot be effectively challenged, just the style in which the facts are presented. 

In 2009, Kennedy recalled his covert study of the KKK: “I first infiltrated during the war, when the Klan was afraid that President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt might prosecute them under the War Powers Act.  So they didn’t put on their robes, and they changed their names to various things like American Shores Patrol and American Gentile Army, and things like that, so that’s how it all began.  And, yes, it was exciting, to put it mildly.  When I went overseas some years later, I thought I’d get away from my nightmares, you know, of being caught.  But in Paris, it was raining frequently, and the French traffic cops wore white rubber raincoats with capes and hoods, and their hand signals were very much like the Klan signals, so I kept on having nightmares.”

Stetson Kennedy continued working until his death in 2011, at the age of 94. His last book, The Florida Slave, was published posthumously. He wrote eight books, and his work as an author, activist, and folklorist has been deservedly well recognized. Kennedy received the Florida Heritage Award, the Florida Governor’s Heartland Award, the NAACP Freedom Award, the Florida Historical Society’s Dorothy Dodd Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was inducted into the Florida Artist’s Hall of Fame.

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/stetsonbenphoto-500w.jpg
image-alt:
Author and activist Stetson Kennedy with Florida Historical Society executive director Ben Brotemarkle
image-title:
Author and activist Stetson Kennedy with Florida Historical Society executive director Ben Brotemarkle
links-text:
Wikipedia ▼Author Website
links-url:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stetson_Kennedy▼http://www.stetsonkennedy.com/
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3525
uuid: 587bf81f-9895-4cd4-9d7b-1f8409d40f45
path-alias: /authors/maya-angelou
pathautostate: 0
title: Maya Angelou
firstname:
Maya
lastname:
Angelou
body-summary:
body-text:

In the late 1950’s Maya Angelou joined the Harlem Writer’s Guild. With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she began work on the book that would become I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Published in 1970, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings received international acclaim made the bestseller list. The book was also banned in many schools during that time as Maya Angelou’s honesty about having been sexually abused opened a subject matter that had long been taboo in the culture. Later, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings would become a course adoption at college campuses around the world. With more than 30 bestselling titles, Maya Angelou has written 36 books.

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/maya-angelou.jpg
image-alt:
Maya Angelou
image-title:
Maya Angelou
links-text:
Author's Website
links-url:
https://www.mayaangelou.com/
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3526
uuid: 59df7f8e-0528-4df6-a643-ba022c4184f8
path-alias: /authors/alice-malsenior-tallulah-kate-walker
pathautostate: 0
title: Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker
firstname:
Alice
lastname:
Walker
body-summary:
body-text:

Alice Walker is an internationally celebrated writer, poet and activist whose books include seven novels, four collections of short stories, four children’s books, and volumes of essays and poetry.  She won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 1983 and the National Book Award.

 

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/alice_walker.jpg
image-alt:
image-title:
links-text:
Wikipedia▼Author's Website
links-url:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walker▼https://alicewalkersgarden.com/
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3527
uuid: 370f2c0b-ded9-454e-8784-9e64292f5142
path-alias: /authors/n-y-nathiri
pathautostate: 0
title: N. Y. Nathiri
firstname:
N. Y.
lastname:
Nathiri
body-summary:
body-text:

N.Y. Nathiri serves as the executive director of The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.), and is the compiler and editor of the award-winning volume, ZORA! Zora Neale Hurston: A Woman and Her Community (Sentinel Communications, 1991). She is married and the mother of three adult children.

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/n-y-nathiri.png
image-alt:
N. Y. Nathiri
image-title:
N. Y. Nathiri
links-text:
links-url:
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3528
uuid: 52fd1a96-822a-4ec8-a1fb-2583d6f2a339
path-alias: /authors/dr-irvin-d-s-winsboro
pathautostate: 0
title: Dr. Irvin D. S. Winsboro
firstname:
Irvin D. S.
lastname:
Winsboro
body-summary:
body-text:

Dr. Irvin D. S. Winsboro is senior professor of history at Florida Gulf Coast University who has traveled many countries and regions around the world. He has personally published more than seven books,contributed to other books, many articles and reviews. Most of this editorial work embraces scholarly journals, national works, and publishing houses and academic presses. 

Some of his achievements include:

  • Florida Historical Society's Stetson Kennedy Book Award, 2011.
  • Florida Historical Society's Harry T. and Harriettee V. Moore Book Award, 2010.
  • Florida Historical Society's Arthur W. Thompson Award for the best scholarly article on Florida history.
  • Board of Directors, Florida Historical Society.
  • Editorial Board, Florida Historical Quarterly.
  • Featured author and speaker at the Florida Heritage Book Festival and the Florida FRESH Book Festival.
  • President, Florida Conference of Historians.
  • Appointed by the Florida Secretary of State to the Florida Historical Marker Council in Tallahassee for the 2000/2002 and 2009/2012 terms.
  • Certified as an expert witness in the State of Florida:  Matters of historical significance and historical preservation.
  • Created and funded with community support the Dr. Irvin D.S. Winsboro History Prize Award fund at FGCU.  The fund, maintained at over $2,000, has been used to pay the tuition of needy minority students majoring in history.
  • Selected by the president of Florida Gulf Coast University to sit on the FGCU Presidential Advisory Council.
  • Research historian for the City of Fort Myers' monument to the black soldiers (the 2nd USCT) who served at the Battle of Fort Myers during the Civil War.  The City project grew from my extensive research at the National Archives and scholarly publications documenting the USCT service at Fort Myers (a subject undocumented until I uncovered and published this information). The City of Fort Myers dedicated the 8-foot, $78,000 monument at Centennial Park on Veterans' Day 1998.  I served as one of the featured co-speakers for the dedication, which drew state and national coverage.
  • Selected, while a professor at the University of South Florida, to create and shepherd through the Florida Board of Regents and the State University System, and then to implement, the new History Program at Florida Gulf Coast University.  In this capacity, I created from the ground floor the nation's newest state university History Program, including my creating and coordinating all aspects of Catalogue courses, requirements, and resources needs.
  • Served as the first History Program Director at Florida Gulf Coast University.

 

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/irvin-winsboro.jpg
image-alt:
Dr. Irvin D. S. Winsboro
image-title:
Dr. Irvin D. S. Winsboro
links-text:
Florida Gulf Coast University, Faculty Page
links-url:
http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/idswinsboro/
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
Florida author
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3529
uuid: cd260439-6229-49f6-8e4c-2b7d6894ba9a
path-alias: /authors/gary-l-white
pathautostate: 0
title: Gary L. White
firstname:
Gary
lastname:
White
body-summary:
body-text:

Author of Conservation In Florida: Its History and Heroes

A Florida native, Gary White spent his childhood in Brevard County. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Florida and has worked for four newspapers in the state. Since 2002, he has worked as a feature writer and news reporter at The Ledger, a daily newspaper in Lakeland, where he lives. He has won dozens of state, regional and national awards for writing during his journalism career. He has a deep affection for the natural Florida and is a fervent birdwatcher and amateur nature photographer. His other interests include film noir, jazz and (most) cartoons in The New Yorker. He can be found on Twitter @garywhite13.

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/0120me1-hi.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/0219me1-big.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/1114ledgermug.jpg
image-alt:
Gary White ▼Gary White ▼Gary White
image-title:
Gary White▼Gary White ▼Gary White
links-text:
links-url:
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3530
uuid: a04095d2-b970-4bd3-adab-badd9fd9f5d8
path-alias: /authors/mary-ida-idie-bass-shearhart
pathautostate: 0
title: Mary Ida "Idie" (Bass) Shearhart
firstname:
Mary Ida
lastname:
Shearhart
body-summary:
body-text:

As a Mizell family descendant who married and had children with a Barber, author Mary Ida Bass Barber Shearhart has a personal interest in the infamous Barber-Mizell Family Feud. 

A fifth generation Floridian, Mrs. Shearhart was born the daughter of Clint and Coralie Bass in their family home on Boggy Creek in Kissimmee, Florida. After graduating from Osceola High School (1943), she was active in the Civil Service during WWII, later employed by Dyer Air Force Base, then Tupperware, and Broadway Pharmacy.  Mary Ida, “Idie”, was a charter member of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority, an early member of the Silver Spurs Rodeo, rode in the Quadrille, and helped drive cattle in Osceola County’s early years with her father, Clint Bass.

She received her RN degree in Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 43, graduating at the top of her class, then practiced nursing in both Texas and North Carolina.  Returning to Florida, she became a member of the Florida Historical Society and received numerous Florida Pioneer Certificates; her favorite validated that her grandfather was born in Duvall County prior to Florida becoming a state.  As an author, she received the Patrick D. Smith Award for her book, Florida’s Frontier, The Way Hit Wuz.

Mary Ida Bass Barber Shearhart, 92, of Kissimmee, Florida passed away on February 1, 2017.

 

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/mary-ida-bass-barber-shearhart.jpg
image-alt:
Mary Ida "Idie" (Bass) Shearhart
image-title:
Mary Ida "Idie" (Bass) Shearhart
links-text:
Obituary, Legacy.com▼Obituary, TheFlashToday.com▼Florida's Fronteir: The Way it Wuz
links-url:
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/osceolanewsgazette/obituary.aspx▼https://theflashtoday.com/2017/02/01/mary-ida-bass-barber-shearhart/▼https://myfloridahistory.org/fhspress/publication/floridas-frontier-way-hit-wuz
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3531
uuid: 6e68c498-86f0-43d8-b34d-a12607af5c5e
path-alias: /authors/dan-l-smith
pathautostate: 0
title: Dan L. Smith
firstname:
Dan
lastname:
Smith
body-summary:
image-url:
image-alt:
image-title:
links-text:
links-url:
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:
nid: 3532
uuid: 0272153e-cfec-4862-b92b-9caa6011e15e
path-alias: /authors/john-appleyard
pathautostate: 0
title: John Appleyard
firstname:
John
lastname:
Appleyard
body-summary:
body-text:

John H. Appleyard was an advertising executive, author and civic leader who founded the Appleyard Agency in 1959 and whose prolific writings focus on Pensacola's history.

Born on November 14, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois, Appleyard attended the Northwestern University School of Journalism before joining the Army during World War II, working across Europe as hospital registrar from 1943-1946. Following hostilities, he attended Oxford University-Shrivenham and the University of Delaware, where he earned a Bachelor's degree with honors in 1947. He joined Armstrong Cork Company in Beaver Falls that year and was transferred by the company to Pensacola in 1950. He settled in the North Hill neighborhood with his wife Eleanor and daughter Diane. Appleyard went to work with local advertising firm Justin Weddell & Associates in 1957. He founded his own firm, the John Appleyard Agency, on February 2, 1959.  Appleyard also was heavily involved with Pensacola's growing health care industry and was chief executive officer the Healthcare Research & Development Institute (HRDI) in 1967. Dick Appleyard took over as president of the agency in 1987, and John stepped down from active work in 1992. He maintained an office in the agency's Cordova Square building for his writing and community work.

An avid historian, Appleyard penned dozens of books about Pensacola's past. Many of his works were fictional dramatizations of historical individuals and events. He was named director of the Florida Quadricentennial Celebration in 1958 and was involved with a number of preservation efforts.

Pensacola - John Henry Appleyard, age 97, died peacefully on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, three months after the death of his wife.

 

image-url: http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/john-appleyard_leatherchair.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/john-appleyard_chair.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/john-appleyard_typewriter.jpg▼http://public-files.galaxyofdata.com/sites/myfloridahistory.org/files/imagefile/author/john-appleyard_in-soldier-uniform.jpg
image-alt:
John Appleyard ▼John Appleyard ▼John Appleyard ▼John Appleyard
image-title:
John Appleyard ▼John Appleyard ▼John Appleyard ▼John Appleyard
links-text:
Wikipedia▼Pensacola Newspaper, Obituary▼Legacy.com, Obituary▼DeLuna: Founder of North America's First Colony
links-url:
https://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/John_Appleyard▼https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2020/10/21/john-appleyard-pensacola-loses-beloved-historian-storyteller/5999808002/▼https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pensacolanewsjournal/obituary.aspx▼https://myfloridahistory.org/fhspress/publication/deluna-founder-north-americas-first-colony
videos-description:
videos-url:
display-criteria:
tags:
repimgportrait-url:
repimgportrait-alt:
repimgportrait-title:
repimglandscape-url
repimglandscape-alt:
Representative Image - Landscape 6:4:
repimgsquare-url:
repimgsquare-alt:
repimgsquare-title:

Pages