Edward H. Greene was born in Winter Park, Florida, in 1948. He grew up in several communities across Orlando in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in Eatonville. He recalled his adolescent experience in Eatonville, particularly attending Hungerford High School. Edward’s family intersects deeply with Eatonville’s history, as his grandmother’s uncle was Joe Clark, the formerly enslaved African American who founded Eatonville in 1887. Edward’s grandmother, Catherine “Willie” Clark Alexander, also remains significant to Eatonville’s history, as she served as the town’s first postmaster for twenty-four years from 1955 to 1979. Edward shared his grandmother’s story, specifically the day she was abducted from the post office and brutally murdered, which remains one of the most heinous crimes in Eatonville’s history. Additionally, Edward recounted his collegiate experience at Bethune-Cookman, which mandatory military service temporarily interrupted. Lastly, Edward discussed how Orlando has changed since his adolescence, specifically within a racial context.

N.B. We conducted this interview at the end of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, when the lawn maintenance crew cleaned the area and event staff packed up equipment, disrupting the audio. Additionally, Edward’s mic did not function until approximately 3:40, thus any audio from him before remains faint, but not completely inaudible.

Aquanza Cadogan was born on September 20, 1981, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. At around eight years old, Aquanza and his family moved to Pine Hills, Florida. From East Flatbush, where many West Indian cultures resided (Aquanza’s parents are originally from Georgetown, Guyana—located in South America), Aquanza recalled his difficulties adjusting to Pine Hills. He attended the University of Florida and explained how his college experience remains another “cultural shock” as it widened his worldview. Aquanza shared his perspectives on race relations since his formative years in the 1990s, notably how the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, in 2012 prompted his path toward Black activism, currently materialized in his company, “Time Capsule for the Culture.” In that vein, Aquanza viewed the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities as a central space for the Black community, particularly younger Black people, to understand the importance of Black art, culture, and agency.

Desmond A. Reid was born in 1945 and spent the first twenty years of his life in Jamaica. He recounted his formative years in Jamaica, particularly his mother’s influence. He immigrated to the New York City in 1965, printing and selling books primarily on Black literature and heritage. Desmond moved to Orlando in 2009, in which he shifted his bookselling approach from a mainly economic endeavor to a more philanthropic pursuit for the Black community. Desmond has sold books from his Longwood bookstore, DARE, at the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities since 2011, and he explained how the festival has changed over the past decade. Relatedly, Desmond highlighted how race relations more broadly have fluctuated in the US since the late 1960s, from a particularly harrowing incident during his military service to the recent state and national efforts to restrict certain books from schools.