Billed as the state’s answer to juvenile delinquency in 1900, the Florida School for Boys, later called the Dozier School for Boys, grew into a profitable farming operation that ran on forced labor of thousands of troubled boys. By the late 1960s, the 1,400-acre Panhandle reformatory was the largest such institution in the country, and it was routinely scandalized due to unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, and extreme punishments. The state closed the school in 2011 after a new wave of scrutiny.

This program by journalist Ben Montgomery details the truth and reconciliation effort and the adjacent impact of films, music, and books. Ben Montgomery is a journalist and author of four non-fiction books, including the New York Times-bestselling Grandma Gatewood’s Walk. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the Dart Award and Casey Medal for a series for the Tampa Bay Times called “For Their Own Good,” about abuse at Florida’s oldest reform school. He founded the narrative journalism website Gangrey.com and helped launch the Auburn Chautauqua, a Southern writers collective. He lives in Tampa.

Remember to bring your ticket. To receive a parking voucher, library users must present a parking ticket for the City Center Public Parking Garage located at 199 North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. Parking vouchers available for $1.00 to cover the first two hours of parking.

Funding for this Florida Talks program is provided in part by Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and in partnership with the Pasco County Libraries. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.