Back in the summer of 2018 we brought a University of Florida history student named Julian Valdivia on the show to learn about his work collecting oral histories in Lee County – primarily in the Dunbar community – for UF’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. It’s one of the largest oral history archives in the south, employing students to go into their communities to collect life stories that future historians and researchers can use.
He was back in town over winter break to interview members of the Mayor of Fort Myers’ Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee, so we brought him back into the studio to check in on that work. We also listened to some sound clips he’s recovered from past oral history recordings in Lee County, including one that provides a glimpse into the life of J. Colin English, who was the driving force behind getting the first school built in Lee County for black students in the 1920s by getting a grant from the Julius Rosenwald Fund.
SPOHP’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OralHistoryProgram/
UF’s digital archive of SPOHP’s materials: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/ohor
