WORDS Tara Crutchfield
PHOTOGRAPH Amy Sexson
Black History in Polk County Each February, the Polk County History Center (PCHC) releases their annual evergreen guide called “Discovering Black History in Polk County.” The guide takes visitors through the exhibits, touching on the Black men and women who made history in Polk County and throughout Central Florida as pioneers and leaders in community, industry, services, military, and the courts. Curator of Education and Visitor Engagement for the History Center, Jayme Jamison, notes the guide has been a staple at the museum for the better part of ten years. It changes annually to reflect temporary exhibits or a narrative change based on direction from the American Association for State and Local History or the American Alliance of Museums. Guests interested in “Discovering Black History in Polk County” can simply checkin at the PCHC rotunda and request a guide during visiting hours. There is no admission charge to explore the museum and meander through Polk County’s past. The History Center is housed in the Old Polk County Courthouse. The site dates back to the late 1800s and the original building to 1908. In the 1990s, the museum opened to the public, providing exhibitions about Polk County’s history. Traveling exhibits from the Smithsonian or Florida Humanities Council often come through the PCHC as they partner with the state humanities council. The history center routinely offers programming for its visitors. Current programming open for visitor participation includes a Genealogy Speaker Series centered around researching family history. The other visitor program is called Zoom and Vroom, a post-pandemic twist on what was formerly a lunch-and-learn series that would feature a topic of discussion and question and answer segment. Now, topics are presented virtually every month with question and answer
opportunities, and include a driving map with half to full-day routes of different historic sites related to the topic that families can follow. Coinciding with Black History Month, the Zoom and Vroom theme for February is ‘Go West Polk Countian: Exploring Kathleen, Lakeland, and Mulberry,’ spotlighting historic Black American communities and sites of historical significance. THE GUIDE The comprehensive guide walks guests through the history center’s galleries, providing a narrative to people and points of significance to Black history in Polk County. The back of the guide features a section titled “Explore the Heritage Trail” with the address and information of sites including Florence Villa, Pughsville, and Moorehead Markers, as well as the L.B. Brown House, Lake Wales North Avenue Historic District, and the African American Heritage Museum. Discovery starts on the first floor, west wing, in The Pioneer Exhibit. “Florida was a frontier,” explained Jamison. “If you were brave enough to set up a homestead between the wild animals and what ended up becoming the Seminole Wars, you were rewarded with land. It was called the Armed Occupation Act.” “The Seminole Wars were very influential in the state of Florida. There were three wars fought, and part of what came out of that was the establishment of new communities. Some of the Black communities in Florida were runaway slaves; they were known as ‘Black Seminoles,’” she said. “From that, Florida becomes a state, and Polk County becomes a county right before the Civil War breaks out. What we see is a mix of freedmen, Black Seminoles, all converging in Polk County.” A man of note from that period is Prince Johnson. According to Jamison, Johnson was an enslaved man in Florida during the Civil War. When he was freed after the war, he continued to work with Jacob Summerlin in the cattle industry, eventually acquiring land. “Because he was a land-owning man, he was able to participate in the charter to make Bartow a city,” said Jamison. The charter for the City of Bartow, signed by Prince Johnson, is kept in the upstairs historical library. “It’s phenomenal to see that there were not just Black men voting in the community, but they were participating. They were the community. Prince Johnson is a great example of that,” she said. According to Jamison, another black pioneer is Robert B. Patterson, famous for his work with the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. “While they specialized in helping Black Americans obtain life insurance and mortgages, the company also established American Beach. Located on Amelia Island, American Beach was one of only a few beaches in the Southeast open to Black Americans and would have likely been featured in the Green-Book.” Historic Black communities Moorehead, Florence Villa, and Pughsville, are featured on this leg of the tour. Hanging here are a few shots from The LaFrancine Burton Collection compiled by Lakeland resident and historian LaFrancine Burton. Her
