The Florida History Podcast

We discuss Fort Matanzas which is located about 18 miles south of St Augustine.

We discuss Fort Mose, which beyond being a defensive fort around St Augustine was the first free African-American settlement in what is now the USA.

In our second episode of our series on Florida forts we discuss the Castillo de San Marcos and defending Spanish St Augustine of the colonial period.

We kick off our series on Florida forts with Fort Caroline which is now a National Monument in Duval County.

Kartik's new book Florida and the American Revolution is now for sale at Amazon.com!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGZ87YN4

We take a week off from history to replay Kartik's recent appearance on the Beyond Politics podcast discussing Ron DeSantis reset and why Donald Trump is (at the time of this podcast) cruising to renomination by the GOP.

We'll return to history discussions next week.

We divert from history this week to talk Climate Action and policy solutions with former Congressman Bob Inglis (R-SC) who runs an organization that is seeking to facilitate free market solutions to the Climate Change crisis. He's focusing heavily, as you would expect on Florida.

On August 4, Robert Buccellato's sequel to Rum Runners and Moonshiners of Old Florida will be released. We discuss why a second book which focuses more on south Florida and other issues related to prohibition and the depression era in Florida.

In Episode 219 Kartik Krishnaiyer discusses his new book which dives into Florida's interactions with the British in the pre Revolutionary War period. Included in this discussion is the critical role runaway slaves played in Florida making the colony fundamentally different in the colonial period than the rest of North America. Krishnaiyer also discusses the cosmopolitan aspect of St Augustine when compared to other North American cities of the 1600's and 1700's.

Josh Liller joins us once again this week, this time to discuss the 1838 Battles of the Loxahatchee River, the last traditional set piece battles of the Second Seminole War.

We're joined by Josh Liller the Historian and Collections Manager for the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum to discuss the Jupiter Lighthouse and its unique history as well as the role General George Meade played in its construction, the history of World War II operations in the area and the historic museum and exhibits on the ground.

Check out Kartik Krishnaiyer's new book which is available for Kindle or in Paperback on Amazon today!

Ryan Ray joins us to discuss one of the most unique and important locations in Florida- Fort Jefferson and Dry Tortugas National Park.

We discuss Florida's cession to the United States, Jackson as territorial governor and other loose ends.

The Monroe Administration is split on Jackson's invasion of Florida. Some like John C. Calhoun despite being proponents of slavery are concerned about the reaction from the British and the Spanish. But an unlikely source comes to Jackson's rescue.

We get into the heart of the Jackson conquest of Florida. Illegal encroachment on Spanish-held territory and racially-motivated brutality against runaway slaves as well as Seminole people characterize this period. We also discuss the influence of Britain on the conflict and their relationship with the native people of Florida and Georgia.

The Spanish had invited the British to garrison troops in Pensacola in 1814. Meanwhile Andrew Jackson is fighting Creek Native Americans in Georgia and pursues them into Florida illegally. Britain and the US are in a declared war. You can guess what happens next. Jackson defeats the British and Spanish in Pensacola and begins his five year conquest of what remains of Spanish Florida.

In 1812 the Madison Administration tacitly backed a hostile rebellion in East Florida.

We discuss the short-lived Republic of West Florida and the US annexation of areas of Florida west of the Perdido River. These locales are now in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

In the second episode of our series on Andrew Jackson and the Conquest of Florida, we discuss The Louisiana Purchase and how it impacted Florida. US negotiators were more interested in acquiring Florida than the vast wilderness of the west at the time.

On our first pod of a new series, we discuss why the United States was so committed to stealing Florida from Spain in the early 1800's. We cover the period from the Revolution until the 1820's in this series and discuss the broader themes we will explore in future pods in this episode.

Part 2 of the Beyond Politics discussion we started last week.

For the next two weeks we're going to play part one and part two of Kartik's recent appearance on the Beyond Politics podcast discussing Florida's evolution from progressive state in the 1970's, to neoliberal/DLC state in the 1980's and 1990's to competitive leans conservative state in the 2000's to Tea Party state in the 2010's and MAGA Central in the 2020's.

We discuss Julia Tuttle and Bertha Palmer today on the Florida History Podcast, and discuss how both coaxed the railroads on either coast south from their previous terminus' (West Palm Beach and Tampa) toward to Miami and Sarasota.

We discuss one of the most remarkable female Floridians of all time, May Mann Jennings, First Lady from 1901-1905, who became a leading conservationist and activist as well.

We discuss Florida's first female member of Congress, who was the daughter of one of most famous political figures in American history.

Continuing our Women's History Month theme we discuss Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most famous Floridians in multiple fields. 

This week for Women's History Month 2023 we talk about two very famous Florida women who were both writers. 

On this Women's History Month themed Florida History Podcast we discuss Marjorie Harris Carr's fight against the Cross Florida Barge Canal and her impact in influencing the politics of Florida. 

We discuss the 1889 visit to Florida of Frederick Douglass one of the greatest Americans in history.

Florida played a large role in the Civil Rights Movement - and was a critical stage in the fight over the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

We continue our Black History Month series with a look at a dark, dark period in Florida's History. The 1920's until the 1960's. Key figures are NAACP President Harry T. Moore who was the victim of an assassination in Titusville in 1951 and Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall whose control over local police departments in Central Florida and connections to the Ku Klux Klan allowed Florida to be the lynching capital of the United States in this period. 

In this second episode of our Black History Month 2023 series, we discuss runaway slaves escaping to British-held territories in the 1800's.

To kick of Black History Month at the Florida History Podcast we discuss several topics we have previously touched upon in greater detail - the impact of runaway slaves on Spanish Florida in the 18th Century, the free black settlement of Fort Mose and the critical role free African-Americans took in defending Florida from British conquest. 

The Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park is in Flagler County and yields a lot of history to discuss from the early 1800's in Florida.

We discuss the history of Florida's State University System which was founded in 1905. 

We discuss President McKinley's 1899 visit to Tallahassee, including the State Capitol and Florida A&M University. This was the first ever Presidential visit to Florida's capital city.  

In this episode of The Florida History Podcast we look back at the enormous contributions of Mary McLeod Bethune, who the state has honored as a designee in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington DC.

Ryan Ray, Chair of the Leon Democrats joins us to discuss the collapse of the Democratic Party in Florida elections. 

We discuss the events leading up to the opening of the Sunshine State Parkway (now Florida's Turnpike) in 1957 and then changes to the road in the 1960's. 

On New Years Eve 1896, a ship with a famous passenger, Stephen Crane and lots of armaments for Cuban revolutionaries left Jacksonville for Havana. It never made it. We tell the story in this podcast. 

We discuss the famous 1715 Treasure Fleet which washed up near modern day Vero Beach and the character of Henry Jennings a British privateer. turned pirate who was instrumental in the theft of some of the riches from the fleet. 

In a short episode this week, we discuss the 1883 Ocala Fire which destroyed two luxury hotels and six city blocks. Ocala was a frontier town at the time but was rebuilt and became a key Florida city in the aftermath. 

On Episode 185 we discuss the Koreshan Unity a religious movement that empowered women that set up a town on the banks of the Estero River in Lee County. The area is now part of the Koreshan State Historic Park. 

On this episode we discuss the building of the Overseas Railroad from Miami to Key West - an engineering marvel.

In this week's Florida History Podcast, we dive into Jeb Bush historic 1998 victory that ushered in an era of GOP dominance at the state level.

Bob Martinez is elected in a banner GOP year that began the state's drift toward the GOP.

A special treat this week on The Florida History Podcast as Voting Rights Attorney Nick Warren, from the ACLU Florida joins us to take us through the odyssey of voting rights in Jacksonville and Duval County since the 1967 consolidation charter up until today and the court decision regarding City Council and School Board districts.