Pulitzer winner returns for FSC lecture series
The lineup for the Florida Lecture Series at Florida Southern College includes a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and speakers covering such subjects as Florida’s banking crash in the 1920s and the Beatles’ 1964 excursion into the state.
The college announced the six speakers who will appear in the 2022-2023 series, produced by the Lawton Chiles Center for Florida History.
The series opens Sept. 15 with a return visit by Jack E. Davis, a professor of history at the University of Florida. Davis will speak about his recently published book, “The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird.” He will explore the history and significance of the raptor, sharing stories of the founding fathers, rapacious hunters and rescuers of the bird that serves as America's national symbol.
'I can't live with that pressure': Florida Southern admin, student clash over service dog
Auguste Rodin on display: Polk Museum opening Rodin exhibition
Davis won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2018 book, “The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea.” He is also the author of “An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century.” Davis’ work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes and Atlantic Magazine.
Raymond Vickers will deliver a lecture Oct. 5 titled “Panic in Paradise: The Florida Banking Crash of 1926.”
Vickers, an attorney and a professor at Florida State University, will discuss the banking collapse, a pivotal national catastrophe connected to the Florida land boom of the 1920s that contributed to the New York Stock Market Crash of 1929, according to a news release from FSC.
The lecture will draw from Vickers’ 1994 book, “Panic in Paradise,” the product of long-term research and successful lawsuits designed to force the disclosure of sealed records. Vickers is also the author of “Panic in the Loop: Chicago’s Banking Crisis of 1932.”
'It’s not like I can just relax': Davenport woman gets one-year reprieve on deportation
David L. Powell, a Tallahassee writer, will appear Nov. 17 for a lecture titled “Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away: Memories of Early Cuban Exiles.”
Powell, a former Associated Press reporter, has practiced law for 30 years. In his work and through civic organizations, he met many Cuban Americans and was moved by the stories of their lives, according to the news release.
Powell began recording interviews with Cuban Americans in 2016, first in Florida and then elsewhere. His book, published this year, explores the history of the 600,000 Cubans who came to this country in the 15 years after Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959.
Claire Strom, a professor at Rollins College in Winter Park, will deliver a lecture titled “Violence in the Rural South: Murder, Ticks and Cows,” on Jan. 26.
A specialist in agricultural history, the American South, the Progressive Era and public health, Strom is the Rapetti-Trunzo Chair of History at Rollins College. Her lecture will cover the period when mandatory tick eradication treatment of cattle provoked resistance and sometimes violence in remote rural sections of the South.
Is medical marijuana legal in Florida?: Yes, but why do weed arrests still happen?
Many cattle farmers perceived a double threat in the mandates — additional costs and the imposition of government expertise that conflicted with their notions of liberty. Strom examines this vexing history while uncovering the human drama in the story.
Strom is the winner of the Gladys L. Baker Lifetime Achievement Award from the Agricultural History Society. She is the author of many books and essays, including “Making Catfish Bait out of Government Boys: The Fight Against Cattle Ticks and the Transformation of the Yeoman South.”
Rick Norcross, a musician and journalist based in Vermont, will provide a lecture on Feb. 16 titled “From Florida Southern College to London to Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Elton John and Mick Jagger: An Evening of Songs, Stories and Up Close Rock & Roll Photographs.”
Norcross arrived at Florida Southern as a student nearly 60 years ago. He soon won the “Hootenanny Contest” at the Polk Theater, and within a year he opened The Other Room, a Greenwich Village-style coffeehouse just off the Florida Southern campus.
After playing the folk clubs of England in 1965, Norcross returned to Florida to study journalism at the University of South Florida and covered the music scene for The Tampa Times from 1969 to 1974. Norcross interviewed and photographed such stars as Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, the Byrds, Leon Russell, Merle Haggard, Elton John, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.
'Glow in the moment': Glow Night heads to Union Hall
Norcross now works out of Burlington, Vermont, where he fronts his award-winning, seven-piece Western swing band, Rick & The All-Star Ramblers.
Music again will be the motif as the series concludes March 16 with a return appearance by Bob Kealing, an Orlando-based author.
Kealing will discuss material from his forthcoming book, “Good Day Sunshine State: How the Beatles Rocked Florida.” The author uncovered a little-known nexus between the Beatles, Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights activism in Northeast Florida, according to the release.
Kealing’s book draws upon dozens of new interviews and access to rare, primary-source documents and letters from the Beatles and their entourage. The Beatles spent nearly two weeks in Florida during their landmark tour of 1964, which included a concert at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.
'Learn from yesterday': Inmates at Polk Correctional Institution receive diplomas, certifications
Kealing is the author of five books on Florida culture and history, including “Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock.” He is a former TV news reporter for an Orlando station.
All lectures are free and open to the public. The events will be held in Branscomb Auditorium and begin at 7 p.m. except for the Strom lecture, which will take place in the Hollis Room. For more information, call 863-680-3001
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Pulitzer-winning author returns for Florida Southern Lecture Series
