January 28, 2016

Black History Month and other events in our community
by BRUCE SEAMAN

There is a whole lot happening in February. Get your calendar ready and see some of what you can do.

Feb. 6, Sat. – 10am – Bridges Project meeting at Ocala Police Dept.’s Community Room, 402 S. Pine Ave., Ocala. Join in one of our working groups!

Fri., Feb. 12 – 10:30am – The Atlantic Slave Trade: Supply and Demand – Bryant Shaw, Ph.D in African Studies will give an overview of slavery in Africa and trade to the Western Hemisphere, and Emmett Coyne, M.A. in African Studies will give an overview of American slavery – 90 mins total – in Live Oak Hall adjacent to the Master the Possibilities complex at On Top of the World.

Feb. 12, Fri. – 11:30am – Friday Forum at Golden Corral, SW Hwy 200/College Rd., Ocala – topic: Black Businesses in Marion County

Feb. 18, Thurs. – 2pm – Marion County Genealogy Society at Marion County Public Library will hold a seminar on Tracing Your African American Roots by Marya Latson in one of the meeting rooms

Feb. 20, Sat. – 1pm – Remembering Paradise Park: Tourism and Segregation at Silver Springs co-author Cynthia Wilson-Graham will give a talk on Paradise Park’s history, hosted by Marion County Black Archives at Howard Middle School, 1655 NW 10th St., Ocala – fee and open to public

Following the talk at Howard, there will be a free tour of the exhibition at 3:30 p.m. at the Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, led by Wilson-Graham.

(Also, note that the Appleton Museum of Art’s exhibition Paradise Park Remembered: Photographs by Bruce Mozert and Others runs until April 24.)

Feb. 21, Sun. – 2pm – Remembering Paradise Park co-author Cynthia Wilson-Graham makes a presentation at Marion County Public Library in an event co-sponsored by Friends of the Library and Silver Springs Alliance

Feb 25 , Thurs. – 1-3pm – Movie: Rosewood and Groveland Four – at Live Oak Hall adjacent to the Master the Possibilities complex at On Top of the World.

Feb 25, Thurs. – 2pm – A docent-led tour of the Appleton Museum’s special exhibition, Paradise Park Remembered: Photographs by Bruce Mozert and Others. This exhibition contains photos and vintage memorabilia from Silver Springs’ former segregated counterpart, Paradise Park. The tour meets in the museum lobby at 2 p.m.

Feb 25, Thurs. – 6-8pm – The History of Segregation in Florida Tourism – A panel discussion at the Appleton on the history of the former segregation of Florida’s beaches. Panel participants include Dr. Enid C. Pinkney, a preservation leader from South Florida speaking on Virginia Key Beach and the historic Hampton House in Brownsville; Marsha Dean Phelts, who will speak on American Beach just north of Jacksonville; and Remembering Paradise Park co–authors Lu Vickers and Cynthia Wilson-Graham, who will make introductions and give remarks.

Feb. 26, Fri. – 1-2:30pm – Deconstruction of Reconstruction: An Overview of Reconstruction post-Civil War and how it affects today – at Live Oak Hall adjacent to the Master the Possibilities complex at On Top of the World.

Feb. 26, 27, 28 – Black History Exhibit of Rev. Leroy Chandler returns to Marion County Democratic Party HQ, 601 SW 1st Ave., Ocala. Plan to spend some time checking out this massive display. Here are the times:

Friday, February 26 1:00pm-8:00pm
Saturday, February 27 10:00am-7:00pm
Sunday, February 28 12:00 noon-6:00pm

And those are only some of the things happening in our community, with many events focusing on Black History Month.

If you’re interested, PBS on WUCF has a variety of offerings for February that focus on Black History – click here to see what’s coming up.

If you’re interested in our Law Enforcement Engagement group, you ought to check out the report from Public Policy Institute (PPI) for 2014, The True Cost of Justice in Marion County . 

The PPI working group on the True Cost of Justice meets next at 7:30am on Wed., Feb. 17 at CF’s Ewers Center, Room 101.

That’s rather overwhelming, isn’t it? Just be sure to take advantage of some of what will be happening in our community to focus on Black History next month. I’m sure that as soon as I send this out, more will come my way. We’ll try to keep you posted.

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