LAKELAND, Fla. (Sept. 5, 2006) — Florida Southern College’s Center for Florida History presents its 2006-2007 Florida Lecture Series with six guest speakers, beginning Sept. 28 and concluding March 15. The lectures will take place at 7 p.m. in the William M. Hollis Seminar Room on the FSC campus. The schedule of events is listed below. All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, please call 863-680-3001.

“Once again, we are extremely pleased to bring the Florida Lecture Series to our students, faculty, and friends in Lakeland and the greater Tampa Bay area,” noted James M. Denham, director of the Center for Florida History and FSC history professor. “This year marks the eleventh year that our series has brought the ‘Florida Experience’ to life for our community and region. This season promises to be one of our finest!”

Schedule of Lectures
Sept. 28 - “A Conversation with Bob Graham.” Governor Bob Graham, one of Florida’s most important political figures of the twentieth century, is the fourth child of south Florida pioneer, mining engineer, cattleman and legislator Earnest “Cap” Graham. Graham excelled at the University of Florida and Harvard Law School, and began his celebrated career in public service with ten years in the Florida Legislature. Graham’s next eight years as Florida governor (1978-1986) were among the most important in the state’s history, and Florida’s impressive strides in higher education and environmental protection were largely attributable to Graham’s leadership. During his subsequent three terms in the United States Senate, Graham was admired as one of the Senate’s most thoughtful and respected voices. Perhaps his finest hour in that body came in Oct., 2002 when, as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he sounded the alarm against al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas as the greatest threats to American security. These sentiments were expressed in his book, “Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of America’s War on Terror” (2004, with Jeff Nussbaum). Since his 2004 retirement from the Senate and unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, Graham has served as an Institute of Politics Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Oct. 12 - “Living off the Land: William Bartram's Description of Late Eighteenth-Century Florida Foodways." Alabama native Kathryn Holland-Braund, a specialist in southern colonial history, holds degrees from Auburn University (M.A.) and Florida State University (Ph.D.). An associate professor of history at Auburn University, her primary research focuses on the ethno-history of the Creek and Seminole Indians in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. She is the author or editor of four books including “Deerskins and Duffels: The Creek Indian Trade with Anglo-America, 1685-1815” (1993) and “William Bartram on the Southeastern Indians” (1995, with Gregory A. Waselkov). Her articles and reviews have appeared in many journals including the “Journal of American History,” the “American Historical Review,” the “Journal of Southern History,” the “American Indian Quarterly” and the “Alabama Review.” Holland-Braund serves as president of the Bartram Trail Conference, an organization dedicated to celebrating the travels of William Bartram.

Nov. 16 - “East Florida’s Other War of 1812.” James Gregory Cusick, a specialist in the study of the Spanish colonial period in Florida, holds degrees in journalism (B.S.) and anthropology (M.A., Ph.D.). He has lived in Florida since high school and is a long-time resident of both St. Johns County and Alachua County. For the past eight years, Cusick has been a curator and archivist for the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History in the department of special collections at the University of Florida’s George Smathers Library. He serves on the board of directors for the Gulf South History and Humanities Conference, the St. Augustine Archaeological Association and the Florida Historical Society. Cusick also serves as president of the Seminole Wars Historic Foundation and is a research associate at the St. Augustine Historical Society. His first book, “The Other War of 1812” (2003), was published by the University Press of Florida and is being reissued in paperback by the University of Georgia Press.

Jan. 25 - “Struggle for the Heartland: The Civil War in the West.” A native of West Virginia, Steve Engle holds degrees from Shepard College (B.A.) and Florida State University (Ph.D.), and has been chair of the Florida Atlantic University Department of History since 2001. He specializes in nineteenth century American history with an emphasis in the Civil War and Reconstruction era. More specifically, his research focuses on civil-military relations and ethnic dimensions of the Civil War. He is the author of several books, including “Yankee Dutchman: The Life of Franz Sigel” (1993), “Don Carlos Buell: Most Promising of All” (1999), “Struggle for the Heartland” (2001), and “The American Civil War in the West” (2001). He co-authored (with Gallagher, Krick and Glatthaar) “The American Civil War:  This Mighty Scourge of War” (2003). Engle has presented several papers at professional conferences in the United States and Germany, and his articles and reviews have appeared in the “Journal of American History,” “American Historical Review,” “Civil War History,” “Journal of Southern History,” and “AHA Perspectives.” The winner of numerous teaching awards, Engle was named Distinguished Teacher of the Year in 2000. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany and in 2003 was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians. Engle serves as the executive treasurer and book review editor for the Society of Civil War Historians.

Feb. 8 - “From Tampa Bay to Red Bays: Florida’s Black Seminole Diaspora.” Rosalyn Howard is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Central Florida, specializing in cultural anthropology. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1999. Much of Howard’s current research focuses on how the interrelationships of African and indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Caribbean relate to cultural identity. Her book, “Black Seminoles in the Bahamas” (2002) explores both the historical relationships of Seminole Indians and Black Seminoles, and their present-day descendants in Florida. Her latest research involves an interdisciplinary project, "Looking for Angola," about a maroon community formerly located near Sarasota, Fla., that could have direct connections to the Bahamian Black Seminole descendants on Andros Island. Her research about the existence of the Black Seminoles' pathway to freedom in the Bahamas will become part of "The Slave Route," a project mapping the African Diaspora that is being conducted by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Paris.

March 15 – Book Talk and Signing. “The White Shadow.” (The Robert and Rose Stahl Criminal Justice Lecture.) Born in Troy, Ala., Ace Atkins attended Auburn University where he honed his skills as both a writer and a defensive end on the undefeated 1993 Auburn University football team. Before turning to writing full time, Atkins worked as a crime reporter in the newsroom of The Tampa Tribune, earning a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his seven-part series on the 1955 unsolved murder of Tampa socialite and gambling king pin Charlie Wall. Atkins wrote two crime novels set in the South, “Crossroad Blues: A Nick Travers Mystery” (1998) and “Leavin’ Trunk Blues” (2001) while working as a reporter. Commercial success as a novelist and an offer to become a visiting journalism professor at the University of Mississippi convinced him to concentrate on writing full time. He wrote the highly acclaimed “Dark End of the Street” (2002), “Dirty South” (2004), and “White Shadow” (2006). The latter is based on his five years of research on the Wall slaying, including sealed court and police records, countless interviews with players of that period, and an extended research trip to Havana.

About the Florida Lecture Series 
The Florida Lecture Series is produced by the Center for Florida History under the direction of Dr. James M. Denham. The program brings speakers to the Lakeland campus who approach the issue of “Florida )
Life and Culture” from a wide range of disciplines, including history, public affairs, law, sociology, criminology, anthropology, literature, music and art. Its overall objective is to create an opportunity for members of the community, faculty, and student body to listen to, interact with and learn from leading scholars and specialists of the state’s history and culture.
 
About Florida Southern College
Founded in 1885, Florida Southern College is a private, comprehensive, United Methodist college with a liberal arts core. The college maintains its commitment to academic excellence through 38 undergraduate majors and distinctive graduate programs in business administration, education, and nursing. Florida Southern has a 14:1 student/faculty ratio, provides strong student/faculty mentorship programs, boasts 25 NCAA Division II national championships, and is ranked by U. S. News and World Report as one of the top ten Southern Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelors and by the Princeton Review as a “Best Southeastern College.” Located on scenic Lake Hollingsworth, Florida Southern is the home of the world’s largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.