Oral History of Debbie Simmons
Orlando (Fla.)
Gay culture--United States
Trade associations
Gay & Lesbian Pride and History Month
An oral history interview of Debbie Simmons, the co-owner of Shelbie Press and a founding member of the Metropolitan Business Association (MBA), an organization supporting LGBTQ businesses in Orlando, FL. As MBA president, she also helped found Come Out with Pride and the LGBTQ History Museum of Central Florida. This interview was conducted by Sara Raffel at Shelbie Press in Orlando, Florida, on June 16th, 2018. Some of the topics covered include attending the first gay pride parade in Orlando, founding the Metropolitan Business Association, facilitating a network of allies and inspiring activism, working with the Human Relations Board of the City of Orlando, building an LGBTQ+ community and collaborating with other groups, forming Come Out With Pride, the history of the gay rights movement, preserving the history of the LGBTQ+ community, her favorite memory from work at GLBT History Museum of Central Florida, organizing the first exposition of the Metropolitan Business Association, how the small business community impacted the LGBTQ+ community, omitting references to homosexuality in the organization’s name, and goals and challenges for the GLBT Museum of Central Florida and the Metropolitan Business Association.
Simmons, Debbie
Raffel, Sara
Simmons, Debbie. Interviewed by Sara Raffel, June 16, 2018. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>
<a href="http://glbthistorymuseum.com/joomla25/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
video/mp4
application/pdf
eng
Moving Image
Shelbie Press Print & Copy, Orlando, Florida
Metropolitan Business Association, Orlando, Florida
LGBT+ Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida
Joy Metropolitan Community Church, Orlando, Florida
Orange County Regional History Center, Orlando, Florida
Lake Eola Park, Orlando, Florida
Pulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida
Dress Parade at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina Postcard
Colleges
Universities
A postcard depicting a dress parade outside of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in Charleston. Built in 1820, the original citadel stood on what is now Marion Square. In 1842, Governor John Peter Richardson III (1831-1899) called for the conversion of The Citadel and the nearby Arsenal into military academies. It was occupied by Federal troops during the American Civil War, but reopened in 1882. At that time, Marion Square was created in front of it as a military plaza. <br /><br />This postcard is part of a collection of postcards kept by Lucile Campbell, a schoolteacher in Sanford, Florida, for 30 years. In 1931, she took advantage of a special rate for teachers and sailed to Europe, where she traveled for several months and is thought to have acquired many of these postcards. During the 1940-1941 school year, Campbell taught at Sanford Grammar School. Before her retirement in 1970, she taught at many other area schools, including the Oviedo School, Westside Grammar School, and Pinecrest Elementary School. Campbell used these postcards as aids in her classrooms to teach advanced subjects, such as Shakespearean drama. The collection, along with her other teaching aids, papers, and photographs, was later found at Sanford Grammar School after it became the University of Central Florida's Public History Center. Campbell's postcard collection and photographs provide insight into the life of a respected Florida educator.
Original 3 x 5 inch color postcard: ACC# SM-00-243, file folder 1 (U.S. blanks), box 10A, Lucile (Mary Lucile) Campbell Collection, <a href="http://www.publichistorycenter.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">UCF Public History Center</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Trouche, Paul E.
Campbell, Lucile
application/pdf
eng
Still Image
The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina
Turkey Trot Postcard
Turkeys--United States
Parades--United States
A postcard depicting the Turkey Trot parade in Cuero, Texas. Unlike other turkey trots, actually turkeys run the race in Cuero, rather than people.<br /><br />This postcard is part of a collection of postcards kept by Lucile Campbell, a schoolteacher in Sanford, Florida, for 30 years. In 1931, she took advantage of a special rate for teachers and sailed to Europe, where she traveled for several months and is thought to have acquired many of these postcards. During the 1940-1941 school year, Campbell taught at Sanford Grammar School. Before her retirement in 1970, she taught at many other area schools, including the Oviedo School, Westside Grammar School, and Pinecrest Elementary School. Campbell used these postcards as aids in her classrooms to teach advanced subjects, such as Shakespearean drama. The collection, along with her other teaching aids, papers, and photographs, was later found at Sanford Grammar School after it became the University of Central Florida's Public History Center. Campbell's postcard collection and photographs provide insight into the life of a respected Florida educator.
Original 3 x 5 inch color postcard: ACC# SM-00-243, file folder 1 (U.S. blanks), box 10A, Lucile (Mary Lucile) Campbell Collection, <a href="http://www.publichistorycenter.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">UCF Public History Center</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Campbell, Lucile
image/jpg
eng
Still Image
Cuero, Texas
Florida’s Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt
Education--Florida
Civil rights--Florida
Gainesville (Fla.)
Tallahassee (Fla.)
Colleges
Universities
Homosexuality--Florida
<em>Florida’s Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt</em>, known colloquially as <em>The Committee</em>, is a short film about the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee's investigation of communism and homosexuality amongst students and faculty at Florida colleges and universities. Commonly known as the Johns Committee, the committee was led by state senator and former governor Charley Eugene Johns (1905-1990). The committee was established in 1956 and originally focused on the investigation of the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, an historically African-American university, for its faculty's and staff's involvement of the Tallahassee Bus Boycott (1956-1957). However, as the committee expanded its McCarthy era anti-communist witch hunt, it came to focus on the homosexual lifestyles of many faculty members and students at colleges and universities. After growing public critique of the committee's activities, it was eventually disbanded on July 1, 1965. <br /><br /><em>The Committee</em> centers on the anti-homosexual investigations of the Johns Committee. The film was produced and directed by University of Central Florida professor Dr. Robert Cassanello and Dr. Lisa Mills. Other producers include Slyvana Fernández and Logan Kriete, and Monica Monticello serves as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Monica Monticello, Kathryn Paulson, and Amy Simpson, with research conducted by Alex Boyce and Shay Cambre. Ben Taylor and Alex Wood were the cinematographers and the arts and graphics were created by Patrick Fenelon and Adrien Mills. The film was edited by Aaron Hosé, with the aid of assistant editors Chelsea Echols and David Mariutto. <em>The Committee</em> includes interviews with Ruth Jense-Forbell, a lesbian student interrogated by the Florida State University Police Department in 1964-1965; Chuck Woods, a homosexual student interrogated by the University of Florida Police Department while attending the university from 1959 to 1965; John Tileston, Sr., a UF police officer who investigated various faculty members and students, including Woods; Dr. Karen Graves, a professor of education at Denison University and the author of <em>And They Were Wonderful Teachers: Florida’s Purge of Gay and Lesbian Teachers</em>; Dr. Judith Poucher, a professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville; Bob Graham, a graduate of UF, the 38th Governor of Florida (1979-1987), and former U.S. Senator for Florida (1987-2005); and Dr. Fred Fejes, a professor of multimedia studies at Florida Atlantic University. <em>Florida’s Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt</em> won various awards and accolades, including an Emmy Award.
Cassanello, Robert
Mills, Lisa
Fernández, Slyvana
Kriete, Logan
Original 23-minute and 58-second motion picture produced by Dr. Robert Cassanello, Dr. Lisa Mills, Slyvana Fernández, and Logan Kriete: <a href="http://www.thecommitteedocumentary.org/" target="_blank"><em>Florida's Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt</em></a>, <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida, 2013.
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES<br /></a>
Hosé, Aaron
Monticello, Monica
Paulson, Kathryn
Simpson, Amy
Taylor, Ben
Wood, Alex
Brown, Timothy
Hosé, Brigitte
Echols, Chelsea
Mariutto, David
Boyce, Alex
Cambre, Shay
Fenelson, Patrick
Mills, Adrien
Jensen-Forbell, Ruth
Woods, Chuck
Fejes, Fred
Graham, Bob
Graves, Karen
Poucher, Judith
Tileston, John, Sr.
Jensen-Forbell, Elizabeth
application/website
eng
Moving Image
Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, Tallahassee, Florida
Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Florida State College at Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida
Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, New York City, New York
Ku Klux Klan 120 Parades Sanford By Night
Sanford (Fla.)
Race relations--United States
A newspaper article about a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) parade in Sanford, Florida, on December 5, 1921. The KKK was first organized by ex-Confederate soldiers in in Tennessee in 1866, but was disbanded by the first Imperial Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) in 1869 in order to avoid government sanctions. The second klan was reformed by William Joseph Simmons (1880-1945) in 1915. Although the KKK deteriorated nationally during the Great Depression, it still flourished in Florida until a $685,000 lien was filed against the national klan in 1944 for back taxes from the 1920s.
In 1948, Dr. Samuel Green (1889-1949) revived the KKK in Georgia, which spread to Florida and other states. In 1951, the Florida KKK responded violently to the activities of Harry T.Moore's (1905-1951) Progressive Voters' League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during a period dubbed "The Florida Terror." As of the early 2000s, the Florida KKK remained to be on of the more active klans in the country.
Original newspaper article: "Ku Klux Klan 120 Parades Sanford By Night." December 5, 1921: box 173, folder 2.36, <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection (MS 14)</a>, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
image/jpg
eng
Text
Sanford, Florida