Events Calendar
In local communities across Florida, humanities-rich programming is making a lasting impact in the hearts and minds of Sunshine State residents and visitors alike. Florida Humanities is proud to partner with local community champions to bring you high-quality public programming through Community Project Grants, Florida Talks, Museum on Main Street, and more.
Alert: Some events may be canceled or postponed. We work to ensure that our events calendar remains accurate. We strongly urge you to call the event contact for any program you are interested in to confirm that the event is still planned.
Amish Across America: Growth and Change Among a Traditional People
Carlisle Inn 3727 Bahia Vista St, Sarasota, FloridaThe New College of Florida's Humanities Division hosts a lecture with Steven Nolt in coordination with their photographic exhibit Life In Pinecraft on view at the Carlisle Inn through February 24. Often presented as a stubbornly timeless people, the Amish are in fact a remarkably dynamic group. Doubling in population every twenty years, they now number nearly 375,000 and live in 34 states. This illustrated lecture introduces the Amish in
Coffee and Conversations: Florida Maroons and Black Seminole Societies with Dr. Anthony Dixon
The Old Courthouse Heritage Museum 1 Courthouse Square, Inverness, FloridaThis presentation examines the history and culture of the Florida Maroons and Black Seminoles. Dr. Dixon discusses the origins and lives of both the Maroons and their development into the Black Seminoles from the 16th through 19th centuries. This presentation also includes an examination of the direct relationship between Black Seminoles and the growth of Florida through the Seminole Wars. Dr. Dixon is the President of Archival and Historical Research
POWER: A Showcase of Arts, Culture, and History
Museum of Science and History Jacksonville 1025 Museum Cir, Jacksonville, FloridaJoin the Museum of Science and History Jacksonville for POWER: A Showcase of Arts, Culture, and History on February 25th from 6 to 10 pm. This event is a dynamic fusion of arts, culture, and hisotircal experience coinciding with the Museum of Science and History's Black History Month celebration. POWER will feature a variety of live musicians, vendors of various trades, panelists, artists, and chefs, as well as an ongoing
ACCORD Freedom Trail Guided Trolley Tour
Willie Galimore Community Center 399 Riberia St, St. Augustine, FloridaAnniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations (ACCORD) has organized a narrated history tour for each Saturday in February to coincide with Black History Month. The tour includes many of the 30+ sites of the Freedom Trail Tour. This tour will be narrated by local historian and author David Nolan. Visitors will embark the local Green Trolley Bus and learn about the rich Civil Rights and African American History of
Charlotte Harbor Book Festival: Keynote Presentation
Military Heritage Museum 900 W Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, FloridaThe Charlotte Harbor Book Festival presents "Getting Into Character: An Author's Research Adventures Around the World" with Robert Macomber. Join multi-award winning author and acclaimed speaker Robert Macomber for his sometimes hilarious and sometimes perilous tales about his research treks worldwide to write seventeen novels in his renowned Honor Series. Registration is suggested but not required to attend. The keynote presentation is held at the Gulf Coast Theater inside the
Charlotte Harbor Book Festival
Military Heritage Museum 900 W Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, FloridaJoin the Military Heritage Museum on February 25, 2023 from 9 am to 4 pm for the Charlotte Harbor Book Festival. Free and open to the public, literature lovers are encouraged to participate in local author panels and discussions, writing workshops for adults and children, booksellers row, and a keynote presentation with multi, award-winning author and acclaimed speaker Robert N. Macomber. This festival is funded in part through a Florida
The DeLand Black Heritage Trail Presentation
Burgess Museum at the DeLand Memorial Hospital and Veterans 230 N Stone St, DeLand, FloridaSt Johns River-to-Sea Loop Alliance together with the Burgess Museum will host a discussion on the DeLand Black Heritage Trail project as part of the Museum's Lemonade and Local History series. The Heritage Trail is a self-guided cycling and walking route to connect Black heritage sites and interesting and historically significant landmarks within the Greater Spring Hill area and beyond. It will encourage people to get out of their cars
Charlotte Harbor Book Festival: Tough Guys Talk Turkey
Military Heritage Museum 900 W Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, FloridaThe Charlotte Harbor Book Festival presents Tough Guys Talk Turkey, a lecture by Chuck Emma. Author and lawyer Chuck Emma lectures about how to write believable action scenes and dialogue based on his experience writing a series of hard-boiled suspense novels with action scenes ranging from courtroom drama to high seas horror. Registration is suggested but not required to attend. Chuck Emma is a practicing attorney in Massachusetts and an
Charlotte Harbor Book Festival: The New Man
Military Heritage Museum 900 W Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, FloridaThe Charlotte Harbor Book Festival presents The New Man by author Richard Hale. From eating quiche to biting the bullet, images of men in literature have often been extreme. Richard Hale, who has written three coming-of-age novels, discusses how showing a character's feelings and trying to make sense of the world help define the new image of men in writing. Registration is encouraged but not required to attend. Richard Hale
Charlotte Harbor Book Festival: I Remember Mawzy
Military Heritage Museum 900 W Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, FloridaThe Charlotte Harbor Book Festival presents "I Remember Mawzy" with author Myra Allen Kingsbury. Kingsbury's strongest influence was her grandmother, who she called Mawzy. Her tribute to Mawzy, a lavishly illustrated allegory of life in the mountain towns of West Virginia, is the basis of her lecture on how writers can capture, catalog, and recreate their ancestry. Registration is suggested but not required to attend. Myra Allen Kingsbury was raised
Charlotte Harbor Book Festival: Growing Your Environment
Military Heritage Museum 900 W Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, FloridaThe Charlotte Harbor Book Festival presents "Growing Your Environment" with author Paul LaFleur. Paul LaFleur has written of dying post-industrial communities and backwoods Florida to shape and molds his characters and readers. In this lecture, LaFleur discusses how to create or reproduce a story's environment to illuminate characters. Registration is suggested but not required to attend. Paul LaFleur is the author of four novels and several short stories. A native
The Magnificent Drama: Martin Luther King in St. Augustine
Leesburg Public Library 100 East Main Street, Leesburg, FLThe civil rights movement in St. Augustine drew national attention when Martin Luther King, Jr. visited twice in 1964, sparking marches, arrests, and clashes between protesters and police on the tourist-lined beaches. Local and national objectives complemented and contradicted each other in ways that affect race relations today and are examined in this presentation. Dr. J. Michael Butler is a Kenan Distinguished Professor of History at Flagler College where he
Charlotte Harbor Book Festival: Finding Your Voice
Military Heritage Museum 900 W Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, FloridaThe Charlotte Harbor Book Festival presents "Finding Your Voice" with author Naomi Pringle. Gray is not an exciting color, but it is the shade books convey when storylines and characters sound alike. Naomi Pringle, author of two creative nonfiction novels, helps authors find their unique voices by crafting unique characters and dialogue. Registration is suggested but not required to attend. Naomi Pringle, author of Ginga Root Tea: An American Journey
Joy and Pain: Black Music of the United States Global Praxis
Orange County Regional History Center 65 E Central Ave, Orlando, FL, United StatesThe Orange County Regional History Center is hosting a talk with Don Harrell, founder and CEO of African Diasporic Arts and Education Inc. and UCF Professor of Africana Studies, in conjunction with the exhibition, Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando's Underground. Figurehead tells the story of how the musical promotion company helped grow the local scene with a focus on underground rock music and the club circuit. Harrell will talk
African and African-American Contributions to Culture: The African Roots of American Cuisine
Sulphur Springs Museum and Heritage Center 1101 E River Cove St., Tampa, FloridaIn this presentation, Dr. Bireda examines the many contributions enslaved Africans and African Americans have made to American culture. Traditional culture retentions survived the Middle Passage and have influenced present-day American culture. This presentation provides surprising and previously untold facts about the impact of African and African American culture upon American culture as a whole. Registration and admission are not required to attend. Parking is available onsite. This program is
A Musical Journey Through Florida
Stirling Road Branch Library 3151 Stirling Rd, Hollywood, FloridaThis presentation takes audiences on a historical journey through the state, featuring performances of songs covering a wealth of historical events, characters, and folklore with in-depth storytelling about Ponce de Leon's voyage to Florida in 1513, Henry Flagler's building of the Florida's East Coast Railroad, and more. Original songs come from Chris Kahl's Florida-themed albums, Orange Blossom Memories and Sunshine Kid. Chris Kahl is a Florida folk musician and storyteller.
Southern Road to Freedom: Florida’s Underground Railroad
Virtual/OnlineThe nation's first Underground Railroad was established in Florida in the late 17th century, servings as a beacon of freedom for runaway slaves from the American south. Existing before the better-known Northern Underground Railroad, enslaved Africans gained their freedom by escaping and earning asylum in Spanish Florida. This presentation focuses on Florida's early history as a Spanish territory, the escape routes used by runaway slaves, and the black communities they
The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird
Lynn Pippenger Hall 50-378 7th Ave S., St. Petersburg, FloridaThe Florida Studies program at the University of South Florida- St. Petersburg Campus hosts author Jack E. Davis to discuss his award-winning title The Bald Eagle. Americans love bald eagles. But that was not always true. By the end of the nineteenth century, bald eagles were nearly extinct even though the bird was embraced as a symbol of the country. The Bald Eagle is both a cautionary tale of humanity's
The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of Oceans
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens 3251 S Miami Ave, Miami, FloridaExplore the human fascination with seashells and their ancient history as global currency, their use as religious and luxury objects, and the remarkable marine mollusks that make them in Ms. Barnett's engaging account of an aspect of nature and culture long hidden in plain sight. Barnett illuminates the beauty and wonder of seashells as well as human ingenuity and scientific solutions they represent for the warming world. Registration and a
Florida and Water: A Historical Perspective
Highlands Hammock State Park 5931 Hammock Road, Sebring, FL, United StatesThis presentation chronicles Florida's long and difficult relationship with water. Dr. Steve Noll examines attempts to turn water into land and land into water throughout Florida's history, including contentious water-related issues like the potential restoration of the Everglades, the battle over the Ocklawaha River, the degradation of north Florida's iconic springs, and more. Steve Noll is a master lecturer in the University of Florida's history department, where received his PhD