On June 19, 1865, a Union Army Major General named Gordon Granger issued an order that began “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
This proclamation came two months after the formal end of the Civil War, and two and a half years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. The State of Florida actually recognized Juneteenth back in 1991 under Governor Lawton Chiles, and some Florida municipalities focus their historical Emancipation celebrations on May 20 instead, because that’s the date the Emancipation Proclamation was announced in Tallahassee in 1865.
This weekend the Lee County Black History Society is leading the celebrations locally, so we talk with three people directly involved to learn more — and to delve into a bit of Fort Myers history.
Guests:
Melinda Golden, Program and Events Coordinator at the Lee County Black History Society
Martin Byrd, President of 100 Black Men of SWFL - it’s a local chapter of 100 Black Men of America, Inc.
Chris Verrill, Executive Director of Florida Repertory Theatre in downtown Fort Myers
Click here for a breakdown of all of this weekend's events, which include a special community event on Saturday, June 20 at 10 AM in Florida Rep's Bunch Performance Hall.
There is a free screening of WGCU’s documentary 'With a Made Up Mind: The History of the Black vote in Southwest Florida', featuring the remarkable story of the late Veronica Shoemaker, the first Black City Councilwoman elected to the Fort Myers City Commission. Following the film, guests will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A reflecting on the documentary’s themes, local history, and the ongoing importance of civic engagement.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
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Transcript
Mike Kiniry
This is Gulf Coast Life. I'm Mike Kiniry. Thanks for joining us. On June 19, 1865, a Union Army major general named Gordon Granger issued an order that began, quote, the people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This proclamation came two months after the formal end of the Civil War and 2 1/2 years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. The state of Florida actually recognized Juneteenth back in 1991 under Governor Lawton Chiles and some Florida municipalities focused their historical emancipation celebrations on May 20th instead of June 19th because that's the date the Emancipation Proclamation was announced in Tallahassee. in 1865. This weekend, the Lee County Black History Society is leading the celebrations locally, so I talked with three people directly involved yesterday to learn more and to delve into a bit of Fort Myers history. Let's hear that conversation now. Melinda Golden is program and events coordinator at the Lee County Black History Society. Welcome to the show, Melinda. Thank you for coming in.
Melinda Golden
No problem. Nice to meet you, Mike.
Mike Kiniry
Martin Bird is president of 100 Black Men of Southwest Florida. Thank you so much for coming in. Martin, it's good to meet you.
Martin Byrd
Always a pleasure. Thank you.
Mike Kiniry
And Chris Varrell is executive director of Florida Repertory Theater in downtown Fort Myers. Great to meet you as well, Chris. Good to be here, Mike. So for starters, I'd like each of you to tell us a bit about yourself. Melinda, let's start with you. We were chatting out in the lobby before we got started. You've been around in Southwest Florida for about 6 years now.
Melinda Golden
I have. I'm originally from Philadelphia, but I made it here to Fort Myers by the way of Flemington, New Jersey. My background is in pharmaceuticals, biotech industry. I retired from Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Company in 2021. So since I've been here, I have been working at the Lee County Black History Society as a program and events coordinators for three years now. So it was my way to learn where I live now and get to know the people here in the Fort Myers area and also to learn the history of Fort Myers.
Mike Kiniry
What did you say as a relative newcomer about the community, not just the organizations, but the people who make it up.
Melinda Golden
Okay, so the people here in Fort Myers have welcomed my family here with open arms. I'm married. I've been married for 35 years. I have two girls. One is living home here in Fort Myers and the other one lives in Orlando. And we have been enjoying ourselves since we've moved here to Fort Myers. A lot of people say, oh, why did you move to Fort Myers? But why not? So we met great people here, and we're enjoying ourselves here.
Mike Kiniry
I grew up here, so I'm kind of biased, but I find us to be one of the best parts of Florida.
Chris Verrill
Yes, I just spent a weekend in Miami, and I will affirm that Fort Myers is one of the best parts of Florida.
Mike Kiniry
Chris, you've only been here for a couple of years now, right? Tell us a bit about your backstory.
Chris Verrill
Prior to being the executive director Florida Repertory Theater. I was the executive director of a theater in Arizona, executive director of a theater in China before that, and a long stint in public broadcasting of all things. So it's good to be back here and what amounts to the old home hold home.
Mike Kiniry
Did you come here for the job? Is that how you found Fort Myers?
Chris Verrill
I did, right. So Florida Repertory Theater was looking for a new executive director. I was looking for a change and There you have it.
Mike Kiniry
Same question to Melinda. How have you found the community here? Florida Rep's kind of like right in the heart of the art and culture community there.
Chris Verrill
It really is, and it's one of the reasons why I love Florida Repertory Theater. I mean, first of all, it's the quality of the work we do, but being the anchor tenant in downtown Fort Myers, driving 100,000 people to downtown Fort Myers, 3/4 of which shop and dine downtown, where we're not just a premier arts organization. We're an economic engine in the community. And that combination is a really rewarding thing to be a part of.
Mike Kiniry
Now, Martin, I found a story that one of our reporters did with you in 2019, Andrea Perdomo. So I know, unless you didn't tell her the truth, that you are from here and your family's pretty much from here too, right?
Martin Byrd
Yes.
Mike Kiniry
Tell us a bit about yourself and your background and what life was like for you growing up in Fort Myers in the Dunbar community.
Martin Byrd
As you just noted, Fort Myers native, born and raised, Franklin Park Elementary, Dunbar Middle, Fort Myers High School. So it has been an interesting journey being here. My family, back to my great-great-grandmother, has been residents of Fort Myers, Fort Myers High grads as well. So it's been fun to kind of be an immense and all that is Fort Myers. The Dunbar community definitely have been embraced, been able to serve in multiple organizations and serve the community, work with community members and broaden out as well towards the entire city of Fort Myers, whether that's through Fort Myers High School as a coach or even as a Rotarian?
Mike Kiniry
You were that article with Andrea mentioned that you as a relatively young person, maybe even still in high school, got involved with the Dunbar Festival Committee. Tell us what that is and what your involvement was back then.
Martin Byrd
So the Dunbar Festival Committee is a historic organization. Many community leaders have sat on that committee. and even led it. People like Veronica Shoemaker was the first black council person in the city of Fort Myers. What it does is it plans the largest community events in the city of Fort Myers. That is the Doctor Martin Luther King celebration. that which is expanded from a weekend to even a week-long celebration and then of course the storied Dunbar Easter Parade which is in the hearts of any person that is from that community and if you're not from that community and you experience it one time It's something you want to come back to. It's like a family tradition. People come back to town just for the Dunbar Easter parade. So I spent years volunteering and eventually chairing and growing that organization. It's one of my short life, something I'm very proud of. and something I look forward to every year to see the work that they continue to do now that I'm no longer president.
Mike Kiniry
Explain what 100 Black Men of Southwest Florida is and what you all do.
Martin Byrd
The 100 Black Men is actually a national organization. We have over 100 chapters across America and three international. We are a mentoring organization. We are a group of professional men started in New York City in 1963 who came together, Mayor Dinkins, Jackie Robinson, and they said we have to do something to the community. We don't just want to be successful in individuals. And we live by the saying, what they see is what they'll be. So we'll provide the visual role model as well as an active role model in the lives of young men and women depending on the chapters. But one thing we also believe is that mentoring doesn't stop when you graduate from high school. We have the same mentor across a lifetime. Just like I needed a mentor when I was 5 and 13, I need a mentor at 30. And sometimes you're going to a different part of your life at 60 and you need someone that's either not there or someone that's current that can provide you so that support. So the 100 focus is on building and growing that circle of membership led by men, professional men in our community, Lee County, Collier primarily. and of course supporting community events as well.
Mike Kiniry
Something tells me one day you're going to be one of the old guys that's still mentoring people your age now.
Martin Byrd
I love the organization. I love the work. I'm active on our state national level. I'm here because of someone letting guide me. Whether that mentorship is short or is long term, it's pivotal to our success.
Mike Kiniry
Melinda, tell listeners what the Lee County Black History Society is all about and the Williams Academy story.
Melinda Golden
Well, the Lee County Black History Society was discovered by Miss Janice Cass back in 1995. And she discovered this museum to be able to display the history of Fort Myers and nationally known black or African Americans. So it continues on and on. That's why it's called the Black History and not Historical Society or Museum. So the Williams Academy Museum is located in Roberto Clemente Park off of Henderson Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It's a little white house. It's small, but it's mighty. It has a lot of information that talks about Fort Myers. It talks about your athletes that have come out of Fort Myers. It talks about judges that come out of Fort Myers, Veronica Shoemaker, like Martin mentioned earlier. And then what we do in our, it has a display of a classroom of how the classes used to look back in the day when it came to educating African American students.
Mike Kiniry
And the Williams Academy was if I've got the date right, it was built in 1912 and it was the first place of schooling for young black people in all of this area from like Tampa to Miami basically.
Melinda Golden
Yes, and that where it's located now, I... before I moved here, I found out that it has moved many times. So, and Martin can help me out on this too. I don't remember how many times that schoolhouse has moved, but when it finally did move into the Roberto Clemente Park, there was a construction company that volunteered to move it and place it in the park for free. And they did that and built the foundation and their estates. It looks good.
Martin Byrd
It was previously located. community school is, so there's a ditch there. They had to build a temporary bridge to get it across.
Melinda Golden
Yeah, okay. There we go.
Mike Kiniry
The name Veronica Shoemaker's come up a couple times. Chris, Florida Rep is partnering with WGCU to do a screening in your, is it called the Bunch Theater.
Chris Verrill
Yeah, in our Bunch Rehearsal Studio.
Mike Kiniry
The history of the Black Vote in Southwest Florida, and that's the Florida Rep engagement part of it, right? It is.
Chris Verrill
You know, obviously we're an entertainment theater. We do Broadway shows. But in this context, we are part of the community, proud to be part of the Fort Myers community in serving all aspects of the community. And this documentary is an opportunity for the community to learn its history and to celebrate its future.
Mike Kiniry
And I mentioned Veronica Shoemaker because her story is told in that documentary. you probably know who she is. You probably knew her. If you didn't know her, you at least definitely knew who she was growing up because I grew up here and I definitely knew who she was. Tell us what you know about Veronica Shoemaker Martin.
Martin Byrd
Definitely knew who she was. I'm a political dork, so as a teenager, I watched council meetings and school board meetings.
Mike Kiniry
You got some info, tell us about it.
Martin Byrd
So you definitely know the history. I was a member of the Lee County Black History Society. So the work that she did, her tenacity in running for city council, over 10 times she ran for city council. At that time, council people were elected citywide. So it obviously created an issue, though the black population was larger than it is currently now. But she broke that She broke the glass ceiling, let's say that, eventually. And then, of course, the law then changed to make what our council is now, where it's ward seats, where they're elected in their district. She strived to change the community. There's a story about her moving, and it may be in the documentary about her moving to Michigan projects to address the issues that were there. You don't see a type of proactive leadership in politics. You hear I don't want to get too deep down that thing, but she put herself right in the issue. She seen herself as a voice for the people, and she was a... true community leader. I talked about her serving the Dunbar Festival Committee, NAACP. She was a business owner. I love her family, Miss Maddie Shoemakers, her daughter, as well as her grandson Jarvis Young, so familiar both of them. So she's created that legacy of proactive work. She's left the business and that still serves the community and children who also serve.
Mike Kiniry
And you're, I'm figuring you're in your mid 30s or something like that. So you kind of grew up in a world that, she laid a lot of groundwork for the world that you grew up in. But if you have generation, if your great, great grandma's from here, there was a lot of people in your family that grew up in a much different Fort Myers, right?
Martin Byrd
Definitely. You hear the stories of the railroad tracks, right? So we can see it driving down Edison before you get to Evans and Fowler. You see those railroad tracks and they talked about sitting at the snack shop and protesting there. And you hear it nationally and you hear the stories that will happen. The riots at Fort Myers High School when they integrated at some of the pep rallies and some of the issues that went along with that. There's a lot of stories that I feel are kind of lost that we don't necessarily hear, but I was able to hear those growing up, whether it's from my grandma, my great-grandma, my uncles, about kind of how the city has changed, my great-grandma used to always call MLK Anderson Avenue because.
Mike Kiniry
That's what it was for me growing up.
Martin Byrd
Yeah, so you're talking about Dr. Anderson and the different businesses that would be there and what Clemente Park looked before. And then, of course, then people came along like Veronica Shoemaker and not to leave out Miss Anne Murphy Knight, who was also the second black person to sit on the city council. What our city is now, we talked about Fort Myers being one of the better parts of the state of Florida. the history and the transformation. McGregor still has his palms, but it's changed A lot.
Mike Kiniry
My guests today are Martin Bird. He's president of 100 Black Men of Southwest Florida. Melinda Golden is program and events coordinator at the Lee County Black History Society. And Chris Varrell is executive director of Florida Repertory Theater in downtown Fort Myers. We're talking about celebrations planned for this Friday and Saturday to commemorate the Juneteenth holiday. Juneteenth stems from the day in 1865 when emancipation became official in Galveston, Texas, when a Union major general named Gordon Granger read General Order Number 3, which officially informed the enslaved people of Texas that they were free. Emancipation actually arrived in Florida a month earlier on May 20th of 1865. So we're here to talk about the celebrations. And before we break them all down, I wanted to ask you, especially this, Martin, I didn't know what Juneteenth was until 2019. I'm not ashamed to admit that. I had Jared Eady on this show, who I presume and he grew up in Fort Myers. And he said that he didn't really know what it was growing up. And I'm wondering if you did. I did not. Yeah, I feel like this is a whitewashed part of history.
Martin Byrd
To be honest, it is. So, and I'm sure Jared shared this with you because Jared is a historian's historian, right? And he's a mentor of mine. I look up to Jared. So Juneteenth is a Texas holiday. established in 1980 in the state of Texas. Obviously, he rode down and got this in Texas. Melinda will tell you we celebrate May 20th, Emancipation Day in the state of Florida. So somebody decided in the midst of the, I just call it the George Floyd area, that they wanted to do something to show that they cared and they supported. So they chose Juneteenth. Juneteenth is nationally recognized. It started in Texas, but many other states and Black History Society has been celebrating it for years before it became a proclamation. But it's just not something that I don't think that was important in culture for us growing up, at least here in Fort Myers. It may have been a bigger areas, obviously in Texas. It's a big thing.
Melinda Golden
But in 2021 is when it was nationally recognized. So Juneteenth is known as the National Independence Day. It's like a second Independence Day that African Americans celebrate the true freedom of slavery. So you had before the troops came to Galveston, Texas, President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation January 1st, 1863. So it took over 2 years before over 250 enslaved African Americans could really know that they were legally free.
Mike Kiniry
The other guest I had when I had Jared on the show was a FGCU history professor who got all of his schooling in Texas all the way up to his PhD, had to look up Juneteenth in order to So he even he was not aware of it.
Chris Verrill
And I think a lot of people listening to this are going, well, I didn't know about that either. And nor did.
Mike Kiniry
I. And I think that's why it's so important we're doing what we're doing and that you guys are doing what you're doing because it's been this overlooked part of history that Fort Myers is now embracing.
Melinda Golden
Well, that's why we always say it. Black history is American history. So there's going to be one day, as Maya Angelou always said, it would be great one day where African American history, all history can be labeled as United States national history. So it's not just individualized, right? So I know when Black History Month comes in the month of February, we get droves of people come through the museum. I mean, it's nonstop from the time we open the door until we leave at the end of the day. But I always tell people when they come by, Black History Month is not just February, Black History is every day. when you come through our museum, you learn something every single time you come through there. Every day that I go to work, I learn something different. Our chairman, Mr. Charles Barnes Jr., he's born and raised here all his life. He's a retired captain of the Lee County Sheriff's Department and he is a walking historian. So when he comes through the door of the museum, I learn something every single day. I walk away with something that I didn't know from the time I walked in. So just it'd be nice when we all can just say, I learned that when someone else learned that about black history.
Chris Verrill
So everyone learning about this holiday, for those of us who didn't know, this is a beautiful thing.
Melinda Golden
Yes.
Chris Verrill
Right? And it's a holiday for everyone.
Melinda Golden
I was just about to say that, Chris. This is a holiday for everyone. It's not just for African-Americans. We're here to celebrate for everyone. This celebration for Juneteenth is for No matter what race, religion you are, this is for everyone. It's for the community.
Mike Kiniry
So break down the events that people can participate in. You've got a race, you've got a festival with fireworks at the end, you got the screening at the Florida Rep place. So give us some details.
Melinda Golden
Great, I'm glad you asked because I am so excited about it.
Mike Kiniry
Yeah, this is, everything else was leading up to this.
Melinda Golden
Great, great. So The Lee County Black History Society has always put together something to celebrate Juneteenth. But I know for the past three years, we have collaborated with other organizations. Instead of all of us having something separate, we said, look, let's just combine together and we do it together. So the Juneteenth celebrations is a collaboration of the Lee County Black History Society, the Stars Complex, the Dunbar Festival Committee, Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts, City of Fort Myers, We've all come together to put together one event. Now what's been different for this year is that we collaborated with other organizations like the Florida Repertory Theater, Sozo Wellness, and Increase the Peach to put together a Friday and a Saturday event calendar. So starting on Friday night, June 19th from 6 to 9, we're doing In Living Color with Bridging the Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts. That's going to start at the McCollum Hall Theater. And it's called In Living Color, A Juneteenth Art Experience. That's Friday. That's Sonia McCarter. She's a director. She's really excited about that. She's gotten about, I think, three or four different artists to come in town to show their wares. And it's not going to be outside of McCollum Hall out on the lawn. It's going to be inside the actual building, which I'm excited because I've never been in there.
Mike Kiniry
Yeah, I don't. I haven't either. I'll have to come to that.
Melinda Golden
So such a historical place.
Mike Kiniry
I've driven by it 10,000 times, but I've never been in it.
Melinda Golden
Same way with me. Saturday morning starting at 630 is the Freedom Run Walk that Sozo Wellness and Increase the Peach are sponsoring. That's Dr. Shadrika McIntosh and Miss Shirley Owens. That race starts at 630 and it's going to be at the Stars Complex. Excuse me, 6.30am, right, Well done, well done. 6.30am. And then on set right after that at 10am, we're going to watch a special film screening that will be held at the Florida Repertory. Mr. Chris.
Chris Verrill
We're happy to be able to be part of it.
Melinda Golden
Yes. So, but people that want to attend have to go on your website to register, am I correct?
Chris Verrill
You go on WGCU's website and take registrations. But the wonderful thing about it is not only will we watch the screening, there'll be a Q&A with the producer afterwards. And when we did this last year, the Q&A afterwards, and don't get me wrong, the documentary was wonderful, but the Q&A afterwards was wonderful and insightful and just brilliant. So that conversation was really enriching.
Mike Kiniry
I think it's going to be, the Q&A is going to be Elizabeth Andarge, who's one of our reporters, and Jared Edie, who we just referred to.
Melinda Golden
Right, yes, that'll be great. And then we'll end it at 4:00 at the Stars Complex is the Juneteenth celebration. So that's being put on by the Lee County Black History Society. That's from 4 to 9 PM. We're offering games, carnival rides, DJ, live performances, food trucks, merchandise vendors, informational vendors, We also have the Sean Brown Band coming down from Tampa, Florida. And we're going to end the event with professional fireworks by the Zambelli Fireworks Company. So that's going to be pretty exciting. The key is it's a free event. It's for everyone in the community. So we also would not be successful with these events because of our sponsors. We have great sponsors, Lee Health, B&I Contractors. We have the North Law Firm. Fifth Third Bank, Rap Snacks, I'm leaving someone else, City of Fort Myers, the mayor, Kevin Anderson, and also the City of Fort Myers Police Department, Fort Myers Police Department. So without all of them supporting us and being sponsors, we wouldn't be successful with these events. So it will be held at the Stars Complex. It's A collaborative effort.
Mike Kiniry
Well, we'll have a link to it on our website for, I'm sure our main website, but if you go to our show's website, gcu.org slash GCL. There'll be all those linked on the post for this show.
Melinda Golden
Great.
Mike Kiniry
We're basically out of time. Any final thoughts, Melinda?
Melinda Golden
Come on out, have a great time, bring water. We'll have water today if you don't have water. We will have tents. We're just going to have a blast. We had a great time last year, right, Martin? So we're going to have a good time this year. Just come on out, bring your family, just be prepared to spend the day and bring your lawn chair so you can watch the fireworks.
Mike Kiniry
Chris, any final thoughts?
Chris Verrill
Juneteenth is for the entire community. So everyone come on out and celebrate.
Melinda Golden
Yes.
Mike Kiniry
And Martin, you're the old timer Fort Myers guy. I'm going to give you the final word.
Martin Byrd
Juneteenth is community. However you may define community, it is food, it is fireworks, it is culture, it is arts, and everyone falls into that. Come out and enjoy yourself.
Mike Kiniry
All right. Martin Bird is president of 100 Black Men of Southwest Florida. Thank you, Martin.
Martin Byrd
Thank you very much.
Mike Kiniry
Chris Verrill is executive director of Florida Repertory Theater. Thank you, Chris. It's a pleasure. And Melinda Golden is program and events coordinator at the Lee County Black History Society. Thank you so much, Melinda.
Melinda Golden
Thank you for inviting me.
Transcript created with Copilot. Please forgive any spelling errors or mistranslations.