Podcast – Samuel Proctor Oral History Program

This episode of the Safe Spaces series focuses on an African American armed defense organization that protected Civil Rights Movement demonstrators in Ocala, Florida in the 1960s. Challenging the misconception that the Civil Rights Movement was based entirely on non-violence, the story of the Ocala Hunting and Fishing Club illustrates the diversity of the Movement and offers an example of the complexity of tactics that various local communities needed to deploy in order to protect the people while they fought for their rights. In understanding current debates on “safe spaces,” it is important to understand the efforts historically required of marginalized groups in the U.S. to ensure that they could even do things such as openly discuss their rights as American citizens.

Featured interviews include: AAHP-138B Cranford Ronald Coleman, AAHP-329 Ocala Hunting and Fishing Club, AAHP-358A Ann Pinkston, AAHP-360 Dorsey Miller, AAHP-362B Dan Harmeling, AAHP-367 May Stafford, AAHP-384 Juanita Cunningham, AAHP-385 William James, AAHP-386 David Rackard, AAHP-390 Fred Pinkston

Featured music artists include:

Photo: (State Archives of Florida/Hackett.)

In this final installment of SPOHP volunteer John Paul Lorie’s three-part podcast on the Gainesville Eight, we hear the story of the federal government’s indictment of the Eight on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention. We hear the lawyer for the defendants assess the prosecution’s case, and describe the legal strategy his firm adopted for defending these veterans in court. We also hear direct testimony from members of the Eight including Scott Camil, as well as other VVAW members who were subpoenaed to testify, in describing the FBI’s infiltration of VVAW and the flagrant violations of their constitutional rights that ensued. Given that we are currently witnessing–and some of us participating in–a new era of demonstration and direct action, this story is of particular relevance to questions of lawful protest and the constitutional rights of demonstrators.

This is our first podcast in the Ottoman Greeks of the United States (1904-1924) podcast series. It tells the story of the S.S. Acropolis, a ship that transferred Armenian and Greek refugees from the city of Smyrna to Ellis Island in the winter of 1922. Modern Syrian refugees are experiencing similar trials and tribulations as the Armenian and Greek refugees from Smyrna. This podcast highlights those similarities. It transports its listeners back to the early 20th century, and weaves together newspaper accounts of the Smyrna refugees’ story with recollections of descendants of immigrants from the Ottoman Empire.

This first episode of the Safe Spaces series spring-boards off of the controversial acceptance letter sent out this year to incoming students of the University of Chicago, and it follows a racially charged and abnormally divisive presidential election. It explores what a safe space means to different students and faculty at the University of Florida and what influences them to create those spaces on campus. We will be examining what it took to put institutes such as IBC and La Casita in place as well as the significance of Ethnic Studies programs for students of all walks of life.

This episode contains royalty-free music created by Bensound, Lee Rosevere, Arsonist and Kevin Hartnell.

In this second installment of SPOHP volunteer John Paul Lorie’s three-part podcast on the Gainesville Eight, we hear Scott Camil and other members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) describing the founding of the organization and the recruitment of new members. One of the VVAW’s first major actions concluded with a march on the gates of the Capitol in which decorated veterans made short statements into a microphone and then threw their medals over the fence and toward the Capitol building. We also hear about the U.S. government’s harassment of Scott Camil in response to the effectiveness of his activism, preparing us for next week’s final installment which will describe the indictment of the Gainesville Eight on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention.

Just on the heels of Veteran’s Day, SPOHP volunteer John Paul Lorie has assembled a three-part special feature on the Gainesville Eight. Members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Gainesville Eight were indicted on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach. This first podcast follows one member of the Gainesville Eight, Scott Camil, through his military experiences in Vietnam and then the events that led him to join the VVAW.

A highlight of SPOHP’s annual Mississippi Freedom Project research trip this year was the opportunity for staff member Anupa Kotipoyina to interview Edward Duvall, a pastor who has been working with the local community to finally desegregate all schools in Cleveland, Mississippi. Despite a 1969 desegregation order, the Cleveland School District continues, more than forty years later, in a legal battle with the U.S. Department of Justice, recently appealing a May 2016 order to consolidate segregated middle and high schools. In this podcast, Duvall describes the role he and other community members have played in the stand against this issue, as well as the challenges of working within the legal and school systems to have their voices heard.

Our first entry of the Voice from the Archives series, “Putting Food on America’s Table,” features interviews with three women who grew up in farmworker families in central Florida. Their stories describe challenging living conditions, harrowing working conditions, and lasting impacts on the health of themselves and their families while, as Ms. Betty Dubose describes it, “putting food on America’s table.” We would like to thank Bensound and Incompetech for the royalty-free music that we were able to use in this podcast.

Former IBEW Local 1205 business manager and president Theron Hunter (IBEW-010) describes some of the benefits, economic and social, of being part of the brotherhood. He also reflects on changes in the union, from greater diversity in its membership to the challenges of recent decades. Created by Anupa Kotipyina.

As the first woman to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in the entire state of Florida, Judy Davis (IBEW-007) describes her trials and subsequent success as a journeyman/wireman. Created by Richelle Davis.