Jonestown’s Silent Remembrance: Uncovering the History of Orlando’s First African American Community
By Sarah M. Boye, from the Spring 2025 Edition of Reflections from Central Florida On a breezy fall day, a group of tour attendees stood solemnly by the grave of Osborne Brooks in Orlando’s Greenwood Cemetery, listening as the tour guide explained his family’s connection to the city. Like many
Commodore Rose and the River of Freedom
By Rick Kilby from the Spring 2024 Edition of Reflections Magazine Who Was Commodore Rose in Pioneer Florida?” reads a February 1975 headline for Marian Godown’s “Here’s Florida” feature in the Fort Myers News-Press. Godown invited readers to take a quickie quiz: was the Commodore the owner of a steamboat
What Remains: A Land Called Wewahotee
By Kelly D’Ambrosio Land changes hands and names as the years pass, extending its story with each transaction. In the case of a lost Central Florida community named Wewahotee – now often spelled Wewahootee – an expansive story has become muddled by time and land ownership. Even its exact location
Rosa Lee Jones: The Mother of Cocoa
By Marissa Bellenger, HERstory: Women in History Intern at the History Center for fall 2022 The Space Coast certainly has its share of significant history, including notable women, but you may not have heard of one of the most remarkable: Rosa Lee Jones. Her life was dedicated to activism and
Annual Brechner Speaker Series returns with a focus on music
Topics range from hip-hop and punk to Beatles, Allman Brothers The Orange County Regional History Center announces its 2023 Brechner Speaker Series, presenting four distinguished programs that focus on varied aspects of music in Florida — a theme designed to complement the museum’s current special exhibition, Figurehead: Music & Mayhem
Can’t Stop the Music
By Whitney Barrett, History Center Archivist From the Spring 2022 edition of Reflections From Central Florida Although you might not think of Orlando as a popular music destination, many of the great singers of jazz, blues, and gospel music passed through the city during its history. Big names such as Ray Charles,
Downtown Orlando’s Civil Rights Sit-Ins
On March 9, 1962, eleven Black students were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct for simply refusing to vacate a whites-only lunch counter during a peaceful sit-in demonstration at Stroud’s Rexall Drugstore on Orange Avenue and Church Street.
Honoring the Honorable Mable Butler
The recipient of the John Young History Maker Award for 2021, the Honorable Mable Butler blazed a historic career in public service in Orlando and Orange County. She was the first African American woman on Orlando’s City Council and the first African American member on the County Commission.
Parramore’s Landmark Churches
In Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood, African Americans worshipped outdoors in brush arbors and stables while they saved funds to build proper churches, which served not only as places of worship but also as social centers, gathering places, and schools.
The Wells’Built: Rich Echoes of the Past on South Street
Now, the hotel on South Street near Division Avenue – originally called the Wellsbilt – is home to the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture.