Florida Since 1845

University of Florida

Spring 2004

AMH 3423 Professor Jack E. Davis

MWF 3 (3:00-3:50), Flint 105 Flint 235/392-0271-ext 251

Ofc hrs: M/W 4-5:30 davisjac@ufl.edu
 
 
 

One of Florida's most prolific writers, Majory Stoneman Douglas, wrote in 1924, "Suppose there were times when you could hear from far off the clump-clump of the advancing footsteps of your fates. Wouldn't you shiver a little, wondering?"* If the inhabitants of Florida in 1845 could have foreseen Florida's fates over the next century and a half, they likely would have shivered, each for a different reason. One's race, ethnicity, class, sex, age, and place of origins would have determined whether one responded with excitement or distress. Opportunity, oppression, wealth, poverty, progress, regress, development, destruction, expansion, and congestion all formed the footsteps of fates. The history that unfolded following Florida's statehood ranks as among the most dynamic and complex of all the American states. In the context of U.S. history, Florida has been both microcosm and aberration. Its political and social patterns to a large extent made it the consummate representative of a national culture. In some instances, Florida was the trend setter. Yet its migration and immigration patterns, economy, population growth, and natural environment set it off from many of the rest.

This course is a survey of Florida history from the beginning of statehood to the contemporary modern era. By exploring the social, political, economic, cultural, and ecological developments of this period, students will discover a place rich in historical change, which defined not just Florida but the American experience. The readings for the course were chosen with the intent of introducing students to both Florida history and to a broad community of scholars working within the field. Their works represent the many sub-narratives that constitute the larger narrative of Florida history. We will explore in these works and in class--which will include both lecture and discussion--the common themes that weave together the larger narrative. The course readings also spotlight the historical agency of many of the cultural and social groups who have been a part of the Florida experience. Critically analyzing Florida's past from the perspective of these groups is of utmost importance to us.
 

Course Objectives:
 

Course Requirements:
  (Please see last section of syllabus for a description of course requirements.)
 

Assigned Texts:
 

Jack E. Davis and Kari Frederickson, eds., Making Waves: Female Activists in Twentieth-Century Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).

Mark Derr, Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998).

Michael Gannon, Florida: A Short History (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).

Gary R. Mormino and George E. Pozetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998).

Daniel Schafer, Anna Madgigne Jai Kinglesy: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slave Owner (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).
 

Additional readings are available in the course packet or on-line, as noted. For the assigned articles from the Florida Historical Quarterly go to the Florida Heritage Collection at http://susdl.fcla.edu/fh/ and search for the article by title.
 

Week I (Jan 7 & 9): Surveying Florida History
 

Lecture & Discussion: Course introduction

Lecture & Discussion: Florida statehood
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 28-40.

Stephanie D. Moussalli, "Florida's Frontier Constitution: The Statehood, Banking, and Slavery Controversies," Florida Historical Quarterly 74 (Spring 1996).
 

Week II (Jan 12, 14, 16): Florida in Black and White
 

Lecture & Discussion: The original he-coon: cracker culture

Lecture & Discussion: Life and labor in antebellum Florida

Readings:

James M. Denham, "The Florida Cracker Before the Civil War as Seen Through Travelers' Accounts," Florida Historical Quarterly 72 (April 1994): 453-68.

Schafer, Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, 1-121.
 

*January 19, Martin Luther King Holiday*

Week III (Jan 21 & 23): Civil War and Reconstruction
 

Lecture & Discussion: Joining in disunion, and Florida's role in war

Lecture & Discussion: Reconstruction and Florida's Black Codes
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 40-53.

Tracy J. Revels, "Grander in Her Daughters: Florida's Women During the Civil War," Florida Historical Society 77 (Winter 1999): 261-84.

Patricia L. Kenney, "La Villa, Florida, 1866-1887: Reconstruction Dreams and the Formation of a Black Community," in The African American Heritage of Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995) David R. Colburn and Jane L. Landers, eds., 185-203 (course packet).
 

(Writing Mechanics Exercise Due.)
 

(Trip to the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History)
 

Week IV (Jan 26, 28, 30): Coastal Railroads and Yankee Passengers: The Arrival of Modern Florida
 

Lecture & Discussion: Harriot Beecher Stowe, Henry Flagler, Henry Plant, and the transformation of Florida

Lecture & Discussion: The Agrarian Revolt
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 53-67.

Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 1,2, 4, 5.

Mormino and Pozzetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City, chapter 2.
 

Week V (Feb 2, 4, 6): Immigration and Urbanization
 

Lecture & Discussion: The Cuban diaspora

Lecture & Discussion: Social dynamics in early ethnic Florida
 

Readings:

Mormino & Pozzetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City, chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 8.

Raymond A. Mohl and George E. Pozzetta, "From Migration to Multiculturalism: A History of Florida Immigration," in The New History of Florida, 391-402 (course packet).
 

Week VI (Feb 9, 11, 13): The Darker Side of Sunshine: Jim Crow Florida
 

Lecture & Discussion: Before the Mississippi Plan: Florida's 1885 disfranchising constitution

Lecture & Discussion: Race, violence, and discrimination
 

Readings:

David R. Colburn, "Rosewood and America in the Early Twentieth Century," Florida Historical Quarterly 76 (Fall 1997):175-92.

Maxine D. Jones, "No Longer Denied: Black Women in Florida, 1920-1950," in The African American Heritage of Florida, 240-67 (course packet).
 

Week VII (Feb 16, 18, 20): Progressive Exploiters and Progressive Conservationists
 

Lecture & Discussion: Florida's land boom and the ecological consequences

Lecture & Discussion: The many sides of American progressivism
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 67-86.

Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 3, 6, 7, 8.

Jack E. Davis, "Up From the Sawgrass: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the Influence of Female Activism in Florida Conservation," in Making Waves, chapter 6.
 

Week VIII (Feb 23, 25, 27): Florida's First Activists
 

Lecture & Discussion: The organized black response, before the civil rights "movement"

Lecture & Discussion: Women's organizations, woman's suffrage, and social reform
 

Readings:

Nancy A. Hewitt, "In Pursuit of Power: The Political Economy of Women's Activism in Twentieth-Century Tampa, in Making Waves, chapter 3.

Tracey E. Danese, "Disfranchisement, Women's Suffrage and the Failure of Florida's Grandfather Clause," Florida Historical Quarterly 74 (Fall 1995): 117-31.

Sally Vickers, "Ruth Bryan Owen: Florida's First Congresswoman and Lifetime Activist," in Making Waves, chapter 1.
 

( 1st Take-Home Essay Due.)
 

Week IX (March 1, 3, 5): Hurricanes, Florida's Land Bust, and the Great Depression

.

Lecture & Discussion: Florida anticipates the economic crisis

Lecture & Discussion: The New Deal in Florida
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 88-100.

Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapter 14.

Lynne A. Rieff, "Improving Rural Life in Florida: Home Demonstration Work and Rural reform, 1912-1940," in Making Waves, chapter 4.
 

*Spring Break: March 6-13*

Week X (March 15, 17, 29): World War II Comes to Florida
 

(Archive Exercise Due)
 

Lecture & Discussion: Mobilizing for war; the Florida home front

Lecture & Discussion: How the war changed Florida forever
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 100-09.

Gary R. Mormino, "GI Joe Meets Jim Crow: Racial Violence and Reform in World War II Florida," Florida Historical Quarterly 73 (July 1994): 23-42.

Ellen Babb, "Women and War: St. Petersburg Women during World War II," Florida Historical Quarterly 73 (July 1994): 43-61.

Week XI (March 22, 24, 26): Florida's Cold War Society
 

Lecture & Discussion: HUAC and the Johns Committee in Florida, and the South's first chapter of the ACLU
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 109-30.

James A. Schnur, "Cold Warriors in the Hot Sunshine: USF and the Johns Committee," Journal of the Tampa Historical Society, 18 (November 1992): 9-15 (course packet).

Stacy Braukman, "'Nothing Else Matters But Sex': Cold War Narratives of Deviance and the Search for Lesbian Teachers in Florida, 1959-1963," Feminist Studies 27 (Fall 2001): 553-76 (available through e-journals on LUIS).

Judith Poucher, "One Woman's Courage: Ruth Perry and the Johns Committee," in Making Waves, chapter 9.
 

Film: "Behind Closed Doors: The Dark Legacy of the Johns Committee."
 

Week XII (March 29, 31, April 2): Reforming Modern America
 

Lecture & Discussion: The civil rights struggle in Florida

Lecture & Discussion: The modern women's movement in Florida
 

Readings:

Gannon, Florida, 130-38.

Raymond A. Mohl, "The Pattern of Race Relations in Miami Since the 1920s," in The African American Heritage of Florida, 326-56 (course packet).

Carol Giardina, "Origins and Impact of Gainesville Women's Liberation, the First Women's Liberation Organization in the South," in Making Waves, chapter 13.
 

Week XIII (April 5, 7, 9): Air Conditioning, Tourism, and the Population Onslaught
 

Lecture & Discussion: Push and pull factors in Florida's migration and immigration experience

Lecture & Discussion: The Caribbean comes to South Florida
 

Readings:

Raymond A. Mohl and George E. Pozzetta, "From Migration to Multiculturalism: A History of Florida Immigration," in The New History of Florida, 402-415 (course packet).

Raymond A. Mohl and Gary R. Mormino, "The Big Change in the Sunshine State: A Social History of Modern Florida," in The New History of Florida, 416-45 (course packet).

Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 14, 17.

Film: St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce promotional television films, circa 1950s. 
 

(Internet Exercise Due)
 

Week XIV (April 12, 14, 16): Politics, Economy, and Ecology in Contemporary Florida
 

Lecture & Discussion: The state of state politics

Lecture & Discussion: Unfettered growth and the Florida environment
 

Readings:

Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 15, 16.

Lee Irby, "A Passion for Wild Things: Marjorie Harris Carr and the Fight to Free a River," in Making Waves, chapter 7. 

Week XV (April 19 & 21): The Last Hurrah
 

Discussion: Meaning and Identity in Florida history

(If time permits) Film: Sunshine State (John Sayles)
 

(2nd Take-Home Essay Due.)
 

Course Requirements Descriptions:
 

All written work for the course must be typed or computer generated and in 12-point double-spaced print. Your work must also be presented in third-person language.
 

Class participation means that students must come to class prepared to participate in discussions. Classes will be conducted in both a lecture and seminar format. Attendance is required. Beyond two absences, each additional absence occurring without a written excuse will result in one point deducted from your final grade. If the class is particularly lethargic when it should be animated and eager to discuss the reading assignment, the frustrated professor deserves the right to give a pop (i.e., surprise) quiz. Your experience in the course will largely depend on how prepared you come to class.
 

Writing Mechanics exercise can be found on my web site. Download and answer the questions by circling that which you believe to be the correct response. You will be required to follow the rules of writing mechanics in all writing assignments for the course. Up to five points will be deducted from your assignment grade if you violate these rules.
 

Take-home essays will represent responses to a list of essay questions posted on my web site. The questions will be drawn from the assigned readings and the course lectures, and you will be expected to use the course readings and your class notes as sources to answer the questions. Each answer must be presented in essay format, using formal, academic language and style (i.e., complete sentences, tightly constructed paragraphs, no colloquialisms). Do not, in other words, provide answers in lists or bullets. Those exams that address each question in a rigorous and organized manner are more likely to earn a decent grade. These grades, too, will be dependent in part on your compliance with the rules in the "Writing Mechanics" exercise.
 

Archive exercise (TO BE ANNOUNCED AND POSTED)
 

Internet exercise requires that you write a five-page paper using original-source letters or a memoir on an Internet site. The letters or memoir must not have been published in a book, such as Travels of William Bartram, and they must be related to Florida during the time period that we are studying. Letters can be those of a particular individual or of several individuals writing about the same place, experience, or event. One excellent site for sources that meet the stated criteria is the Florida Heritage Collection at http://susdl.fcla.edu/fh/ . Once you have found your source or sources, write a paper analyzing a theme or themes described in the original material. For example, you might find collections of advertisements and promotional pamphlets circulated by Florida developers and real estate brokers in the 1910s and 1920s, or you might find a diary of a south Florida settler of the early twentieth century. For the former, you can discuss the images of Florida projected in the promotional literature; for the second, you can discuss the experiences-work, family, weather, hardships-conveyed in the diary. Ensure that you identify the individual or individuals who left behind the written observations and that you place their observations within the proper historical context (THIS IS IMPORTANT TO EARNING A GOOD GRADE).
 

Again, following the rules of the "Writing Mechanics" exercise is imperative to doing work of full potential.
 

Plagiarism:
 

Keep in mind that your written assignments must represent original work. You cannot copy the work of anyone else or text from the Internet or any other source. Do not cobble together paragraphs or passages of separate texts and then try to claim that you have done original and legitimate work. You must write with your own ideas and in your own words. If you copy the words of someone else without putting those words in quotation marks, REGARDLESS OF CITING THE SOURCE, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism is theft, and it is academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is grounds for an automatic failing grade in the course, a grade that is final and that cannot be made up. Please, if you have any questions about how you are citing or using sources, come to me for the answers.
 

LAST SEMESTER, I CAUGHT FOUR PLAGIARISTS. 
 

Welcome, and good luck!
 

* Marjory Stoneman Douglas, "At Home on the Marcel Waves," Saturday Evening Post (June 14, 1924), 22.