Day: August 25, 2025

From the Quill to the Gavel: The Life of Ruben Mitchell – A Chronicle of Resilience, Rhetoric, and Fraternal Leadership in Post-Reconstruction Florida Hardcover – August 15, 2025 by Jerry Urso (Author) From the Quill to the Gavel Born into bondage in 1855, Reuben S. Mitchell rose to become one of the most influential African American civic leaders Read More…

Despite the discrimination and misfortune Pompano’s black students had to face, the 1920s brought at least one fortunate change. In 1923 a young teacher came to Pompano. Born in the small central Florida town of Reddick in 1904, she would later graduate from Florida A & M College. Blanche General Ely and Joseph A. Ely Wikipedia Read More…

IRA PHILIP t Recently we did a feature on the visit of US Congressman George K. Butterfield to Bermuda, his ancestral home, and birthplace of his father, Dr. George Kenneth Butterfield. Dr. George was one of the 12 children of James Peter Butterfield, a tailor by profession and his wife Ann Harriett Giles Butterfield of St. Read More…

Judge L. E. Thomas, the first Black Municipal Judge in the south since reconstruction. Lawson Edward (LE) Thomas (1898-1989) was born in Ocala. He attended Howard Academy. He then attended Florida A&M College, and later the University of Michigan Law School. The Honorable Lawson E. Thomas 1898-1989 Memorable Corporate Painting https://laclinefineart.com/artwork/the-honorable-lawson-e-thomas-1898-1989/ King of Clubs of Read More…

Black History heroes Fred Pinkston. Born and reared in Silver Springs, FL, was a Howard Academy grad & brother of Frank George Pinkston, local Civil Rights leader & a member of the “Richmond 34.” … Fred was recently inducted into the Virginia Union University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 … his brother Frank was Read More…