1911 – Joe Lang Kershaw, the first African American elected to the Florida Legislature since Reconstruction, was born in Live Oak on this date. He graduated from Florida A&M during the 1930s in history and social studies and later received a Master’s degree administration from the same institution. While at Florida A&M, Kershaw worked as a janitor inside the Florida Legislature, and after decades of working as a teacher in Dade County, he was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1968. During his 14 years in the Legislature, Kershaw served as chairman of the Elections Committee, working to increase public participation in the elections process statewide, and also introduced legislation that would lead to the formation of the Florida Human Rights Commission. Kershaw was known by his colleagues as “Cane Pole,” because he fought to exclude cane pole fishing, which was predominantly practiced by poor African Americans throughout Florida, from the statewide fishing license tax, which he succeeded in doing in 1976.