1
100
4
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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/23570be6a683fcd607938dc3a154a06a.pdf
54598622dc8b5034c051d1622b64d183
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District Collection
Alternative Title
Seminole Soil and Water Conservation Collection
Subject
Seminole County (Fla.)
Environmental protection--Florida
Contributor
<a href="http://www.conserveseminole.org/" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Seminole County, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.conserveseminole.org/" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District</a>
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Program of the Board of Supervisors of the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District, 1963
Alternative Title
Seminole Soil and Water Conservation Program, 1963
Subject
Seminole County (Fla.)
Environmental protection--Florida
Description
The Program of the Board of Supervisors of the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District for 1963. The organization began in 1948 with a goal to assist in agricultural interests. Over the years, the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District began to also concentrate on the development and management of recreational enterprises. Their interests also entailed inventory and evaluations for land uses and solving issues concerning soil and water resources. The fourteen page program from 1963 discusses the history of the organization and contains information pertaining to the goals of the Seminole Soil Conservation District as well as the major problems they face regarding water control, soil depletion, erosion control, wildlife, land use, livestock, egg production, and recreational and rural land development.
Type
Text
Source
Original 14-page typewritten report by the Board of Supervisors of the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District,1963: Folder SSWCD Statistical and Historical Information, 1948-1977, <a href="http://www.conserveseminole.org/" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
Folder SSWCD Statistical and Historical Information, 1948-1977, <a href="http://www.conserveseminole.org/" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District</a>, Sanford, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/204" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original 14-page typewritten report by the Board of Supervisors of the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District, 1963.
Coverage
Seminole County, Florida
Creator
Hammond, Ralph
Publisher
<a href="http://www.conserveseminole.org/" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District</a>
Hammond, Ralph
Date Created
ca. 1963
Date Issued
ca. 1963
Format
application/pdf
Extent
485 KB
Medium
14-page typewritten report
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by the <a href="http://www.conserveseminole.org/" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District</a> and Ralph Hammond.
Rights Holder
This resource is not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work. Anyone may, without restriction under U.S. of state copyright laws:<ul class="one_column_bullet"><li>reproduce the work in print or digital form</li><li>create derivative works</li><li>perform the work publicly</li><li>display the work</li><li>distribute copies or digitally transfer the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.</li></ul>This resource is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only. For more information on copyright, please refer to <a href="http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?submenu=3#A1S24" target="_blank">Section 24 of the Florida Constitution</a>.
Accrual Method
Donation
Curator
Baker, Holly
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.conserveseminole.org/" target="_blank">Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District</a>
External Reference
Helms, Douglas. "<a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/about/history/?cid=nrcs143_021384" target="_blank">Hugh Hammond Bennett and the Creation of the Soil Conservation Service</a>." <em>Journal of Soil and Water Conservation</em> 65, no. 2, March/April 2010, 37-47. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/about/history/?cid=nrcs143_021384.
Helms, Douglas. "<a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/home/?cid=nrcs143_021380" target="_blank">Eroding the Color Line: The Soil Conservation Service and the Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>." <em>Journal of Soil and Water Conservation</em> 65, no. 2, Spring 1991, 35-53. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/home/?cid=nrcs143_021380.
Rasmussen, Wayne D. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795510987" target="_blank"><em>Taking the University To The People: Seventy-five years of Cooperative Extension</em></a>. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 9189.
Shofner, Jerrell H. "<a href="https://ucf.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A25480/datastream/OBJ/view" target="_blank">Roosevelt's 'Tree Army'</a>." <em>Florida Historical Quarterly</em> 65, no. 4, April 1987, 433-465. https://ucf.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A25480/datastream/OBJ/view.
DeFreese, Duane E. "<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20700248?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank">Florida and the Environment: From 'La Florida' to Global Warming: 2008 Jillian Prescott Memorial Lecture</a>." <em>Florida Historical Quarterly</em> 87, no. 4, Spring 2009, 465-483. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20700248?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
abandoned flowing wells
agricultural development
agriculture
artesian water
beans
beef cattle
birds
Black Hammock
cabbage
carrots
celery
Charles A. Wales
chlorides
citrus
conservation
corn
cropland
drainage
egg production
Elbert Cammack
environmental protection
erosion
farmers
farming
flowing wells
Geneva
industrial development
irrigation
Jack Dodd
Lake Harney
Lake Jessup
Lake Monroe
lakes
land development
land use
leguminous cover crops
lettuce
livestock
nemeatodes
overgrazing
pasture development
ponds
poultry
poultry farms
Puzzle Lake
Ralph Hammond
recreation
recreational land
row crops
Sanford
Sanford Junior High School
Seminole County
Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District
soil
Soil and Conservation Service
soil depletion
SSCD
SSWCD
St. Johns River
streams
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA
vegetables
W. W. Linz
water
water control
Wells
wildlife
wind
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/aaf3e9e626e5f3a4b798bb5dfd7ca844.mp3
de2411b77ffa9c7a87d48d8bc30e0846
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/f7a66760aadfa6cd11872500514be8e2.pdf
ccc52a4bda6f188e3deed01c2b5e7b6f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Jared Muha Collection
Subject
Lake Apopka (Fla.)
Agriculture--Florida
Migrant labor
Apopka (Fla.)
Description
A collection of oral history interviews conducted by Jared Muha.
Creator
Muha, Jared
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank"> RICHES</a>
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank"> RICHES</a>
Curator
Cravero, Geoffrey
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank"> RICHES MI</a>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Geraldean Matthew
Alternative Title
Oral History, Matthew
Subject
Apopka, Lake (Fla.)
Apopka (Fla.)
Migrant labor
Agriculture--Florida
Race relations--United States
Environmental justice--United States
Description
An oral history interview of Geraldean Matthew, a third-generation farmworker and advocate for environmental justice and migrant farmworkers’ rights. The interview was conducted by Jared Muha in Apopka, Florida, on October 30, 2014. Some of the topics covered include a summary of Matthew’s life, leaving home at age 13, her relationships with her mother and father, her slave heritage, her grandparents, segregation, traveling to the North, tramp trucks and maggot workers, life in labor camps, the replacement of African-American workers with Hispanic workers and the relationship between the two races, educational programs and retraining of the replaced workers, the effects of unemployment and underemployment on African-American families, working for environmental justice and farmworker’s rights, her contribution to <em>Fed Up: The High Costs of Cheap Food</em>, a book about sexual misconduct by crew leaders, modern farms in Florida and the treatment of Hispanic workers today. Matthew passed away in 2016.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction <br />0:04:47 Parents and leaving home at age 13 <br />0:09:04 Grandparents <br />0:11:32 Segregation and discrimination <br />0:17:25 Labor camps <br />0:22:31 Hispanic replacements for African American workers <br />0:31:11 Educational programs, retraining, and unemployment <br />0:38:27 Environmental justice and labor rights <br />0:42:08 Her Children’s Experiences as Farmworkers <br />0:42:53 <em>Fed Up: The High Costs of Cheap Food</em> by Dale Finley Slongwhite <br />0:47:11 Sexual abuse by crew leaders <br />0:49:35 RECORDING CUTS OFF <br />0:49:35 Modern farm labor and Hispanic workers <br />0:51:28 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of Geraldean Matthew. Interview conducted by Jared Muha in Apopka, Florida, on October 30, 2014.
Type
Sound
Source
Matthew, Geraldean. Interviewed by Jared Muha, October 30, 2014. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/219">Jared Muha Collection</a>, Apopka Collection, Orange County Collection, RICHES.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 51-minute and 42-second oral history: Matthew, Geraldean. Interviewed by Jared Muha. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Coverage
Apopka, Florida
Belle Glade, Florida
Lake Apopka, Apopka, Florida
Creator
Matthew, Geraldean
Muha, Jared
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>
Date Created
2014-10-30
Date Copyrighted
2014-10-30
Format
audio/mp3
application/pdf
Extent
47.3 MB
254 KB
Medium
51-minute and 42-second audio recording
31-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Geraldean Matthew and Jared Muha and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>.
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>
Accrual Method
Item Creation
Curator
Cravero, Geoffrey
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
Balogh, Christopher. "<a href="http://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/apopka-farmworkers-say-pesticide-exposure-caused-illnesses/Content?oid=2248681" target="_blank">Apopka farmworkers say pesticide exposure caused illnesses</a>." <em>Orlando Weekly</em>, June 1, 2011. Accessed July 11, 2016. http://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/apopka-farmworkers-say-pesticide-exposure-caused-illnesses/Content?oid=2248681.
Slongwhite, Dale Finley, and Jeannie Economos. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/857802909" target="_blank"><em>Fed Up: The High Costs of Cheap Food</em></a>. 2014.
Comas, Martin E. "<a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-apopka-farmworkers-lupus-20150918-story.html" target="_blank">Sick Apopka farmworkers hope for major study of their illnesses</a>." <em>The Orlando Sentinel</em>, September 19, 2015. Accessed May 25 ,2016. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-apopka-farmworkers-lupus-20150918-story.html.
Giagnoni, Silvia. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/715188868" target="_blank"><em>Fields of Resistance The Struggle of Florida's Farmworkers for Justice</em></a>. Chicago, Ill: Haymarket Books, 2011.
Rothenberg, Daniel. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38475492" target="_blank"><em>With These Hands: The Hidden World of Migrant Farmworkers Today</em></a>. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1998.
McCauley, Linda A., Michael R. Lasarev, Gregory Higgins, Joan Rothlein, Juan Muniz, Caren Ebbert, and Jackie Phillips. "<a href="http://resolver.flvc.org/ucf?sid=google&auinit=LA&aulast=McCauley&atitle=Work+characteristics+and+pesticide+exposures+among+migrant+agricultural+families:+a+community-based+research+approach.&id=pmid:11401767" target="_blank">Work Characteristics and Pesticide Exposures among Migrant Agricultural Families: A Community-Based Research Approach</a>." <em>Environmental Health Perspectives</em>, Vol. 109, No. 5 (May, 2001): 533-538.
Das, Rupali, Andrea Steege, Sherry Baron, John Beckman, and Robert Harrison. "<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/107735201800339272" target="_blank">Pesticide-related Illness among Migrant Farm Workers in the United States</a>." <em>International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health</em>, Vol. 7, Issue 4 (2001): 303-312.
Rodgers, Bethany. "<a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange/os-apopka-farmworker-geraldean-matthew-20161006-story.html" target="_blank">Pillar in Apopka farmworker community dies at age 66</a>." <em>Orlando Sentinel</em>, October 9, 2016. Accessed October 10, 2016. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange/os-apopka-farmworker-geraldean-matthew-20161006-story.html.
Transcript
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>This is Jared Muha. I’m here on October 30<sup>th</sup>[, 2014] with Geraldean Matthew. Um, Geraldean, to start off, can I ask you just to tell you—tell—tell me a little bit about yourself, um, and who you are?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, I’m Geraldean Matthew. I was Geraldean Shannon before I got married and became—became the—Matthew. Um, I come from Palm Beach County, a little place in the—on the, um, eastern shores of Palm—of Palm Beach. Um, I was a migrant farmworker. I’m the third generations[sic] of farmworkers—uh, of migrant workers in my family, and, um, we continued—I continued to do farm work until, um, 1972.</p>
<p>Um, I can remember as far as[sic] back when I was three years old, traveling to see them with my mom on what you call a “traffic truck”—a “tramp truck,” and it’s[sic] taken us from Belle Glade, Florida, to the New York states[sic] to pick apples and beans—whatever state we were in, whatever the vegetable was, and, um, in traveling back, we stopped in a little town called Mount Dora, and from Mount Dora to Apopka, and that’s when we decided to stay here to work in the oranges, which was our first time ever picking oranges, and from there we ended up staying here in Apopka, and, um, I left home at the age of 13 and went out on my own and been out on my own ever since, and from there, I got married and I end[sic] up with six babies, uh—12 years of marriage, and then I divorce[sic] and from there, I had to take care of my kids and raise my kids alone, and I continued to travel, and in 1972, that’s when I gave it up. I didn’t want to put my children through what I had went[sic] through—changing schools every two or three months because you’ve got to move to the next state to work.</p>
<p>So, um, we remaineded[sic] here in—in—in Apopka, Florida, and from that, I continued to work in the fields, um, cutting and jiving[?], packing corn, and picking string beans, and, uh, whatever else they had for us to do—working in the carrots, and, um, from there, I just got tired of the—the—the farm work…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And I went into doing the foliage work, uh—potting flowers, and that—I liked it pretty good, and I stayed there for a number of years, and then from there, I volunteered to work with the Farmworker Association[ of Florida] and I landed a job with the association, and I worked there doing different types of jobs in the organization, and, um, I started advocating for poor people[sic] rights in Tallahassee, and that was one of the most awesome jobs I had ever had in my life. Just having a—just a 10<sup>th</sup> grade education, it was really awesome, because I never thought in life that I would land such a good job, and from there, I started working, uh—after they laid me off ‘cause lack of, uh, grants, I start[sic] working with Orange County Health Department and then, uh, Env—En—Environmental Protection [Agency], and, uh, I worked there with David Overfield for a few months, and then I got sick with my kidney. Worked from December until April, and the kidney broke down and I had to stop working with them.</p>
<p>I, uh, left them in June, and from there I got sicker and sicker, and I ended up on kidney dialysis. So right now, that’s where I basically is[sic]. I’m on kidney dialysis three days a week. Um, I just was told a month ago that my liver is gone. My heart—there’s nothing they can do. So right now, I have my good days, I have my bad days, and I just, you know, I have to accept what life throws at me and depend on the grace of the Good Lord. So right now that’s where I am.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Um, there’s a lot of times, if I’m able to go to the grocery stores, um, I always tell people, “My job is not finished,” because I stand in the grocery stores and I talk with peoples[sic] about the use of pesticide in the field. Those that are still out there working.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>I’ve talked with them.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, um, let them know that it’s not finished, you know? You’re still being sprayed with the pesticide if you’re still in the fields.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Well, thank you for telling me all that.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So you mentioned a few things that I wanna ask about.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Some now and some later. The first thing—um, you said you were 13 years old when you went on your own?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So can you tell me like how that happened and—and what—what that was like being 13 and on your own?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, the reason I left home when I was 13—because of a step-father, and, um, he didn’t treat my mom right, and I had a sister and a brother, at that time, and he didn’t treat them right. He were[sic] more like afraid of me, ‘cause I used to threaten him all the time about if he would hit me, what I would do to him. So I didn’t have to worry about getting licks from him, but he would beat my sister and beat my brother so bad[sic], and my mom, she didn’t—she wasn’t a violent person and I just couldn’t—I couldn’t take it—seeing her not saying nothing at the way he was treating the family.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So one day I just packed and I left, and, um, I was, you know—I was tall. I was always a tall girl. So I could pass off for 17 years old, 18 years old—and that’s what I did.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, um, I got a man—uh, a man and his wife to say they was[sic] my mom and, um, take me to the courthouse, and I got married.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And when I got married, then I was, you know—it was better for me to be married. That way I could—continue to help my mom.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And I didn’t move from around my mom until after about four years and—I was married and I moved to another town.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>But I would come see her every Saturday.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm, but you continued working at the fields?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm, I continued to work in the fields.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm, you just did it on your own then?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yep, mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It was—it was like—it was hard, but, you know, having somebody to help you, it wasn’t so difficult, because my thing was I always wanted to give my mom—I always wanted to make sure that my mom had—and I was able to help my mom.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So after the marriage was over with of 12 years, then I continued to work, but I was always able to go by my mom[sic] house and give my mom money to help her.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Because my mom was a young lady when she got—she took sick. She was 36…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>When she took sick.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So yeah, I wanted to ask about your parents too. I mean, um, so—so your parents were farmworkers, as well?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yes, my mom and my father were farmworkers when they met. My mom was 13 years old and my daddy was 15 years old.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, um, when my mom got pregnant with me at the age of 13 years old, my father got—was afraid, and my father, he was big for—big, big, big boy…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And he ran off and lied and went into the military. So he was in the Air Force all his life.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>He made a career out of it, and in, um—in 1960, he come[sic] home and everybody was saying that I was his baby, and he took a look at me and said, “Oh, yeah, that is my baby.”</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And they said then he wanted to be a part of my life, but he went back into the Air Force, and then, when he come[sic] back home, that[sic] when he begin[sic] to fight my mom for, uh, a part of my life. So they took it to court and the court give[sic] him, um—I stayed six months with my mom in Belle Glade, and I stayed six months with my father in Miami, and my father was called by mistake to go back into the military, and that’s when his mama and his wife decided to send me home…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>To my mom.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And I never communicated with him again. When I seen[sic] my father again, it was 1972.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>He came here and visit[sic] me, and I haven’t seen him again since.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>‘Cause he, um—he went fishing in Miami and he never was found again.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm, okay. Do you remember any stories that your mother or father had told you about their days working on the farms?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yeah, my mom used to, um, tell us about when they was[sic] children and the sh—her mom and her father was[sic] together, how they would go to work. Uh, they was[sic]—they was[sic], um, picking cotton, and how they would go to work and work days and—I mean hours and hours in the cotton fields.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Um, she mostly talked about my grandmother, but—because my grandmother was a slave…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And she talked about—we talked about a lot of slavery in that—in our house…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Because of my grandmother being a slave.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Um, sh—I mean, it wasn’t no[sic] [inaudible] generation. Slavery was right at our backdoor.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, um, that’s mostly what she’d talk about. She never really just do a lot of talk[sic] about herself as a little girl, you know? Sometimes she would tell us stories about how the crew leaders would try to do little nasty things and stunts and things they would pull, you know—and how my grandmother would defend them and stuff.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yeah, and mostly talks about my grandmother and mostly talks about her father and mostly her grandfather. Her grandfather was—uh, mostly talk of the family was her [<em>laughs</em>] grandfather. They used to tell us stories about how funny he was and how, you know, he—he—after coming off the slave camps, he’d never taken crap off of anybody again and how mean he was, and mostly what they talk about—even ‘til today, they talk about my great-granddaddy—how, you know—how raw[?] he got and, you know, just didn’t want nothing[sic] wrong to go—nothing in the family to go wrong.</p>
<p><strong>Muha </strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>All the way up until he passed away, but my family, they’re originally from Georgia—Fort Valley [State University], Georgia, and I used to have to go there after—if my mama didn’t feel like taking us up on[sic] to see her, she would take us to Georgia and leave me with my grandmother.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So I would stay, uh, the month of June, July, August, and come back when school start[sic] in September.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>We would go back to Belle Glade.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>But if we was[sic] traveling, we would go to school wherever we was[sic].</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So, um, you mentioned that, uh, you would travel, you know, during cer— certain seasons to—to pick in other states.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Um, I’m wondering if you could tell me a little bit about that. How did—how did what you experienced in other states differ from Apopka?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It was much different from my home in Belle Glade.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It was much…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>In Belle Glade? Right[?].</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Different from Belle Glade, because Belle Glade was a very, very violent town. Very vi—violent, and those states was[sic] more calmer[sic]. You saw more respect. In Belle Glade, there was no respect at all.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Because Belle Glade was build[sic] up on people of all nationalities. It wasn’t just the people from Belle Glade. It was the people from all over the Caribbean Islands, and there was no respect. If you was[sic] a child in Belle Glade, you knew everything that an adult knew when you was[sic] six or seven years old.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And it wasn’t nice. It wasn’t nice at all. So when we’d travel to the other states, we see the childrens[sic] more respectable[sic], it make[sic] you feel a difference. You be[sic] like, <em>Wow, why I can’t be like that child?</em> You know, and the schools was[sic] different, because Belle Glade schools, they wasn’t[sic] segregated, and those schools up North, they were segregated. So you got a chance to go to school—go—go to a—a school—a minority[?] school, and it was a big difference. It was like—the first time you went, it was scary, scary, scary, and as you continue to go, then the children begin to talk with you and you begin to meet friends, but when you first go—first start, you are told, “Oh, you can’t play with them little white children.” You know, because that was the way the South was out here.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>We could not—we didn’t play with the childrens[sic] across the track, you know? We stayed on our side of the track and the whites stayed on their side of the track. So we didn’t know the feeling of being with, uh, the white childrens[sic]. We didn’t know that feeling.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So when I went up to travel up North, then we connected with that. That was—to us it was weird, you know, but then, as we traveled to a—we might be in say, New Jersey—the childrens[sic] are one way in New Jersey, and when we get up to maybe New York, the children are different wherever they are—different style[?]. We had—we had to adapt to that, but as we continued down through the years, then it became like nothing to us, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It was, you know—we expecting[sic] it.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And it was all good, but I can remember the bad times when we travel[sic] and we was[sic] told that—we would stop and we would buy gas, and then if you needed—if one of the children needed to use the restroom, we was[sic] told that we couldn’t use the restroom, and by me coming from the Deep South down here—coming up here, we’d have thought it was better, but it was worse in North Carolina.</p>
<p><strong>Muha <br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>You want to use the bathroom after you done purchased gas, they tell you to go out there in the cornfield.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And that wasn’t—that wasn’t right with us, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That wasn’t right.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And it—it finally growed[sic] on us, you know? It finally growed[sic] on us, but we, as childrens[sic]—being a migrant worker, you really enjoyed, because you’ll come in—you’ll see things that you probably wouldn’t have never[sic] seen if you wasn’t[sic] a migrant worker.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yeah, because—like right now, you travel from Florida to Georgia, you don’t see any mountains, and back in our days, there were mountains. By the time you get to Savannah, Georgia, you got mountains. North Carolina on up, but now, you don’t see that like you did—did when I was a child.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, um, childrens[sic]—childrens[sic] nowadays will never get the opportunity that we had and that make[sic] me appreciate my life ,because I got a chance to do something that children nowadays would never do. I got a chance to travel on the back of a truck full[?] the women and childrens[sic] going up north. That was awesome. I got a chance to stop - when they stopped the truck, we would stop in the mountains and we would go up in the mountains and we would cook our food, and water would be coming down the mountain and we would take baths in the water. Children would never see that now, but, you know, it made us feel good. It made us feel good, ‘cause the adult[sic] used to get mad. We out there, the water running down the mountain streams…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And we were washing our skin and they were arguing, because we were so happy, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>We cooking our food and stuff and we so happy, and they would argue, because life was really hard for the adults that had childrens[sic].</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>To be on the back of a tru—of a—a truck—they called them “tramp trucks,” ‘cause that’s what they called us—tramps. We was[sic] either tramps or we was[sic] either maggot workers. We wasn’t[sic] called “migrants.” We was called “maggot worker.” “There go[sic] those maggot workers.”</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>By who[sic]?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Hm?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Who would—who would call you that?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>The peoples[sic] in the town where we was[sic] going, and then we would live on labor camps. Some of them would have bathrooms and some of them wouldn’t, and we would have to go down to the river to drink—get our—get our drinking water. So find the river—once we locate the river, we come back—the children would locate the river. We’d come back and tell the adults that we located a river, and the adults would go down and would start getting water from the river. Bring them back to the camp in buckets, and when the city people learned that peoples[sic] the, uh—the, um—the migrant workers from Florida are here. Once the word get[sic] out, then there were some people from the city—like there was a company in Maryland, Merita Bread—they would bring us bread on the camps, and, um, there was another company that made coats—they would bring us winter coats on the camp.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>They made sure that we had socks on—some of the camps. Some of the states we went in, they wouldn’t give you nothing[sic], but, um…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>And the crew leaders would provide these?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>No? Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>These was[sic] peoples[sic] that hear that migrant workers was[sic] here working.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And they would do that in hopes of[sic]—when we would start working, we would come and spend our money to your…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Store or whatever.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah, I see.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So I wanted to—to ask about the labor camps, uh—the quarters. Um, so yeah, I mean, what were the quarters like? Could you speak to what the quarters were like here in Florida that you observed?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, a quar—the places here in Florida was[sic] much better than the places—much better than some of the places traveling up north, because here, in Florida, you had the Florida Farmworkers Bureau here and they was[sic] on top of a lot of faulty living, but up north, they didn’t worry about you. They would—they would take you in the woods. They mostly built their camps in the wood[sic], but here, in Florida, there were eyes on you, you know? So you can’t get away with a lot of stuff that you can get away[sic] up north, ‘cause I can recall, in 1970, traveling to Michigan to pick cherries and apples. I can recall, when we got there, we saying[sic], “We[sic] going to the camp.” There was no camp. The guy had chicken coops—what you put the chickens in.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And they was[sic] taking chickens out, and I say[sic], “What are they going to do with them? Why are they taking the chickens out?” And somebody whispered to me and say[sic], “That’s where you guys gonna sleep.” So they brought a carriage. they put all the chicken coops in a line side by side in a circle-like and they brought a carriage—they put a carriage on top, and you’re—from here up is inside the coop and your feet hanging[sic] out, and that’s where we slept.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, um, finally, somebody came down and talked to the—talked to the owner of the property, and that’s when he began to build, um, a shed—a thing—a little building where we could go inside. So we had to go inside, but everybody was in one—one thing, and you had to put a—just a little sheet between you and the next family.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And that’s the way we slept that season.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>In—in—in—in Michigan. I can recall, in Maryland, the crew leader had a horse stable, and, uh, it was a huge horse stable. I never seen[sic] one that big, and he parted off into rooms, and each family had their room, and that’s where we slept, but the male child could not sleep with—in—with the females. It—like my brother.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>My brother had to go up in the loft.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, uh, where they have all the hay at, and the mens[sic] had to sleep up in the loft, and the women slept in the barn—what we called a barn.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>You know, it was a lot of [<em>laughs</em>]—a lot of crazy ways we had to sleep. I mean, it was miserable.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Miserable.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah, but you stayed in quarters in Florida, as well, did—did—right? Or no?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>No…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Only—only when you traveled?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>I never stayed—let me see. I never—I stayed in a quarter when I come[sic] to Apopka. They called it “the Graveyard Quarters.”</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And it housed migrant workers, but most of the people was[sic]—was like—had come here as a migrant worker and never left.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yeah, they come here as a migrant worker and they lived in “the Graveyard Quarters,” but they never left.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>They be—they just continued to stay there until they tore it down.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay, and—and who were they? Were they generally black Americans living there?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Black Americans.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm. At that time, there wasn’t[sic] no[sic] Hispanic farmworkers here. When I come[sic] to Apopka, it[sic] wasn’t[sic] any Hispanic farmworkers here. It was all African Americans, and, um, when it got really throwed[?] was in 1990-something that they faded out African Americans. They got rid of them. Um, I’m trying to think, and when they—well, before they closed the farmland down, they give[sic] us all our papers and told us that they would not need us anymore, but those that want to come out there and help clean up can come clean up. They, um—all of the black crew leaders—they laid them off, and they hired a Hispanic man from Pahokee, and he brought some peoples[sic] up here and he re—they replaced us. We demonstrated and demonstrated about it, but nothing never[sic] happened.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>When we would go out there and try to get work, they wouldn’t give us no[sic] work.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And it’s still like that today. Once they replace[sic] us with Mexican workers, the Mexicans would not hire us. The crew leaders would not hire us, but we get a job, we’ll hire them, but they will not hire us. It’s still that way today.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Great, so yeah—so, if I understand, uh, correctly, you said at some point in the 1990s, they fired most all the black…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>They got rid of all the black…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>And that’s up in Apopka?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>In Apopka.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>And they replaced them with mainly…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Hispanics.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mexican or Hispanic crew leaders.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm, right.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>And those crew leaders hired…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Hired…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Predominantly…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Nothing but Mexicans.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Really? Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yep, we got involved—the organization got involved. We went out there. We marched out there with Hispanic people. Hispanic people—there was[sic] Hispanic people that didn’t like the idea and they’d march along beside us, you know, but they never hired us back, and right now, I don’t know—have[sic] Jeannie [Economos] taken you out to—to—to—to the—where they[sic] corn is? Where they[sic] working in the corn.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, right now out there was all African Americans doing all that work out there, but now it’s nothing but Hispanic people.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>They…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Just plum out replaced us.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>And—and do you know why they did that?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, my—my—my thing is this—and I tell peoples[sic] this all the time, and I used to say this before they replaced us—that one day, we won’t have a job, and people used to look at me crazy and they say[sic], “What you talking about?” I say[sic], “One day, you will not be able to come out here on them muck[?] and work here.” I say[sic], “It’ll be all Hispanic peoples out here working.” That was about probably five years before they replaced us. We hadn’t heard nobody[sic] talking about replacing us.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Uh huh.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>But I felt that way because, when the Hispanic people come around, the crew leaders would—the—the—the crew leaders that owe—owned a pro—piece of the job would always have a big conversation with them, and, uh, African Americans I truly believe was[sic] replaced because you start—when they start working us, they started working us and giving us our money every day. When we’d leave the job in the afternoon, we were paid off, and if you pay me off and I drink, I’ma[sic] come home and I’ma[sic] drink up my money, and tomorrow I’m gon’[sic] be sick and I’m not able to come to work. So your job is still going on, but I’m so sick ‘cause I done[sic] got my money overnight and I’m drunk. I can’t come to work. That kind of stuff was going on, and there were many years you could see, at the ending of the season—every season have[sic] an ending. There was[sic] a lot of crops to be throwed[sic] away,</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>’Cause the manpower wasn’t there to work it, because you pay me every night, I feel like, <em>I—no,</em> <em>I ain’t goin’ to work tomorrow. I got me some money in my pocket.</em></p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That’s the way I feel about it. I don’t know how anybody else feel[sic], but I feel that African Americans begin to lag on the job. You give them all that power and now you want to snatch it down from them. So the best way to snatch it away from them is to replace them, and that’s what they did. It was—it was sad. The year they replaced them, it was sad, ‘cause I was out there. I was, uh, working.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And it was really sad. We didn’t have no[sic] job, and if you was a person worked[sic] seven days a week out there, and they replace you and you ain’t[sic] got nothing coming in—boy, it’s—it’s hard.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It is hard.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm. So, um—so this was—just for the recording—in 1996, uh, through 1998?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It was in the ‘90s.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>What was in the [inaudible]…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>I think it was in the earlier ‘90s.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>But in 1996 to 1998…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>A lot of the farms around Lake Apopka were shut down.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Um, but this was before that, you’re saying, when—when the black farmworkers were replaced?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Replaced, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Replaced, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm, I think it was about ’92-‘90—’91-’92—’92/’93.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>When African Americans was[sic] replaced.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Uh huh.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And then right after that the farmworkers—the farm was shut down.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>And do you remember…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Only one farm was left open. That’s what they called the Sang[?] Farms.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Uh huh, and do you remember, uh—so before that—before—while—while you were still working, what were—what were relations like between black farmworkers and Mexican farmworkers, Or Hispanic or Caribbean farmworkers?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>There wasn’t any relationship because when they—when they—when they—if you go to work, and a Spanish person is in what we call “the stall,” in one of the positions on the machine or whatever, he don’t say nothing[sic] to you, you don’t say nothing[sic] to him.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>I mean, you work. If he say[sic] something to you, then you, you know—we try to—most American—most—most African-American people probably my age and down took Spanish in school.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So we try to, you know, [<em>laughs</em>] comprehend the little Spanish that we…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Took in school. “Good morning.” “How you doing?” “My name is this,” and…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So on.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Eh, but if they don’t say anything to us, we work all day and don’t say anything to them.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And then there was a Mexican guy come[sic] around named Mexican Pete. He start[sic] getting—organizing farmworkers and then he got a crew—he the only Mexican that had a crew, but he went to school and he learned English really good[sic], so all Afri—all African Americans likeded[sic] him.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm, when did you start noticing, uh, Hispanic farmworker—like a presence of Hispanic farmworkers on—on farms in Apopka and in Florida?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yeah, well, on farms in Apopka, I started noticing them—a large percentage of ‘em in 1989.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So that’s when a lot had come or a lot had—you had noticed a lot of them, that had already been there…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mm…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>But now made up a large segment or…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>They was[sic] coming.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>They were coming? Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay, and, um—and yeah, so I mean, how did that—did that change the workplace at all before a lot of the black farmworkers were fired, as you say?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Did it change?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah, I mean, was—was there something different about, um, the workplace or the way the crew leaders treated you or anything like that?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>No, it wasn’t—they—hm, they just come[sic] to us and just told us what it was going be, and the crew leaders told the crew leaders, so the crew leaders probably held it under they[sic] belt a week—didn’t want to tell us, and then finally, it got out.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And then, when it got out, a lot of people didn’t want to believe it, you know? Well, those like me that were smart and—and knew it was going to happen, felt like it was going to happen, went on and looked for a job.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>You know?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Most of it—most of the farmworkers, they, um, had programs trying to get them to go to school, but a lot of farmworkers could not go to school. They[sic] hands all cramped all up like that with arthritis, and they[sic] feets[sic] and stuff all messed up from all the, uh, sores and stuff working on the farm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And they—they just—they just could not—could not, um, take—they was[sic] offering us typing classes and computer classes and—wasn’t none[sic] of us computer literate at all, so…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It just was a mess.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Uh huh.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So I—I landed a job taking people to school every morning.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>You know, picking them up in the evening for the trainings, but they knew that—the state knew that eventually they was gonna be that—deal with that. So the program close[sic] down and left the people shut out again. So you kept promising us—they kept promising us and promising us and trying to open up doors, and the doors that they were opening up, like the computer classes, they didn’t last long. The truck-driving classes did—I can’t tell you not[sic] a one man that got a job with the truck driving school.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It just—every—there wasn’t nothing[sic] falling through. So right now, those of us that worked in the fields—all the promises that you made to us, right now, we don’t believe nothing[sic] you got to say. Don’t come telling me nothing[sic] about, “Well, they gonna open up a program, and this program going to help farmworkers do this,” ‘cause I’m not going to believe it because I’ve been deceived so many times. So that’s where we are now. So most of the farmworkers that work now, they’ll sit. They can’t do nothing[sic]. They’re on disability [insurance]. Our young farmworkers, you know—you done sprayed us with your chemicals all your life—all our life, because most children start working in the fields back in them[sic] days when you was[sic] six years old, you know? You take your children to work with you, but then, when it got in the—in the ‘9—‘80s, they: “Oh, you can’t bring your children in the field no more.” The damage is done. I had a daughter—three—had a stroke at three years old.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Because she was in the field with me every day.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>You know? The damage is done. You done took ‘em out there for a few years, and then in the ‘80s, they decided that they wouldn’t let you—you bring your children in the field no[sic] more.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm, alright. So—so you said after—after a lot of the black farmworkers were fired, most of them went to school on some program?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>[inaudible]…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Numerous skills. Do you know what happened—So after they went to school, did they—did some of them find jobs in oth—other industries or…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>The only…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Do you know what happen to [inaudible]?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, the only ones found[sic] jobs—the only African-Americans[sic] women…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That found jobs was because of me, because there wasn’t a list of who were[sic] hiring you. There was a list of—for[sic] you could go and go to school to be retrained.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That’s what they claimed. They was[sic] retraining us into other job fields, but what I did is[sic] I called different agencies that knew where women can get medical training, and a lot of women went to the medical training and they got jobs in nursing homes. They become what they call a “tech[nician].” They got jobs in nursing homes, they got jobs in shelters for boys and shelters for the handicapped, and the men—the men—they were hard—they were hard for the men. We got mens[sic] and—and—work up until [inaudible], and then they started dying. We lost a lot of farmworkers. Uh, at points you go to a funeral every weekend.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Somebody you worked beside have[sic] died.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, it was hard for a man to get a job. So the—the women became head of the house, and that’s when they lost their hand with the childrens[sic]. No respect in the house, because the man wasn’t there to put—to say nothing, ‘cause you’re not putting nothing in here, so the child[sic] looking at—you’re not putting nothing in here, so you don’t have no say here. So the—the bigger boys—they bullied their mama and all of that. So right now there’s a lot of crisis in people[sic] home, because the father was put out of work due to the closing of Lake Apopka.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Uh huh.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>They want to make Orange County this big metropolitan area. They swiped up all the orange trees. You can’t go pick oranges, but when you were—when you—when all of this stuff exists, you could take your childrens[sic] to the grove and make ‘em work. You—I could take you on a street here in Apopka, right now, with about 60 or 70 young men just standing on the corner, but they graduated from high school.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>But they still live home with their mama. They don’t think they[sic] got[sic] to go to work. The runs—they rule they[sic] mama[sic] house, but with me, it was a different story, because your butt was gonna go to work. You wasn’t[sic] gon’[sic] live in here and don’t[sic] work, you know, but a lot of parents scared[sic] of their children. They was[sic] afraid. They [inaudible] this day.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>The—the young boys run they[sic] mama’s house.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm. Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It’s—it—it—it hurt us. It hurt us and I don’t think—I don’t think that our leaders of our country understand that. I don’t think they understand that—you got—and it’s so easy. It’s so easy to understand. You[sic] got to realize we come from slavery. We were poor. We were ran[sic] down all our lives. Now, you want us not to apply? The same thing you did to me not to apply it to my child? So my child disrespect[sic] me, because my child can say, “I’ll call the police on you.” Police come on out, what they gon’ do? Handcuff me and take me to jail, because I whipped his butt, ‘cause he stayed out all night long. That’s the way things are now.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And it really hurt the parent. It hurt—killing the parent. You can’t be a parent in your own house. Mm-mm. I got a 22-year-old grandson here with me. He just come[sic] back here. Last Saturday morning, I woke up, he laying[sic] in my bedroom with a girl. I said, “What is this?” I called him out and talked with him. This is no respect. All my life I respect[sic] my children. Now, this is no respect.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Jm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So I give[sic] him time[sic] period to get out of here. I’m not going—I don’t have to tolerate with that. I don’t have to tolerate with[sic] that, but you don’t want to go look for a job. He do[sic] not go look for a job. Daily, he laying[sic] up in here. You can’t—you—I mean, lack of work causing[sic] a lot of problems in your home, and there’s no work here for a young man.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>There’s no work.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm. Well, thank you for telling me all[sic] that.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Um, so, I wanted to ask about ray[?]—okay, so I wanted to ask about—we were talking about, you know, what a lot of farmworkers did after they were either fired or after the shutdown of Lake Apopka farms. Um, for you—I—I know that you got involved in a lot of environmental justice work.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>And I—I was wondering if you could tell me about that.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, I was, um, like I said, advocating for poor people[sic] rights for a long time. Very young kid wi—with the organization, and, um, when I start[sic] with—working with the environment people in Orange County, it was like a different ballgame. I organized and organized and organized peoples[sic] to come to m—meetings, where we could talk about the rights of farmworkers, of laws that needed to be put in for farmworkers. Um, the first law I worked with was asking—giving farmworkers the right to know what type of pesticide was being used in the work area.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That was the first law that we fought for. Finally, years of fighting in Tallahassee, years of walking the floors, I, um—they passed the law.<a title="">[1]</a> They finally passed the law.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>What?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Finally, they passed the law, giving us the right to know what type of farm work we were—what type of pesticide we were working in, after about 20 percent of African Americans in Apopka had passed away.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And, um, we continue to fight for other improvements, like drinking clean drinking water in the fields.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>When I was there, there wasn’t clean drinking water. We finally got that deal passed, um, where we could have clean drinking water in the fields. Um, better working equipment for farmworkers, like rubber gloves, rubber boots, rain coats.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And stuff like that. Some of the companies got away with it, but some of the companies went on and bowed down and gave us the equipment we—the proper equipment we needed to work in. Um, as far as going to the doctor, like accidents happen bad[sic] in the fields, and, um, we would go to the company doctor. Finally, we managed to get around that and, um, get a good—good—better medic[sic] care—medical care.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>When we’d get cut sometimes, you know, we work with knives…</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And—and sometimes we get cut. Like you[sic] working here and somebody working there, they got[sic] their knives set up and you[sic] doing this here all day and your arm—elbow hit the knife and bust[sic] it all open. You got[sic] to go to the hospital, and they don’t take you to the hospital. They take you to a regular doctor, and he patch[sic] you up and send[sic] you home.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>We finally got, you know, help with that, but a lot of changes. We see a lot of changes, but it’s[sic] still a long way to go.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Still a long way to go because they’re still using pesticide. They’re still making pesticide. They’re still using pesticide. Our babies are still being born deformed, so we have a long way to go.</p>
<p><strong>Muha <br /></strong>Yeah, yeah. Absolutely, and, you know, you mentioned your—your kids and your grandkids…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>A few times throughout this. I—I’m wondering how they perceived farm labor. Did any of them have interest in doing that, or…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, my kids worked the fields.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>All six of my kids worked the fields. My grandkids never worked the fields, because when they came along, I was stone against them going in the fields. Um, they came along at the ending of the term, where[sic] children were no longer to go out there anyway. So they didn’t get a chance to work the fields, but, um, all of my kids did.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm. Okay, and, um, lastly from you, I think, I wanted to ask about the book, <em>Fed Up</em>[<em>: the High Costs of Cheap Food</em>], um, by Dale Finley Slongwhite. Um, could you tell me a little bit about that and your part in that?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong><em>Fed Up</em> is a book that I’m proud of and I’m not proud of. The reason I say “I’m proud of,” because[sic] it was the first book that I ever had been involved in, and “I’m not proud of” is because I think that I left a lot out the book, and, um, I wanted to do three versions of the book. So I had[sic] talked with, um, what’s her name?</p>
<p>[<em>phone rings</em>]</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Do a second version and a third version, but if I can do the second version, maybe I could capture a lot of stuff I left out.</p>
<p>[<em>phone rings</em>]</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>It’s like I was saying, um, there’s a lot I want to add to <em>Fed Up</em>. Um, and I would like more pictures in the book, because, um, peoples[sic] really need to actually see what our peoples[sic] are going through—um, the lesions on the s—the legs, the feet, the amputations of the toes, the amputation of the feet, legs—because of all of the pesticide where it had deteriorated the skin, and, um, I’d like to get more[sic] deeper into the labor camps. It’s[sic] a lot that I left out, because I wasn’t thinking. I’m thinking that, uh, when the book was gonna be wrote[sic], it gonna be like a mini-book [<em>laughs</em>]. I didn’t realize it was gonna be a story—um, a nice book. I’m just looking at it like it’s gonna be a—be a little, short mini-book, and, um, I imagine everybody that played a part in the book—about eight of us— I would imagine if—if everybody can really redo their story, it’ll be more awesome than what it is.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Because a lot of people left out stuff that should’ve been told, you know? There was a—um, a lot of death in our family, due to, um, the DDT<a title="">[2]</a> that they used. People lost their family, and they didn’t talk about that in the book. Um, how we come from work and we[sic] riding on the bus, and when we get home, we think the other person sitting over on the bus sleeping[sic]. The person dead[sic], because of the chemicals that we worked in all day long.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>We didn’t talk about that in the book, and I would like to, you know, let people know these things actually happen. You[sic] going home from work and when you get there you[sic] hollering, “Mr. Clyde! Mr. Clyde!” And you—“Mr. Clyde!” You think he[sic] sleep. He[sic] dead, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Those things happen, and we didn’t talk about none of that in the book. We didn’t know how much room or space or whatever we had in the book.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>So I asked her about second and third version, and we didn’t—a lot of stuff—when I read the book, on my—my part of the book, I—I wasn’t pleased. I wasn’t happy with—with—with the part that I wrote—that she wrote for me, and then I read the other people[sic] part, and I know their history, and same thing with them. You know, they don’t talk about it, ‘cause[sic] when you say, uh, “We gon’[sic] write a book.” You know, you—you never wrote a book before, so you[sic] not—you[sic] not thinking good, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yep, right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>But if we can—another book could re—be redid[sic] [<em>laughs</em>], it’d be awesome.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>We left a lot out.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Well, is there anything—you said you—there are things you wanted—wish you could’ve included. Is there anything that you haven’t told me thus far that you want to include in this interview? Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Well, in—in—in the book? I talked a little about the treatment of the African-American women and the crew leaders. Not the growers, the crew leaders. I talked just a little bit about that. That should’ve been brought wide open. Should’ve been blowed[sic] up, because a lot of young girls have babies—they’ll never know who the father[sic], because the crew leaders and his[sic] what we call “henchmens”[sic] would come in and have sex with those girls like they was—they wanna, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>And we didn’t express too much of that in the book.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>You know? If you had a father that drank, a mother that drank—oh, God. You didn’t have nobody[sic] in your corner. The crew leaders do whatever they want to do. Mmhmm, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>As I can recall, one time I was going—my mom had got[sic] me up early. Uh, our day begin[sic] by five o’clock, and she sent me to the store to get a loaf of bread and there was a man waiting in the dark on me when I got to get the bread, and he jumped right at me and grabbed me, but I was so fast I snatched the loaf from him and I ran home and I told my mom, and my mom went over there and my mom jumped on the man and told him don’t try anything like that on none[sic] of her childrens[sic] again in life. She would kill him, and I—we never had problems with him again, but just imagine if I had a mama that didn’t do that. Every time he saw me, he would’ve give[sic] me a problem.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>But my mama let him know that, you know, she was not taking no crap like that.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>But then a lot of the girls, their mama never say[sic] one word, and it went over and over and over again.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Uh huh.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Thank you for telling me that.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Is there anything else you want to tell me before we conclude the interview?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That’s it.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>That’s it.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That’s about it.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay. Well, thank you so much, Geraldean.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Again, this was Jared Muha and Geraldean Matthew on October 30<sup>th</sup>, 2014. Okay, this is Jared Muha with Geraldean Matthew on October 30<sup>th</sup> again, uh, for a second session interview. Um, Geraldean, I wanted to ask, uh, what is your impression of, uh, farms today in Florida and, you know, treatment of Latino workers, uh, who are on the farms?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>You know, the farms today have changed very much because now most farmworkers, uh, get their own place to stay, but, as for the Latino workers—women—the ones that are still housed in labor camps, they are treated really bad[sic] by the crew leaders. If they are undocumented and have daughters, the crew leaders think that the daughter should be their woman or their wife or their girlfriend, and they mistreat the women very bad[sic]. Um, what brought that to my attention was, uh, when I was doing HIV<a title="">[3]</a> prevention, went into the homes talking and, um, passing out, uh, HIV materials on the camps, uh—how the men would treat the women when they tried to get protection. They didn’t want the women to get condoms for—from us or female condoms from us or whatever. So it’s a problem to me, because it seems like nobody[sic] really paying that Latino group attention, just like they didn’t pay the African-American group attention back in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. So, um, it kind of bothers me a lot, you know, seeing that happening, and, um, seeing how the women have to take up their young children—their young daughters and run at night and try to find another place when the crew leaders come, um, pounding on their doors and demanding that they open the doors and demanding for[sic] sex. I don’t think that should be like that, and yes, it does disturb me.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Mmhmm. Well, thank you for telling me that. Uh, is there anything else you wanted to include?</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That’s it.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Matthew<br /></strong>That’s all.</p>
<p><strong>Muha<br /></strong>So this is Jared Muha and Geraldean Matthew on October 30<sup>th</sup>, 2014.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Alfredo Bahena Act.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a pesticide banned in 1972.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[3]</a> Human immunodeficiency virus.</p>
</div>
</div>
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/aaf3e9e626e5f3a4b798bb5dfd7ca844.mp3" target="_blank">Oral History of Geraldean Matthew</a>
agricultural labor
agriculture
Alfredo Bahena Act
Apopka
apples
arthritis
beans
Belle Glade
carrots
cherries
cherry
citrus
civil rights
clean drinking water
contraception
corn
corporal punishment
crew leaders
Dale Finley Slongwhite
David Overfield
DDT
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
discrimination
domestic violence
educational programs
environmental advocacy
environmental justice
environmental law
environmentalism
FAF
Farm Workers Association
Farmworker Association of Florida
farmworkers
farmworkers' rights
FDOH
Fed Up: The High Costs of Cheap Food
FFB
Florida Department of Health
Florida Department of Health in Orange County
Florida Farmworkers Bureau
foliage
FWA
Geraldean Matthew
Geraldean Shannon
Graveyard Quarters
Hispanic Americans
Hispanics
HIV
human immunodeficiency virus
Jared Muha
Jeannie Economos
kidney dialysis
kidney disease
labor
labor camps
labor rights
laborers
Lake Apopka
maggot workers
Merita Bread
Mexican Americans
Mexican Pete
Mexicans
Miami
Michigan
migrant farms
migrant farmworkers
migrant labor
migrant laborers
migrant workers
Mount Dora
National Farm Workers Association
NFWA
nursing home technicians
Orange County Health Department
oranges
Palm Beach
pesticides
protected sex
retraining
right to know
safe sex
segregation
sexual abuse
slavery
slaves
string beans
Tallahassee
traffic trucks
tramp trucks
tramps
underemployment
undocumented workers
unemployment
vegetables
workplace injuries
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/14b93c17287a076148840608e8dc9534.pdf
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection
Subject
Museums--Florida
Schools
Elementary schools
Grammar schools
Sanford (Fla.)
Description
The Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection encompasses a broad range of materials and items ranging from the late 19th Century into the present. The collection includes artifacts, photographs, documents, videocassettes, and other historical records pertaining to the history of the Sanford Grammar School, the Sanford community through the years, and the history of teaching and learning within the United States from the 19th century to the 2010s.
The Student Museum has collaborated with the University of Central Florida and established the UCF Public History Center (PHC). All of the Student Museum's collections are presently housed at the PHC. The goal of the PHC is to promote access to history through ground-breaking research connecting local to global, provide cutting-edge hands-on educational programs for students and visitors, and to engage the community in contributing to and learning from history.
Contributor
Student Museum
UCF Public History Center
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Sanford High School, Sanford, Florida
Westside Grammar Elementary School, Sanford, Florida
Sanford Grammar School, Sanford, Florida
Student Museum, Sanford, Florida
UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida
Contributing Project
Student Museum
UCF Public History Center
Curator
Marra, Katie
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
Public History Center/Student Museum
External Reference
"Public History Center." Public History Center, University of Central Florida.
"Student Museum." Seminole County Public Schools. http://www.scps.k12.fl.us/studentmuseum/Home.aspx.
Alternative Title
Student Museum and PHC Collection
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/32" target="_blank">General Photographic Collection</a>, <span>Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection, </span>Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/73" target="_blank">Seminole County Public Schools Collection</a>, <span>Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection, </span>Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Reisz, Autumn
Interviewee
Grace, David C.
Location
UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida
Original Format
1 audio/video recording
Duration
34 minutes and 56 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
194kbps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of David C. Grace
Alternative Title
Oral History, Grace
Subject
Oral history--United States
Fort Myers (Fla.)
Museums--Florida
Gardens--Florida
Army
Veterans--Florida
Okahumpka (Fla.)
Native Americans--Florida
Description
Oral history of David C. Grace, the Master Gardener and docent at the Student Museum and Center for Social Studies, located at 301 West Seventh Street in Sanford, Florida. Grace was born in Wichita, Kansas, on December 2, 1942. He attended Wichita State University and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Army in 1965. He performed missile maintenance at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, until he retired after three years. He accepted a job with United Telephone and moved to Fort Myers around 1970. When United Telephone purchased the Winter Park Telephone, Grave migrated to Central Florida. After being laid off, he decided to become a Master Gardener for the Student Museum, while also working as a Chief Financial Officer for the Florida Safety County. This interview was conducted by Autumn Reisz in Sanford on October 30, 2012.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:03:42 Student Museum<br />0:10:20 Garden maintenance<br />0:16:32 Being a docent<br />0:28:01 Favorite stories<br />0:29:50 RECORDING CUTS OFF<br />0:29:50 Favorite stories<br />0:33:30 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of David C. Grace. Interview conducted by Autumn Reisz in Sanford, Florida.
Type
Moving Image
Source
Grace, David C.. Interviewed by Autumn Reisz. UCF Public History Center. October 30, 2012. Audio/video record available. UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida.
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Is Part Of
UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/31" target="_blank">Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 34-minute and 56-second oral history: Grace, David C.. Interviewed by Autumn Reisz. UCF Public History Center. October 30, 2012. Audio/video record available. UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida.
Coverage
Fort Myers, Florida
Ocala, Florida
Winter Park, Florida
Student Museum and Center for Social Studies, Sanford, Florida
Creator
Reisz, Autumn
Grace, David C.
Date Created
2012-10-30
Date Modified
2012-10-30
Format
video/mp4
application/pdf
Extent
248 MB
183 KB
Medium
34-minute and 56-second audio/video recording
13-page typed transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Autumn Reisz and David C. Grace.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the UCF Public History Center and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
UCF Public History Center
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
UCF Public History Center/Student Museum
External Reference
"Public History Center." Public History Center, University of Central Florida.
"Exhibits." Public History Center, University of Central Florida.
"Student Museum." Seminole County Public Schools. http://www.scps.k12.fl.us/studentmuseum/Home.aspx.
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53015288" target="_blank"><em>Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="http://youtu.be/Rq-r1Elhi_s" target="_blank">Oral History of David C. Grace</a>
Transcript
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Okay, alright. Here we go. So I’m going to do a little intro, uh, that—I am Autumn Reisz and I am interviewing David [C.] Grace this morning, and we’re gonna talk about, um, his experiences and work at the Student Museum in Sanford, um, as a Master Gardener and also a docent, and then—so if you want to start with telling us where you grew up, and went to school, and—and how you ended up here in Florida.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Okay, uh, how I wound up in Florida goes back in history. I am from Wichita, Kansas, where I was born in 1942. Went to, uh, high school there at Wichita [High School] East. One of my close buddies was [Robert] “Bob” [Michael] Gates…</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Nice.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Uh, the Secretary of the Defense, formerly. Went to Wichita State University, graduated, unfortunately, four years later. Uh, I didn’t think I was going to make it. I say “unfortunately,” because I graduated with a business emphasis in accounting, and I was also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant United States Army in 1965. So I tried to work on a Master’s Degree, and that didn’t work too well. So I found myself going on active duty and Redstone Arsenal in [Huntsville,] Alabama—missile command. So I was a missile maintenance officer for three years. Then I, uh, then I decided to retire early, after three years. I interviewed with a number of companies, and, uh—Firestone [Tire and Rubber Company], um, uh—some other companies in the Midwest, but then somebody offered me a job in Fort Myers, Florida.</p>
<p>Now my connection to Florida goes back to 1914. My dad was born here in Okahumpka in Lake County. Uh, my grandparents—my grandmother grew up in a little town called Bloomfield, Florida, which no longer exists. It’s on the south side of, uh, Lake Harris—close to Yalaha. My dad was named after, uh, the kaolin pit. Kaolin is a white chalk used as a filler in paper, china, that sort of thing. So, uh, things did not work out, eh, the price of kaolin went south, so the family had to move to Central Georgia, where the Kaolin was better quality. Dad decided in, uh, about 1937, he didn’t want to be a pig farmer, or be in Central Georgia, where it was just a mining town. He went to aviation school and was later hired by Walter Beech—Beech Aircraft<a title="">[1]</a> in Wichita. So, uh, that is where my mom comes in and, uh—so my, uh—so, uh, that’s where my life started in 1942.</p>
<p>Now, you know, we’d always go to Grandma’s house in Central Georgia every year, until I was 17 years old, and from there, we’d always venture down to Florida. So I knew something about Florida and I guess that one of my decisions about going to work for United Telephone [Company of Florida] in Fort Myers. I’ve been here in Florida basically since 1970. I followed the purchases of, uh, Florida Telephone Corporation in Ocala. So I was there in Ocala for a few years, came here in 1978, with the purchase of Winter Park Telephone [Company], and, uh, now we know United Telephone has the, uh, the company that is Sprint [Corporation], and the other company is right now called CenturyTel. So that’s how I got here.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Nice. That is quite the journey [<em>laughs</em>]. So how did you become involved with the Sanford museum?<a title="">[2]</a></p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Uh, when I retired, and I was at the regulatory with the phone company, the regulation went away. The telephone company was deregulated. Uh, so in 1997, at the age of 55, they said, “The regulation has gone away and so are you.” So I retired and, uh, [<em>clears throat</em>] one of the things that I wanted to do was be a—a gardener. Moving to Florida and being a gardener—you have to understand that things don’t grow like they do in Kansas. So, um, I guess I wanted to be a Master Gardener. So I took the 14-week course, which is one day a week—essentially from 9 to 3. After that time—time you become a Master Gardener. So the day that I graduated from being a Master Gardener, I also went back to work with a, uh—as a CFO [Chief Financial Officer] for the Florida Safety Council. So I gave that up after three years. Now, what was beautiful about, um—about workin’ at the Central Florida Safety Council, being a Master Gardener—which requires 35 hours a year of volunteer service—every last Saturday of the month, here at the Student Museum was an opportunity to volunteer in the gardens. The gardens started here in about 1997-98 time frame. So over a period of three years, I was up here once a month to get my 35 hours a year, and after that, I just kinda hung around.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Um, can you tell us a little bit about the teaching gardens? Um, and how they are used to teach the students?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>[<em>c</em><em>l</em><em>ears throat</em>] Okay, well, when I retired the second time, I was asked to come in and be a docent, and, uh, I used to teach the majority of all the rooms here, but I did fall in love with Native American history [<em>clears throat</em>]. The individual that started the gardens was, uh, Walter Padgent, who, at that time, owned Higgins House [Bed and Breakfast], just up the street here, and he was also in the same class as I was for the Master Gardener organization. So, uh, being here, at the—at the Student Museum, I kind of fell in love with [<em>clears throat</em>] Native American history, and, uh—and Walt Padgent—that’s how the gardens started—was he had this vision of—and he used to be, I believe, a pioneer docent. So he wanted something out here—immediately right outside the windows here—uh, where the first grounds of a vegetable garden, or pioneer garden, which allowed the fourth grade students to come here, dig a trench, plant their beans, cover it up, water it, and end the exhibit part outside.</p>
<p>Couple of years ago, I challenged a lady—and I didn’t actually challenge her. I just said to her one day, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a three sisters garden out here?” The three sisters—corn, uh—three sisters garden are corn, beans, and squash, and it, uh—it’s part of the—we gave up painting faces, which was about a 10-minute mission there, in the Native American [Exhibit: Life in an Ancient Timucuan Village] room, and what else are you going to do with the 10 minutes? I said, “Well, let’s take them out to the gardens.” ‘Cause out here, in the teaching gardens, we did have the three sisters garden. We showed the kids. It’d be surprising that maybe some kids don’t what corn looks like, other than what’s on the breakfast cereal box, and of course, the three sisters are complimentary to each other. They give a balanced diet to the Native Americans. You—you get your carbs from corn, you get your protein from the beans, and you get a well-balanced, nourished diet from squash.</p>
<p>So, uh, we also have, out here, the coontie plant, which became a major industry here in Florida, because it was a source of, um, uh, starch. Everybody needs a li’l starch. The coontie plant would provide that starch, and it became an industry, uh—it was an industry up until 1909. Up here in DeLand, Florida, a company manufactured coontie starch. So I show the kids that, because the Native Americans used that. Uh, it is a poisonous plant, uh—with the red berries. It is kinda common. Nowadays, it’s become more popular in the local landscape.</p>
<p>Then we move on over to a beautyberry—the American beautyberry bush—which at this time of year, has some really beautiful purple berries on the stems, and we tell ‘em that grandma used to make jelly from those. Uh, Native Americans can use that as, uh, some—sometimes they say there’s a little color in there. It could get used for body paint, or ‘bout the best use I know of is it’s a good insect repellent.</p>
<p>Uh, we also stop at the herb garden, and, uh, most kids don’t—they understand what an herb might be, um, but they probably have never seen one, like rosemary. Uh, I try to show ‘em like four different kinds of herbs: rosemary—aloe that we use for sunburns—thyme—you could use for casseroles and soups—and there’s another—there’s another one out there I throw in there if it is out there in the herb garden.</p>
<p>We go around and talk about the sassafras tree, and then lastly I take them to yaupon holly. We have a weeping yaupon holly here in our gardens, and, uh, the botanical name for that is <em>ilex vomitia</em>, and it doesn’t take too long for the kids to understand there’s something about the word <em>vomitia</em>. Uh, the yaupon holly was used as a ceremonial tea—a drink. Every morning, the chief and the elders of the tribe or branch would partake of yaupon holly tea—or we know it today—they called it “black drink.” It’d make you—it’d make you sweat profusely. Uh, I’ve told it has six or seven times more caffeine than a cup of coffee. It’ll keep you awake for 48 hours. So the hunters of the tribe would drink this. Uh, drink all they could get, throw up which was good luck. Uh, and they’d go out to the hunt and they would—would, uh, be in the stand—the steer dan—deer stand for 48 hours, and, uh, that was the hunt.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Wow. How so—do you do plantings that are seasonal here? Do you change as the cycle goes around? Or do you try and continue to keep the same basic things around to teach the students?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Um, we replenish, like the herbs, and we plant, of course, the three sisters garden. We didn’t have irrigation here, until about 2003, which meant before that, uh—that in the summertime, we just covered up the gardens with plastic, go home, and don’t come back until September.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Now we have irrigation year-round. Um, so it’s all up to the climate and, uh, we’ve been a mode for the last several years, probably since about—since 2005, and that mode is—is what you’d basically call “maintenance.” Maintaining what we have because of the, uh, things that we heard about the school’s gonna close up. It’s gonna be sold, and some Master Gardeners even thought about coming here and digging up the plants, and moving back to the extension, which to me is called trespassing. So what’s good about the gardens right now, we’ve maintained them. Haven’t done a lot of planting, other than what we do here for the students: the vegetable garden, the herb garden, uh, butterfly garden. We kinda keep up on that, but the other plants and the other gardens, like our shade garden, subtropical garden, our wildlife habitat, is going wild and is flourishing, and we can stand back and trim and prune, as necessary.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah, do you have to do any extra maintenance with the roses or anything like that, other than regular pruning, or do you just let them be?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /> </strong>You’d be surprised that the roses we have here, which are maintained by the Orlando Area Historical Rose Society. Uh, they’re the ones that set it up back in 1997. They are what we call “antique roses.” They have very little response to, uh—in other words, they don’t get black spot. They don’t get diseases. Um, you can get an antique rose of any size, any color. We have one rose out there, which is probably about 15 feet in diameter—about 8 feet tall. Beautiful rose—pink rose. Ah, we have the other roses that crawl on the ground, like a ground cover. Uh, the rosarium that takes care of that rose garden right now is the president of that society. So he’s an expert on roses, and, uh, while a homeowner might not think that, uh, they need a lot of care. I don’t really care. I have some in my own yard. They don’t get a lot of care. So they’re by themselves. They’re happy, but, uh, as an exhibit here, he comes out maybe two or three times a year. Gives ‘em—gives ‘em a good heavy feeding of fertilizer, uh, in the fall, we try to round up at least 20 bags. I mean big bags of leaves—oak leaves—and spread them in the rose garden, as well. So is there a lot of maintenance? Not really.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>We just make ‘em happy.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah, make them happy. Um, I saw online—I looked up, um, the Master Gardeners, and it—there’s a newsletter called <em>The Seminole County</em>, uh, <em>Green Thumb</em>.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Yup.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>It mentions that people can stop in and ask questions of the Master Gardeners.<a title="">[3]</a> Do you get a lot of, like, adults coming in to ask you questions about planting—Florida planting—anything like that? Or they just come in and see the gardens?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Especially they just come in on special occasions, and, uh, hoping that UCF [University of Central Florida] here—that we get people to—when they come in the front door, you want to get them to go out the back door, ‘cause that’s where the gardens are, and, historically, uh, people that have come and visited the gardens do ask questions, but, uh, sometimes getting traffic back here to the garden has been difficult.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah. Possibly that will change, since they changed the parking situation as well, since people have to see the garden…</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Right, right.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Before they go in. Um, how much time do you devote to the gardens now? I know you had said that you were doing, like, one Saturday a month to get your yearly. Is that the same? Are you doin’ more time? Are you doin’ little less time?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Historically, we found out, over the years, that people get more active on the weekends.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Especially at this time of year when there are a lot of festivals going on, and this is the best time to come out to the gardens and work. So, uh—and it’s difficult to get volunteers to come here. The Master Gardeners—the main membership is probably about 40—maybe 50—members, and a lot of times they take the classes for one or two purposes. The guys come out—maybe they run a landscaping business—they want to become a Master Gardener and have that in their portfolio, so they can sell their services. We have a lot of ladies that come out. The last class of 24, uh, attendees—23 of them were women, and so the odds are in my favor, because, uh, today, if maybe it was a little warmer, I’d have at least three ladies here on Tuesdays. So, uh, we quit having the Saturday end of month work day. It just was not working out. People were not coming out. They’re more active with families. So, uh, I try to designate, as each graduating class comes along. I tell ‘em come on out, get interested in a project, uh, tell me when you can come out, and, uh, Tuesdays have become a favorite day. Uh, trying to get Thursday and maybe another day. Some people come out here on a—on a monthly basis. The ones I associate with on Tuesdays, come out on a weekly basis. We spend anywhere from—uh, right now, a day like today, we could work out here for six hours and think nothing of it. When the church bells ring across the street at noon, I call it quits.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Okay, so we talked a little bit earlier, um, about you being a docent with the museum. Um, when did you become a docent?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>I was asked to come inside, uh, to be a docent in the year 2001, after I had retired the second time.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>And then you said—you had mentioned you, um, you had taught the Native American room. Did you teach any of the other rooms?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /> </strong>I’ve taught—one of my favorite ones—which I can get emotional about sometimes when I taught it—is Grandma’s Attic.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Because I’m old enough to realize that, when I went as a young man—to grandma’s house or to a great aunt’s house that lived down in Florida or Kansas, uh—you still had to go to the well to get your water. The outhouse was out in the back. Uh, we tried not to take a bath, because basically a bathtub did not exist. So you get all those, uh, things lined up and you try to tell these kids, uh, how life was. In fact, the—teaching Native American history and pioneer history and Grandma’s Attic—which is about a 100 years ago—wasn’t that much different, and I taught the other rooms, as well.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Geography [Lab: Where in the World Are We?]. Um, it was kind of interesting. When I came here, uh, my life as a young man, uh—going into adult—it kind of fits. I was in accounting for 30 years. I did so, because that’s how you make money. Dad says, if you want to make a decent salary, uh, be an accountant—be in business. That didn’t really fit like a glove.</p>
<p>Uh, my dad and I used to look for Indian artifacts in—in Central Kansas, ever since I was five years old. Uh, we were members of the rock society, Wichita Gem and Mineral Society for, uh—I quit paying dues about five years ago. Uh, so I’ve been involved in archeology, paleontology, minerals—you name it. Uh, I fit here.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>And, uh, I love Native American history, ‘cause I’ve been involved in that. We may have talked on the phone about—I was a member of Indian Guides. For Indian Guides, you’re a Cub Scout in Wichita, Kansas. It’s about Native American history. For Eagle Scout, Order of the Arrow. So all my life, in the summertime, we used to go out to the camp—Boy Scout[s of America] camp, every week, ‘cause we were a special troop. We had, uh, costumes, you might say, and we danced for the audience. So, uh, Native American history been a part of my life, even though I am 50 percent German and 50 percent English and Scottish.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Um, was the Native American room your favorite room to teach? Or was Grandma’s Attic your favorite room to teach?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Native American is probably one of the favorite rooms to teach. Grandma’s Attic coming in second. Ah, [Turn of the Century] Classroom[: Lessons from 1902] coming is third. Pioneer [Pioneer Exhibit: Before the Settlement of Sanford] room is fourth, I would say. Geography, uh—it comes in fifth, and, uh, when I started here the coordinator—the program coordinator—she was the one that taught geography. So the other three rooms I—I used to teach the classroom. It was okay. It takes a special person. We had a special person, by the name of Florence. Uh, she is a little older than I am, but she knew how teachers were in 1902, and she demanded that same, uh, discipline. So that’s kinda cool. Pioneer, uh—since I’m not a native Floridian, I don’t really understand that, until I read that book <em>Remembered Land </em>or [<em>A</em>] <em>Land Remembered</em>. I could really find out something about the pioneers of Florida. So, uh, being a collector of artifacts, uh, since I was a kid—we’re talking about 60 years plus. I’ve donated artifacts, fossils to the museum, so that’s where I fit.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Mmhmm. Do you have a particular, like, favorite teaching tool with the kids in any of the rooms? I know, that, um, for a lot of the docents—like especially with Grandma’s Attic or the Native American room—they’d have one particular artifact that they really used—liked to use to teach the children. Did you have anything particular like that?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Well, one of the things that kids would always come and ask, the number one question: “Is this real?” So it kinda irritated me for some time, so I said, “Don’t ask me that question. I’m going to tell you it’s real, even though it’s not.” A lot of the materials we’ve had here—they’re not exactly real, of course. You don’t expect things to be real that go back to about 1500, but in my collection, we used to collect a lot of artifacts out of Central Georgia, which are approximately three to four to five thousand years old, and I bring those with me. Sometimes, I’d wear pants that have the mini pockets and I’ll fill the pockets up with anything from shark teeth, Uh—I’ve brought in a couple of meteorites that I found in Texas in a parking lot that was a gravel parking lot. Just so happens to be something I picked up, and it was determined by the University of Kansas to be a meteorite. I bring that in and I pass it around.</p>
<p>Uh, sometimes I, uh, go out bounds. Sometimes, the, uh, program director sometimes gets a little—little irritated with me. Sometimes I go out of bounds, and—and teach some things and touch on some things that, uh, they don’t want me to teach, but I—I bring artifacts. Uh, that’s one thing I liked about Grandma’s Attic. Before UCF came, it was all cluttered. It looked like an antique store. So just about everything I looked at or touched is a memory. So it’s kinda like the same thing with Native Americans, even though I didn’t go back to 1513. It’s about artifacts, pottery, uh—I’ve brought in pottery shards of different designs, and asked the kids, “Well, how did this pattern get on this piece of pottery?” It was done with a paddle. It was done with pine needles. So I’ve tried to bring in the real stuff, and I use the artifacts—the things in the room—uh, to get their attention. I like the “wow” factor. I like to challenge the kids, that when they leave they might go to the library, and grab a bunch of Native American books, and go home and read ‘em, ‘cause I think it is the most fascinating history about how that—how it’s all about survival. The hunters, the male [inaudible], the female [inaudible], okay? That was survival. The lady had to fix the guys buttons. The guy had to fix his meals. I ask the kids, “When you go home, who do ask—who do you ask in your family what’s for supper? Do you ask your dad?” Probably not, ‘cause he’s in the living room. He’s being a warrior. His face is painted orange on one side, blue on the other side, and he’s got a big bowl of popcorn. Mom, she’s slaving in the kitchen fixing your dinner for you. That’s the person you go and ask. So nothing’s changed over—since 1500. The men are still hunters—still warriors. Mom does everything else.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>So what is it like teaching fourth graders? How do you keep the children focused and—and engaged in what you’re telling them?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Well, sometimes that’s interesting. It depends upon, the, uh, school that comes, unfortunately. I used to have a list of—<em>Okay, this, uh—this school’s coming this week. Okay, I’ll bring some of my artifacts</em>.‘Cause I—‘cause I know, in the past they—I can get their attention real quick. Some of the other schools—little bit differently. So I just go down the middle of the road, and stick with the subject matter, ‘cause some of the kids that come here, I—I extend myself. Um, some of the other students, I can almost figure it out, based on which elementary school comes. They’re about the same as last year. So sometimes the days are difficult. Um, you know, chaperones—I don’t know if I can say this on tape—but we have chaperones that like to chit chat, when I am trying to present my presentation. Sometimes, the teachers are down here looking at stuff we’re trying to sell in a rummage sale. So it’s kind interesting just to see as each group comes through. They’re all unique. They’re all different, and as a volunteer, uh, sometimes you have a problem with discipline. Can’t figure out how to do that. Sometimes, being an old codger like I am, uh, I’ve got in trouble a couple of times. In Grandma’s Attic, I point to the back and say there’s a blue outfit. Give some clues. I might say, you know, it was a Victoria’s Secret original. I’d say, <em>Oops. I just stepped in it. </em>‘Cause it is a swim suit that goes back to 1907. Uh, okay. So I’ve been called down for that, but what the heck? I’m a volunteer.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz <br /></strong>Yeah, is it hard to stay on, um—with the kids that you’re really engaged in, Um, I know you said you do go off script. Is hard to make sure you cover everything that is set out in the curriculum, while still covering the things you think are important?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>I’ve been kind of a rebel the last few years. Um, I guess it is because when I first came on board, who taught me how to do this was the program director or the secretary. The secretary was very knowledgeable, because she was called upon numerous of times to do teaching. Secretary—yeah. Well, I gotta go teach that, close the door and, uh, ‘cause I’ve gotta go teach Grandma’s Attic or be a school teacher today. They’re the ones that taught me what to say, uh, and it continues today. I’ve gone through, I think, three program directors, and the same wording I heard—what I learned—specifically is still used today. I mean, we go outside and we meet the school bus, and talk about Romanesque revival architecture, and I’ve learned this since day one. You ask a student—you ask a class, “I wonder where Roman architecture comes from?” If a kid says, “Rome[, Italy],” okay. He gets a pat on the head. After 14 years, they still get a pat on the head. I mean, it’s just like going around telling a story from number one to number 20. I seem to stick with the idea that ,when a student gives a correct answer, give ‘em a pat on the shoulder—or, “You’re a straight A student today.”</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Do you have a favorite story about, um, either the gardens or, you know, being a docent at the Student Museum? Is there a favorite moment with a child or story with a child? Or even just, you know…</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>One…</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Working in an exhibit?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>One of my favorite stories—again, this is something I don’t know if it’s unique to our education system. We used to have animals in, uh, the Native American room. We used to have a bobcat, and, uh, I’d tell the story when things were getting kind of slow. Or, you know, this is—again, being kinda like a rebel—I’d tell the legend of how the bobcat got its, uh, spots on its fur. Well, he was chasing a rabbit one day, and, uh, the rabbit went into a tree trunk—a hollow tree trunk. Well, the rabbit knew he was gonna get caught, ‘cause here comes the bobcat. The bobcat knows he’s in there, and the rabbit tries negotiating. <em>What am I going to do now? </em>So he says, “I know you’ve got me now. So why don’t you just set this tree trunk on fire?” Sometimes, the kids ask, “Well, how does the bobcat set the tree on fire?” I just say, “Well, that’s for another time and I’ve got to keep this story kind of short.” So when he set the tree trunk on fire, smoke and sparks were billowing out of the top of the tree trunk, and, uh, all of the sudden the bobcat realizes that these sparks are landing on his fur. Well, he’s got to pay more attention to these little fires that are now appearing on his fur, and he loses attention of, well, you know, what happened to the rabbit. Now that the bobcat has all these spots on his fur, the rabbit is now gone. He’s on up the trail. He has escaped. <strong> “</strong>That his spots come from this story about 5,000 years ago.” So I think it is a kind of a cool story.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah, I think so.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>It is legend. It’s[sic] stories. It’s, in some cases, superstition, and I’ve been—I’ve been careful to be—not to say a whole lot about superstition. It’s like our three sister garden is—is grown in a circle, and that circle is because they believed that there were higher frequencies or things out there in the universe that were focused down on a—on a circular garden. Same thing with a dunce cap. Sometimes—sometimes, I tell the kids that you won’t learn this when you go to the classroom, but the dunce class—the dunce cap that you will see in there was invented by Mr. [John] Duns [Scotus] in England in the 1700s. It was for a therapy of—of slow learners. Again, the dunce cap is in what form? A cone. So that cone focused down all this knowledge for you to absorb between your ears. Like, in the 1800s, of course, the dunce cap became a disciplinary method, but again, that’s going back to superstition.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>It’s common. You find it all over the place today. Go down to the local café, and underneath the counter you’ve got these little books that all about fortunetelling, uh, things you can do with your dog and get his emotions straightened out. Kinda cool.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Very cool. Any other stories you’d like to share? About the museum? Your experiences here?</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Well, you know, it’s—it’s, uh, somebody mentioned today that, since they did the tenting of the termites, that the place smells better. I said, “You know, I kind of miss that—what it really used to smell like,” ‘cause you can imagine, when you walk around here [<em>clears throat</em>] a lot of times, you’d say, <em>If only the walls could talk. </em>This building goes back to 1902. Sometimes, we—we don’t really tell the whole story. [<em>coughs</em>] Like, uh, what happened during the [Great] Depression years? What did the kids wear to school? I know most of the kids—or a lot of the kids—came to school barefooted. A lot of the girls wore the same—uh, their dresses looked the same. Why is that? That’s because their dresses were made by feed bags. Their mom sewed the—the feed bags. The lady down the street did the same thing. The girls came to school wearing basically the same thing, and you wonder, <em>Well</em>, you know, <em>it must’a been cooler around here in Florida</em>. Which to me, I’ve thought about, <em>Why didn’t I move to Florida? </em>If it wasn’t for air-conditioning, I know I wouldn’t be here. So it’s—it’s kinda cool. We’ve had visitors drop by that came here to school in the [19]50s, they relate to, uh—there was no air-conditioning. Uh, the railroad yard was just down the street belching out—the steam locomotives in the morning belching out smoke and soot and whatever comes out of locomotive stacks, and settled all over the city here. Imagine what, kind of—when—when you’re walking to school as a kid, you hear the school bell ring, I mean, it’s so cool.</p>
<p>Those are the kinda things—I like—this public history, because I forgot to ask my grandmother what life was back when she was a kid. So that’s what I like about public history. Reminds us to, uh, start asking questions about how life really was—not about dates, people, things. I don’t care about what— [Thomas Alva] Edison invented the light bulb. We have light bulbs, but it would’ve been nice to ask him, “What was life like in Fort Myers in 1900 or—er, 1900?” I don’t care about your light bulb. I want to know about your life. “How’d your friend [Harvey] Firestone get down here to Florida?” I mean, I’m still trying to find out—my relatives came from Bearaboo, Wisconsin, and settled in Lake County, which was—at that time, was Sumter County, in about 1870. How’d they get here? I have no idea. From Bearaboo, Wisconsin. They came here. Why? ‘Cause somebody said, “You’ve got a child with asthma?” “Yeah.” I had a great-uncle that had asthma. That’s why they moved to Florida. I still don’t know how they got here.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Wow. Thank you very much. Um, we’ve covered everything that I wanted to ask about the gardens, and then your work as a—as a docent. Um, if there’s anything else feel free. If not, I think we’re all set.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>I think that’s about it.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>I really don’t talk about—or I generally don’t talk much at all [<em>l</em><em>aughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Well, I’m glad you talked to me. Thank you very much.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>That’s why I am out in the garden, ya know?</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>race<br /></strong>Dig a hole, fertilize[?] it, fill it in.</p>
<p><strong>R</strong><strong>eisz<br /></strong>Fill it in, yup.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Correction: Beechcraft Corporation.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Correction: Student Museum and Center for Social Studies.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[3]</a> Seminole County Master Gardener Program.</p>
</div>
</div>
7th Street
A Land Remembered
aloe
American Beauty berry bush
antique rose
archaeology
beans
Beech Aircraft
Beech, Walter
bobcat
Boy Scouts of America
butterfly garden
Central Florida Safety Council
Central Georgia
CenturyTel
CFO
Chief Financial Officer
coontie
corn
Cub Scout
docent
dunce cap
Eagle Scout
Edison, Thomas Alva
exhibit
Firestone
Florida Safety Council
Florida Telephone Corporation
Fort Myers
garden
gardener
Gates, Bob
gems
geology
Grace, David C.
herb
herb garden
Higgins House Bed and Breakfast
ilex vomitia
Indian Guides
Lake Harris
Master Gardener
minerals
missile command
missile maintenance officer
museum
Native American Exhibit: Life in an Ancient Timucuan Village
Native Americans
Okahumpka
oral history
Order of the Arrow
Orlando Area Historical Rose Society
Padgent, Walt
paleontology
pig farmer
Pioneer Exhibit: Before the Settlement of Sanford
rabbit
Reisz, Autumn
Robert Michael Gates
Romanesque revival architecture
rosarium
rose
rosemary
Sanford Grammar School
sassafras tree
Scotus, John Duns
Second Lieutenant
Seminole County Green Thumb
Seminole County Master Gardener Program
Seventh Street
shade garden
Sprint Corporation
squash
Student Museum and Center for Social Studies
subtropical garden
superstition
thyme
Turn of the Century Classroom: Lessons from 1902
U.S. Army
UCF Department of History
UK
United Telephone Company of Florida
University of Central Florida, UCF
University of Kansas
vegetable garden
veteran
Wichita Gem and Mineral Society
Wichita Gem and Mineral Society, Inc.
Wichita High School East
Wichita State University
Wichita, Kansas
wildlife habitat
Winter Park Telephone Company
WSU
Yalaha
yaupon holly
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/c52f0a5dbcae385ed9d1fdae32fe915c.jpg
a7a9f9d8dec137c880817df093a1b7e0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Seminole County Collection
Alternative Title
Seminole County Collection
Subject
Seminole County (Fla.)
Altamonte Springs (Fla.)
Casselberry (Fla.)
Goldenrod (Fla.)
Heathrow (Fla.)
Lake Mary (Fla.)
Longwood (Fla.)
Oviedo (Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Winter Springs (Fla.)
Description
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Seminole County, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.
Mosquito County, a massive county south of St. Johns County that consisted of much of Central Florida was established in 1824. In 1845, Mosquito County was renamed Orange County when Florida earned statehood. This new county included present-day Osceola County, Seminole County, Lake County, and Volusia County. Orange County was named so for the area's major fruit crop: oranges. The area was devastated by a freeze during the winter of 1895-1896, which allowed for subsequent land speculators to initiate a land boom in Florida, with Orlando becoming a "boom town."
Seminole County separated from Orange on April 25, 1913, and was named for the Seminole tribes that originally inhabited the area. In the early-1900s, Seminole County was known for its agricultural development and close proximity to shipping lanes. By the 1920s, citizens in Seminole County, particularly in Sanford, soon shifted their interests in making the area a tourist destination.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Contributor
<a href="http://www.cfmemory.org/" target="_blank">Central Florida Memory</a>
Cepero, Laura Lynn
Cepero, Nancy Lynn
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
<a href="http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=456" target="_blank">Sanford Museum</a>
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/118" target="_blank">Altamonte Springs Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/117" target="_blank">Casselberry Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/54" target="_blank">Geneva Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/55" target="_blank">Geneva Historical & Genealogical Society Collection</a>, Geneva Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/56" target="_blank">Goldenrod Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/57" target="_blank">Goldenrod Historical Society & Museum Collection</a>, Goldenrod Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/129" target="_blank">Heathrow Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/119" target="_blank">Lake Mary Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/43" target="_blank">Longwood Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/128" target="_blank">Oviedo Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/147" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society Collection</a>, Oviedo Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/16" target="_blank">Sanford Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/82" target="_blank"><em>Celery Soup: Florida's Folk Life Play</em> Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/65" target="_blank">Churches of Sanford Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/131" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc. Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/41" target="_blank">Georgetown Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/78" target="_blank">Marie J. Francis Collection</a>, Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/101" target="_blank">Sanford Avenue Collection</a>, Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/79" target="_blank">Goldsboro Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/116" target="_blank">Henry L. DeForest Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/12" target="_blank">Hotel Forrest Lake Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/14" target="_blank">Ice Houses of Sanford Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/42" target="_blank">Milane Theatre Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/13" target="_blank">Naval Air Station Sanford Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/15" target="_blank">Sanford Baseball Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/61" target="_blank">Sanford Cigar Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/10" target="_blank">Sanford Riverfront Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/11" target="_blank">Sanford State Farmers' Market Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/30" target="_blank">Seminole County Centennial Celebration Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/31" target="_blank">Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/32" target="_blank">General Photographic Collection</a>, Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/73" target="_blank">Seminole County Public Schools Collection</a>, Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/125" target="_blank">Winter Springs Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Coverage
Seminole County, Florida
Altamonte Springs, Florida
Casselberry, Florida
Goldenrod, Florida
Heathrow, Florida
Lake Mary, Florida
Longwood , Florida
Oviedo, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Winter Springs, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://www.cfmemory.org/" target="_blank">Central Florida Memory</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
External Reference
Bentley, Altermese Smith. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45705201" target="_blank"><em>Seminole County</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2000.
"<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/index.aspx" target="_blank">Seminole County Government </a>." Seminole County Government. http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/index.aspx.
<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52607030" target="_blank"><em>Early Days of Seminole County, Florida: Where Central Florida History Began</em></a>. [Sanford, Fla.]: Seminole County Historical Commission, 2002.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
1 table
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Specified Crops Harvested, Seminole County, 1949
Alternative Title
Seminole County Specified Crops Harvested
Subject
Seminole County (Fla.)
Agriculture--Florida
Grain--United States
Grain industry
Vegetables--Florida
Description
A table representing crop acreage, production and value for Seminole County, Florida, in 1949. Statistics in the table identify various products produced in the county, how many acres each crop occupied, production number of each crop, the number of farms reporting for each crop, and the value of each crop. The U.S. Census of Agriculture produced statistics for corn, cowpeas, peanuts, velvet beans, hay crops (excluding cowpea and peanut hay), miscellaneous field seed crops (lupin seed, grass, etc.), Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, cotton, sugarcane and sorghum used for syrup, and root and grain crops hogged off or grazed (excluding corn, cowpeas, and peanuts).<br /><br />In the early-1900s, Seminole County was known for its agricultural development and close proximity to shipping lanes. By the 1920s, citizens in Seminole County, particularly in Sanford, soon shifted their interests in making the area a tourist destination.
Type
Dataset
Source
Original table by Laura Cepero, July 21, 2011.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Coverage
Seminole County, Florida
Creator
Cepero, Laura
Date Created
2011-07-21
Date Modified
2013-10-02
Format
image/jpg
Extent
159 KB
Medium
1 table
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Laura Cepero.
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Accrual Method
Item Creation
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
External Reference
Dicken, Samuel N. "<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4892314741" target="_blank">Central Florida Farm Landscape</a>." <em>Economic Geography</em> 11, no. 2 (April 1935): 173-182.
Harper, Roland M. "<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4892310502" target="_blank">Agricultural Conditions in Florida in 1925</a>." <em>Economic Geography</em> 3, no. 3 (July 1927): 340-353.
United States, and Ray Hurley. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/238171" target="_blank"><em>United States Census of Agriculture: 1950</em></a>. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1952.
beans
corn
cotton
cowpeas
dry peas
field crops
grain crops
grass
green manure
green peas
hay
Irish potatoes
lupin seeds
peanut hay
peanuts
peas
potatoes
root crops
sorghums
sugarcane
sweet potatoes
syrup
United States Census of Agriculture
velvet beans