Stories
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Marjory Stoneman Douglas—Grand Dame of the Everglades
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an American journalist, author, women’s suffrage advocate, and conservationist known for her staunch defense of the Everglades against efforts to drain…
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Redding Evans and Rose—Hanged for The Crime of Loving Her
The year is 1850, in Jefferson County. Redding Evans, a white 32-year-old farmhand originally for Georgia, is executed by hanging. His crime? Slave stealing, or…
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Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings—Storyteller of the Scrublands
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings may not have been born a Floridian (she came from Washington, D.C.), but after moving to the tiny hamlet of Cross Creek…
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Lue Gim Gong—The Citrus Wizard
One of the most remarkable and overlooked figures in Florida history is Lue Gim Gong, a Chinese-American horticulturist whose innovations helped shape the modern citrus…
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Madgigine Jai “Anna” Kingsley—The Senegal Queen of the St. Johns
One of the most remarkable and powerful women in the history of Florida was actually pure African. In 1806, as a 13-year-old girl, Madgigine Jai…
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Abiaka “Sam Jones”—The Spiritual Leader and War Chief Behind Seminole Resistance
Abiaka, also known as Sam Jones, was a powerful spiritual alektca, or medicine chief, and war chief of the Miccosukee. Abiaka successfully defied the U.S. government and…
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Ruby McCollum—First Black Woman to Testify Against a White Man for Sexual Abuse
It was August, 1952 in Live Oak. A beloved white physician and Senator Elect, Dr. C. Leroy Adams, had been shot to death four times…
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Chris Calhoun—The Veteran Who Exposed Chattahoochee
Chris Calhoun (b. 1934) was a decorated war veteran whose battle not only with his own mental health, but the entire mental healthcare system in…
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Frank and Ivy Stranahan—Building Bridges Between Worlds on the New River
In the 1890s, Frank Stranahan arrived at a small New River settlement from Toledo, Ohio to manage the ferry crossing and mail route. Within a…