Oral History of the Florida High-Tech Corridor Council
High technology--United States
Colleges
Universities
Orlando (Fla.)
Tampa (Fla.)
Gainesville (Fla.)
An oral history interview of John C. Hitt, Randolph E. Berridge, Dr. Peter T. Panousis, Dan Holsenbeck, Carrie Martine, and Roger Pynn regarding the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. This interview conducted by Dr. Connie L. Lester and James C. Clark at the Board Room in the Office of University of Central Florida President John C. Hitt on December 3rd, 2012. The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) is an economic development initiative whose mission is to foster the high technology industry in Florida's High Tech Corridor, which spans 23 counties with rich industries in aerospace engineering, modeling and simulation, optics and photonics, digital media, and medical technologies. The council consists of the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, and the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. In 1996, the Florida Legislature passed an act founding the FHTCC to support the 21-county service areas of UCF and USF. Its original mission was to expand research and educational partnerships in order to retain the Cirent Semiconductor water fabrication facility located in Orlando, Florida. In 1997, the development of all technology industries across Central Florida was added to the FHTCC's mission. UF joined the partnership in 2005.<br /><br />Interview topics include: how the High Tech Corridor Council began, the Dallas-Fort Worth Corridor in Texas, Charlie Reed, reinvesting the original funding, expanding partnerships, Silicon Valley, Lynda Weatherman and economic development in Brevard County, the “Core Team” and the “Pajama Hotline,” the Florida Virtual Entrepreneur Center, serving as a model for other regions, the role of venture capitalism, workforce development, the expansion of the corridor, the impact of the business community on approval of university projects, and future challenges.
Lester, Connie L.
Hitt, John C.
Berridge, Randolph E.
Panousis, Peter T.
Holsenbeck, Dan
Clark, James C.
Martine, Carrie
Pynn, Roger
Original 1-hour, 59-minute, and 19-second oral history: Hitt, John C., Randolph E. Berridge, Dr. Peter T. Panousis, Dan Holsenbeck, Carrie Martine, and Roger Pynn. Interviewed by Dr. Connie L. Lester and James C. Clark. December 3, 2012. Audio/video record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Dickens, Bethany
video/mp4
application/pdf
eng
Moving Image
University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
AT&T Semiconductor Plant, Orlando, Florida
Gray-Robinson Law Firm, Orlando, Florida
Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale, California
Lake Nona Medical City, Orlando, Florida
Florida Polytechnic University, Lakeland, Florida
Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, Rockledge, Florida
National Academy of Inventors, Tampa, Florida
Department of Economic Opportunity, Tallahassee, Florida
Florida High Tech Corridor Council, Heathrow, Florida
Harrah's Cherokee Casino, Cherokee, North Carolina
GrowFl: Florida Economic Gardening Institute, Orlando, Florida
Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, Orlando, Florida
Florida Power & Light Company, Winter Park, Florida
Central Florida Research Park, Orlando, Florida
Florida’s Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt
Education--Florida
Civil rights--Florida
Gainesville (Fla.)
Tallahassee (Fla.)
Colleges
Universities
Homosexuality--Florida
<em>Florida’s Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt</em>, known colloquially as <em>The Committee</em>, is a short film about the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee's investigation of communism and homosexuality amongst students and faculty at Florida colleges and universities. Commonly known as the Johns Committee, the committee was led by state senator and former governor Charley Eugene Johns (1905-1990). The committee was established in 1956 and originally focused on the investigation of the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, an historically African-American university, for its faculty's and staff's involvement of the Tallahassee Bus Boycott (1956-1957). However, as the committee expanded its McCarthy era anti-communist witch hunt, it came to focus on the homosexual lifestyles of many faculty members and students at colleges and universities. After growing public critique of the committee's activities, it was eventually disbanded on July 1, 1965. <br /><br /><em>The Committee</em> centers on the anti-homosexual investigations of the Johns Committee. The film was produced and directed by University of Central Florida professor Dr. Robert Cassanello and Dr. Lisa Mills. Other producers include Slyvana Fernández and Logan Kriete, and Monica Monticello serves as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Monica Monticello, Kathryn Paulson, and Amy Simpson, with research conducted by Alex Boyce and Shay Cambre. Ben Taylor and Alex Wood were the cinematographers and the arts and graphics were created by Patrick Fenelon and Adrien Mills. The film was edited by Aaron Hosé, with the aid of assistant editors Chelsea Echols and David Mariutto. <em>The Committee</em> includes interviews with Ruth Jense-Forbell, a lesbian student interrogated by the Florida State University Police Department in 1964-1965; Chuck Woods, a homosexual student interrogated by the University of Florida Police Department while attending the university from 1959 to 1965; John Tileston, Sr., a UF police officer who investigated various faculty members and students, including Woods; Dr. Karen Graves, a professor of education at Denison University and the author of <em>And They Were Wonderful Teachers: Florida’s Purge of Gay and Lesbian Teachers</em>; Dr. Judith Poucher, a professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville; Bob Graham, a graduate of UF, the 38th Governor of Florida (1979-1987), and former U.S. Senator for Florida (1987-2005); and Dr. Fred Fejes, a professor of multimedia studies at Florida Atlantic University. <em>Florida’s Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt</em> won various awards and accolades, including an Emmy Award.
Cassanello, Robert
Mills, Lisa
Fernández, Slyvana
Kriete, Logan
Original 23-minute and 58-second motion picture produced by Dr. Robert Cassanello, Dr. Lisa Mills, Slyvana Fernández, and Logan Kriete: <a href="http://www.thecommitteedocumentary.org/" target="_blank"><em>Florida's Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt</em></a>, <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida, 2013.
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES<br /></a>
Hosé, Aaron
Monticello, Monica
Paulson, Kathryn
Simpson, Amy
Taylor, Ben
Wood, Alex
Brown, Timothy
Hosé, Brigitte
Echols, Chelsea
Mariutto, David
Boyce, Alex
Cambre, Shay
Fenelson, Patrick
Mills, Adrien
Jensen-Forbell, Ruth
Woods, Chuck
Fejes, Fred
Graham, Bob
Graves, Karen
Poucher, Judith
Tileston, John, Sr.
Jensen-Forbell, Elizabeth
application/website
eng
Moving Image
Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, Tallahassee, Florida
Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Florida State College at Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida
Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, New York City, New York
Oral History of Daphne F. Humphrey
Sanford (Fla.)
Georgetown (Sanford, Fla.)
African Americans--Florida--Sanford
Education--Florida
Teachers--Florida
Educators--Florida
Midwives--United States
Maternity homes--United States
Daphne F. Humphrey was born in Sarasota, Florida, but migrated to Sanford at age 5. In this oral history, she first describes Georgetown, an historic African-American community in Sanford. She then talks of her mother, Marie Jones Francis, the "midwife of Sanford," in great detail. She then spends time speaking of her own life and becoming a teacher.<br /><br /> Marie Jones Francis, the "midwife of Sanford," left behind a successful hotel and restaurant she owned in Sarasota in 1942 to return to Sanford and become a midwife. World War II caused a shortage in doctors and nurses, so Florida's Children's Bureau sent Francis to Florida A & M to acquire her practical nursing license in 1945. She specialized in premature babies and returned to Sanford to aid her mother, Carrie Jones, at Fernald-Laughton Memorial Hospital before they opened the ward in their home. "When her health starting failing," she recollects in a newspaper article, "I took over." Francis converted her house at 621 East Sixth Street to also serve as a maternity ward, where she delivered over 40,000 babies over her 32 year career. She became a midwife in the same vein as her mother, Carrie Jones, and together they ran the Jones-Francis Maternity Hall in Georgetown.<br /><br /> Francis served her community in several ways. She delivered babies for both white and black families from Seminole County, primarily patrons who either preferred natural births or could not afford deliveries at a hospital. In the 1950s, it cost $70 to stay nine days where soon-to-be mothers were taken care of. Francis was assisted by her sister, Annie Walker, who did the cooking. The house and ward also served as a school, where Marie Francis taught nurses the art of midwifery. Nurses would come from across the state to learn how to delivery infants naturally. A heavy burden on a single working mother, Marie Francis had three daughters, Cassandra Clayton, Daphne Humphrey, and Barbara Torre. Clayton and Humphrey became school teachers and Torre became a purchaser at Seminole Memorial Hospital.
Firpo, Julio R.
Humphrey, Daphne F. Interview by Julio R. Firpo. Home of Daphne F. Humphrey. April 8, 2011. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Humphrey, Daphne F.
audio/mp3
eng
Sound
John R. Hurston House, Georgetown, Sanford, Florida
Jones-Francis Maternity Hall, Georgetown, Sanford, Florida
Oral History of Trish Thompson
Sanford (Fla.)
Seminole County (Fla.)
Oral histories
Community theater--United States
Theater--United States
Theater managers
Colquitt (Ga.)
Orlando (Fla.)
Race relations--United States
Playwriting
Oral history told by Trish Thompson, Vice President of Creative Sanford, Inc. The interview was conducted by Autumn Reisz and Mark Miller on October 11, 2013 and focuses on Thompson's experiences with Creative Sanford and Celery Soup. Other topics include adapting the Swamp Gravy model to Celery Soup, how Creative Sanford and Celery Soup have evolved over time, the oral history interviewing process, partnering with the African-American community, the effects of the George Zimmerman trial on Sanford, adapting oral histories into community plays, goals of Creative Sanford and Celery Soup, community involvement and feedback, fundraising and the Celery Ball, production costs, preserving the legacy of Creative Sanford and Celery Soup, and maintaining community involvement. <br /><br /><p>Creative Sanford, Inc. is a non-profit organization created to manage Celery Soup community theater productions. The original idea for the Celery Soup project came from Jeanine Taylor, the owner of a folk-art gallery on First Street in Sanford, Florida. Their first production was <em>Touch and Go</em>, which took several years of planning. The play focused on how the people of Sanford overcame obstacles throughout their history. Some of these stories include the fall of Sanford's celery industry, the Freeze of 1894-1895, and the closing of Naval Air Station (NAS) Sanford in the 1960s. Richard Geer and Jules Corriere, partners from Community Performance International, were in charge of assessing oral histories, converting them into scenes for the play, and writing original songs. Director Geer also used an all-volunteer cast from the local community, many of which were not experienced actors.</p>
<p>During the process of producing the show, Creative Sanford decided to rehabilitate an historic building, the Princess Theater, which was located on 115 West First Street and owned by Stephen Tibstra. The Creative Sanford offices are housed in the Historic Sanford Welcome Center, located at 203 East First Street. As of December 2013, the Executive Board for Creative Sanford included President Brian Casey, Vice President Trish Thompson, Treasurer Linda Hollerbach, Secretary Dr. Annye Refoe, and Founder Jeanine Taylor. The Board of Directors consisted of Cheryl Deming, Juanita Roland, Wendy Wheaton, and Dr. Connie Lester, a professor of history at the University of Central Florida. Honorary Board Members included: Glenda Hood, former Florida Secretary of State and Mayor of Orlando; Valada Flewellyn, a local poet, author, and historian; and Jackie Jones, a local entertainer and arts advocate.</p>
Reisz, Autumn
Miller, Mark
Thompson, Trish
Thompson, Trish. Interviewed by Autumn Reisz and Mark Miller. <a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a> Offices, Sanford Welcome Center. October 11, 2013. Audio/video record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
video/mp4
application/pdf
eng
Moving Image
Creative Sanford, Inc., Sanford, Florida
Celery Soup, Sanford, Florida
Swamp Gravy, Colquitt, Georgia