2021 June – Humanities Centers Grant Awards

Photo credit, above: Lt. j.g. Lucas Taylor, a pilot at Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico, delivers food and water to a young girl in Moca, Puerto Rico, Oct. 9, 2017. USF Contemporary Art Museum received a $3,000 Humanities Centers Grant to support “Bregando with Disasters: Post-hurricane Maria Realities and Resiliency.”

Florida Humanities is pleased to announce $30,000 in Humanities Centers Grants for 10 projects at seven Florida colleges and universities in support of public humanities programming. In this inaugural grant program, Florida Humanities offered up to $3,000 to Humanities Centers, Institutes, and Programs associated with Florida colleges or universities, and humanities-related departments to support community programming (either in-person or virtual) that seeks to broaden the public’s awareness of what it means to be human.

Following are the list of awards, alphabetical by granted organization:

Flagler College, Department of History (Saint Johns)
“History Harvest: Marineland and Human-Animal Relationships” – $3,000
Flagler College will host a History Harvest that will foster critical conversations grounded in Environmental Humanities, focusing on the 83-year-old history of Marineland’s dolphin programs and encounters with humans.

Florida A&M University, Department of History and Political Science (Leon)
“Work, Sweat, Pray: Black Women’s Activism in Florida” – $3,000
Florida A&M University, Department of History and Political Science will create an immersive website and host complementary programming that will feature the individual stories of fifteen Black Florida women activists, highlighting the significance of these women in the fight for equality and justice.

Florida A&M University, Meek-Eaton Black Archives, Research Center, and Museum (Leon)
“”Blood, Sweat, and Tears”: Alonzo “Jake” Gaither Exhibit and Keynote” – $3,000
The Florida A&M University, Meek-Eaton Black Archives, Research Center, and Museum will host a keynote by historian and author, Derrick White who will discuss his book, “Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football”, to celebrate the opening of the Alonzo “Jake” Gaither Exhibit.

Florida International University, Wolfsonian Humanities Lab (Miami-Dade)
“Filling Narrative Gaps: The Stories of Refuseniks in Miami” – $3,000
Florida International University’s Wolfsonian Humanities Lab will host a community series and an accompanying photography exhibit at The Miami Beach Urban Studio, which will showcase and explore the experiences of Refuseniks who came to South Florida in the 1980s.

Florida International University, Center for Women’s and Gender Studies (Miami-Dade)
“Perspectives on Black Motherhood and Health” – $3,000
Florida International University, Center for Women’s and Gender Studies will host a humanities-based community reading and discussion group on Black Motherhood and Health, led by a historian and comprised of community members all striving to foster constructive dialogue on health, gender, race and society.

Nova Southeastern University, Humanities Center (Broward)
“Barrios of America” – $3,000
Nova Southeastern University’s Humanities Center will host the “Barrios of America” series for Hispanic Heritage Month 2021, which include public forums and workshops that will exercise cultural analysis and engagement with Hispanic cultures, with emphasis on immigrant stories that impact South Florida’s diverse communities.

University of Central Florida, RICHES Program (Orange)
“The Florida Historical Quarterly’s 8th Annual Jerrell Shofner Lecture on Florida History and Culture” – $3,000
The University of Central Florida will host The Florida Historical Quarterly’s 8th Annual Jerrell Shofner Lecture on Florida History and Culture.

University of North Florida, Digital Humanities Institute (Duval)
“The Justice Sessions” – $3,000
The University of North Florida Digital Humanities Institute and partner programs will host “The Justice Sessions,” a community speaker series and cross-departmental effort to feature community speakers on topics related to local African-American history as well as the history and future of civil rights in Jacksonville.

University of South Florida, Humanities Institute (Hillsborough)
“Representations of Disability in Popular Culture” – $3,000
The Humanities Institute at the University of South Florida will host a public online event with national disability scholar and advocate, Alice Wong, and a series of interviews with humanities scholars whose research is informed by Wong’s work.

University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (Hillsborough)
“Bregando with Disasters: Post-hurricane Maria Realities and Resiliency” – $3,000
USF Contemporary Art Museum will host a virtual symposium which examines how recent hurricanes, such as Hurricane Maria, highlighted and exacerbated situations in Puerto Rico which affects health, migration, economics and politics.