At an antebellum plantation, during Black History Month, over 100 people came to a lecture about slavery on Saturday.
“Enslavement in Alachua County” was hosted at Historic Haile Homestead, where president and historian Karen Kirkman led the tour of the house, telling the story of the Haile family and the enslaved laborers who built their home.
Guests then gathered in a room with too few chairs for the unexpectedly high turnout to listen to Dr. Courtney Moore Taylor’s lecture.
The second of four presentations in the series “The Other Book” aligned with Black History Month.
“Before schools were integrated, Black teachers taught from two books... the official book sanctioned by the government, and the other book, teaching the truth about Black history. This course offers an experience of the history of Alachua County from the Other Book,” according to the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project (ACCRP).
Each installment, held the second Saturday of each month January through April, aims to take Alachua County residents through African American history. The four presentations follow the chronology of key eras, from dispelling myths about pre-colonial Africa to the antebellum years of slavery this past Saturday, to the Jim Crow era next month and the Civil Rights movement following.
The series has three cosponsors: the ACCRP, Alachua County NAACP and the Racial Justice Committee of United Church of Gainesville. A grant from the Community Foundation of North Central Florida also helps to fund it.
Jackie Davis, member of ACCRP and one of the key organizers for "The Other Book," said the Kanapaha Plantation “just made sense” as the venue for the second lecture, covering life in antebellum America.
The Haile family legacy is documented in grave detail, etched into 12,500 words, the famous “Talking Walls” in the Haile Homestead House. The legacy of the 66 enslaved laborers at the plantation has been recovered from bare-bone census data, the 1860 Slave Schedule, and first names listed on the deeds that sold them. But the preservation and study of the house’s history are dedicated to the people who built it.
The words: “The house stands today over 150 years later as a testament to the skills of the craftsmen that built it: a silent tribute to the enslaved people who labored here, making Kanapaha a prosperous Sea Island cotton plantation” are displayed in the final room of the tour.
How did the Hailes treat their slaves? That’s the question audiences always ask, Kirkman says, but there is no record to answer it.
“We don’t have any specific answers, but the fact that they owned slaves speaks for itself,” she said.
Davis said she wanted the experience to be immersive for the audience, so the tour of the House with the “Talking Walls” proceeded Dr. Taylor’s lecture on enslavement in Alachua County.
“People are not always open to hearing the truth,” Dr. Taylor said. An ongoing theme throughout the tour and speech was the legacy of slavery, the way it impacts society today and the unwillingness of some members of the community to confront that reality.
“The disparities of today are the legacy of disparity,” Davis said.
The presentation covered the pre-civil war era between 1800 and 1861 and was rooted in the daily realities the slave life cycles. Toward the start of the lecture, she explained how ingrained slavery was in daily life, when magazines helped instruct enslavers, answering questions like “how many lashes?”
Dr. Taylor emphasized an empathetic perspective, sharing stories that encapsulate the transition from childhood to teenage years. The story of four-year-old Elizabeth got some giggles from the audience, beginning with her struggle to put a white baby back in its cradle by using a shovel. When seen, Elizabeth was beaten, abuse that became daily as she grew.
It was not uncommon for enslaved boys and girls to wear nothing, according to Dr. Taylor. She shared stories of young girls hitting puberty and the fear mothers felt when their daughters bled for the first time. She then quoted Mattie Curtis, a young, enslaved girl who said, “I went naked until I was fourteen years old. I was naked like that when my nature come to me.”
Dr. Taylor reminded her audience that these were men and women with crushes. According to her, one enslaved man was offended when asked if he experienced those kinds of feelings.
“Why would you even ask me that? Even chickens like each other!”
Kathy Dobrony, a retired history teacher, praised the lecture’s ability to humanize history.
“People just think about slavery," she said. "Not evolution, not the frog in the beaker.”
The erasure of Black history from mainstream education, especially the acceleration of censorship ongoing in American schools, was the reason for the event in the first place, according to Davis. She said the high turnout of just over 100 attendees from the projected 30 to 40 is evidence people seek to educate themselves on the topic of Black history.
According to a press release about the event, “In the current political climate of book banning and “whitewashing,” this lecture series offers an experience of the history of Alachua County from the Other Book. … The intention is to raise the awareness that what we have been taught is not the whole story, and sometimes one must dig deeper and go to the original source material to learn the truth of our shared past.
“Our hope is that when participants leave this experience, as they travel around the county they will look at familiar places with new eyes and new awareness, and that this new understanding will help us to create a better shared future.”
In 2023, The Florida State Board of Education enacted new standards on teaching slavery in school, which include a lesson plan suggesting that enslaved people somewhat “benefitted” from their experiences. In November 2023, 300 books were banned from school libraries, including the work of Toni Morrison and her novels “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved.”
When guests entered and left, they were greeted by a table selling “Black Lives Matter” shirts and giving away bookmarks that read “I DONATE BANNED BOOKS” and “FREE PEOPLE READ FREELY.”
Sue Hartman and Sally Simonis are both members of the United Church at Gainesville.
Hartman described the censorship of black history in formal education “Heartbreaking.” Simonis said she felt “Frustrated.”
“It’s building, things happen slowly, then all at once,” said Hartman, referring to what seems to be escalating censorship. She continued, describing the importance of the event and learning exactly how history impacts us today. She said that in the larger community, people are reluctant to face slavery’s aftereffects. “Severe political backlash to what we created and never resolved.”
The next experience is March 8, covering the Jim Crow Era in Alachua County. It's scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the Alachua County Administration Building.