History

There’s a brand new exhibition on display on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University called “They Were Children: Rescue as Resistance.” It brings the story of the Oeuvre de Secours Aux Enfants’ (OSE) — amazing group of everyday people who worked at great risk to themselves to rescue Jewish children in Nazi-occupied France during World War Two.

Take a look at some of Southwest Florida’s lesser-known folklore, legends and myths with author and folklorist Christopher Balzano of “Tripping on Legends."

Antisemitism has been on the rise in the United States for about the past two decades – and 2021 was the highest year on record for documented reports of violence, harassment, and vandalism directed toward Jews. That’s according to data from the nonprofit Anti-Defamation League, which has been actively monitoring and documenting incidents of antisemitism and publishing this information since 1979. We go back into history to add some context to the world we find ourselves in, to an incident that unfolded in France in the late 1800s and early 1900s known as The Dreyfus Affair.

The Lee County Black History Society named a new Executive Director in June. Autumn J. Watkins Holloway is a fourth generation resident of the Dunbar Community in Fort Myers. She has two decades of experience as an educator and nonprofit administrative leader. The Lee County Black History Society was founded in 1990 as a nonprofit dedicated to preserving, promoting and celebrating the rich heritage and achievements of African Americans in Lee County.

As Collier County turns 100, historians and community leaders talk about some of the key moments and interesting stories that have made Collier what it is today.

The Secretary of State’s 2023 Florida Main Street Award winners were named recently for outstanding results in historic preservation and commercial activity.

More than three dozen stories are now part of Charlotte County Libraries and History collection of oral histories that are digitally accessible through the library's catalog.

At this year’s state competition 847 middle and high school students presented award-winning research in a variety of media including documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances, and websites. The top two winners of each category are invited to represent Florida at the National History Day (NHD) contest in June.

While many large tracts of land in Southwest Florida have been forever lost to development over the past century or so, quite a bit of it has been preserved thanks to the dedicated efforts of countless people and organizations — and the local, state, and federal elected officials who environmental advocates could convince that wetlands were valuable for their own sake. For example, more than 70% of land in Collier County has been preserved as public land. Think Fakahatchee Strand State Park, Picayune Strand State Forest, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Big Cypress National Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, just to name a few. We explore some of this fascinating history with the co-authors of the new book, “Enjoyment of the Same: A History of Public Lands in Southwest Florida.”

In his latest book, “Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause,” retired U.S. Army Brigadier General TySeidule writes about growing up in Virginia revering Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He says that from his southern childhood to the time he spent serving in the U.S. Army every part of his life reinforced the Lost Cause myth: that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived, and that the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor — a position he now deeply regrets and works to refute.