0:00:32 Growing up in Sanford
0:01:36 Richard Wright's depictions of the South
0:03:09 First time being called "nigger"
0:03:48 Education
0:04:15 Comparing Georgetown and Midway
0:11:56 Growing up in Georgetown and attending Crooms High School
0:15:31 Desegregation at Seminole High School
0:20:02 Interaction with white people in the business district
0:26:38 Working at a drug store
0:30:54 Seeing The Great White Hope at the Ritz Theatre
0:32:00 Seminole County Public Schools
0:34:51 White teachers' reactions to having black students
0:37:44 Ku Klux Klan riots
0:38:59 Experience at Fisk University in Nashville
0:41:25 Majoring in English and dream of being the first female sports columnist
0:42:37 Interacting with communities in Nashville and student protests
0:45:30 Moving back to Sanford and then to Winter Park
0:46:50 Influence of her parents on her life and the community
0:54:51 How Sanford changed oved time
1:00:17 Teaching at Seminole County College
1:00:24 RECORDING CUTS OFF
1:00:24 White teacher barred from teaching ballet to African-American children
1:02:08 Returning to Sanford and employment after college in the 1970s
1:07:21 Experience as teacher and later as dean at SCC
1:13:58 Experience teaching right after college and being called "nigger" by a student at Lake Howell High School
1:19:20 How Refoe distanced herself from Sanford
1:21:03 Disintegration of sense of community due to integration
1:23:02 Need for preserving past
01:23:37 Annye's definition of Sanford while growing up and in the present
1:27:56 Annye's gratitude for being a teacher
1:30:10 How people connect to Sanford
1:33:50 Sanford and other small towns losing their history]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]> Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> QuickTime.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]>
Georgetown was established by the city's founder, Henry Shelton Sanford, as a suburb for African-American residents in the 1870s. The neighborhood spans along Sanford Avenue, with its commercial district between First Street and Fifth Street and its historic district between Seventh Street and Tenth Street. Though originally much smaller, Georgetown spanned to its present boundaries from East Second Street to Celery Avenue and from Sanford Avenue to Mellonville Avenue. Georgetown thrived at its height from circa 1880 to 1940, particularly in agriculture and transportation.]]> Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]>
Herman L. Refoe, Jr. and Shellye L. Refoe began teaching at Midway Elementary School in 1946. They quickly became involved with the school and the students, starting clubs and coaching teams, along with teaching African Americans in the Midway and Canaan areas. Their daughter, Annye Refoe, was born on January 29, 1951. Herman became an Assistant Principal of Goldsboro Elementary School in 1959. About two years later, he became the Principal. Herman remained the school principal for over 11 years, until his retirement in 1972. Shellye continued teaching at Midway until 1962, when she began teaching at Crooms High School, followed by South Seminole Middle School, Milwee Middle School, and finally Lyman High School. She moved around as a result of Seminole County’s School Board’s attempt to integrate black teachers. Shellye retired in January 1974.

Annye graduated from Seminole High School in the class of 1969. After her treatment in the newly integrated Seminole High School, she decided to enroll in a historically black college/university. She graduated from Fisk College in Nashville, Tennessee, with a bachelors’ in English in 1973. Upon her return from college, Annye began teaching in August 1974 at Lake Howell High School. In 1982, she started teaching at Seminole Community College, where she later became the Dean of the Arts and Humanities.]]> Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]>
While today it has fallen into disrepair, Hopper Academy remains a symbol of Georgetown, representing the enduring legacy of Sanford’s African Americans raising themselves through education. Hopper Academy served as a black elementary school for grades 1 – 6 from 1926 to 1961. Professor Joseph Nathaniel Crooms was principal of Hopper from 1906 to 1926, thereafter becoming principal of Crooms High School in Goldsboro. Key individuals who studied at the school include Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston and Sanford’s midwife Marie Francis. In 1968, the Hopper Academy ceased to operate as a school.]]> Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]>
Dr. Wright was born and raised in Goldsboro, an historic black community in Sanford. He lived in Sanford for most of his early life, except for one year that he attended school in Lakeland during ninth grade. He attended Goldsboro Elementary School and Crooms High School, where he graduated in 1964. For his college education, Dr. Wright attended Volusia County Community College in Daytona for one semester, Gibbs College (now merged with St. Petersburg College) in St. Petersburg for the first part of his bachelor's degree in English, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton for the second part of his bachelor's education degree in English, Atlanta University for his master's degree in English, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania in for his doctoral degree in Linguistics and Rhetoric.]]> Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]> RICHES of Central Florida

]]> Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida

]]> RICHES of Central Florida

]]> Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida

]]>