Upcoming “Zoom In” Series

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts & Culture, the Florida Council on Arts & Culture,  and the National Endowment for the Arts.  

David Powell

January 11, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic:  ‘Early Cuban Exiles:  Memories of Loss, Struggle and Rebirth’

From 1959 to 1973, more than 600,000 Cuban exiles came to the US in two  waves and laid the foundation for the modern Cuban American community. Almost all arrived with only a few clothes and pocket money. Based on interviews with 54 persons about early Cuban exiles, this presentation tells how and why they left Cuba, what they found when they arrived here, and how they built new lives.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Columbia Journalism School, David Powell worked as a reporter for the Associated Press in New York, Miami, and Tallahassee. After earning a law degree from Florida State University, he practiced law for thirty years. Moved by the stories of Cuban Americans he met through his work, he began interviewing them for his oral history book about Cuban exiles who came to the US from 1959 to 1973.

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Magdalena Lamarre

February 20, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic: ‘Southern Road to Freedom: Florida’s Underground Railroad’

The nation’s first Underground Railroad was established in Florida in the late 17th century, servings as a beacon of freedom for runaway slaves from the American south. Existing before the better-known Northern Underground Railroad, enslaved Africans gained their freedom by escaping and earning asylum in Spanish Florida. This presentation focuses on Florida’s early history as a Spanish territory, the escape routes used by runaway slaves, and the black communities they established before the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Magdalena Lamarre was a Full Professor of History and Sociology at Miami-Dade College. Since her retirement in 2016, she has conducted lectures on Florida’s history, culture, diversity, and social justice. 

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Carrie Sue Ayvar

March 29, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic: ‘More than Orange Blossoms: Feisty, Fabulous Women of Florida’

Though not always in the history books, the women who helped build, form, shape and develop this state of Florida certainly have inspired hope & possibility! A selection of stories about some of the strong, courageous women whose paths we follow will be shared with time for a Q & A and discussion.

An internationally celebrated storyteller, teaching artist, and Chautauqua scholar, Carrie Sue Ayvar is the recipient of multiple awards for service, leadership, and her dedication to the art of storytelling and education. Her bilingual blend of traditional, historical, and personal tales connects the people, languages, and cultures of Florida.

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David Head

April 17, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic: ‘Pirates, Privateers and the Fall of Spain’s Empire: How Spanish American Independence Brought Florida to the United States’

Over two hundred years ago, in the summer of 1817, a group of pirates and privateers invaded Amelia Island, Florida, a Spanish colony, in hopes of striking a blow for the Spanish American Revolutions. This presentation tells the stories of these revolutionary rogues and their leaders, how they planned to free Florida from Spanish rule, and how the United States intervened to stop them.

David Head is an associate lecturer of history at the University of Central Florida. He has published four books, including Privateers of the Americas: Spanish American Privateering from the United States in the Early Republic, The Golden Age of Piracy: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Popularity of Pirates, and A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution, which was a finalist for the 2020 George Washington Book Prize.

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