3. A HERALD-TRIBUNE MEDIA GROUP NEWSPAPER-IN-EDUCATION PUBLICATION LOOKING FOR ANGOLA 3
Unearthing a Community
from the Past
It’s difficult to imagine that beneath our 21st
century urban sprawl of concrete covered land
there lays an incredible story. Until recently, their
experience of courage and determination to find
freedom was buried in a series of disconnected
historical documents, as well as murkily told in oral
histories by their removed descendents now living in
the Bahamas. The community called Angola, born
almost 200 years ago (1812), is considered to be the
largest Maroon community that ever existed – near
to a 1,000 temporary settlers (later known as Black
Seminoles) comprised of free blacks, escaped slaves
and Seminoles. This is a local story of people who
lived right here in our community. It’s important to
activate our imaginations to connect to these people
and their buried civilization. The act of connecting
our own lives to the heroes of the past can only serve
to strengthen our attitude and perspective – one that
steers us towards envisioning and realizing personal
goals – dreams that can be actualized in paralleling
the Angola spirit to our present day society and
personal lives.
The “Looking for Angola” project is steeped in
the theme of community. It started with the Angola
team of experts’ approach to educate the Manatee
and Sarasota county public about what they
planned to do. Their common goal was to respect
the communities in which they would be working.
The team knew it was vital to the successful growth
of the project to get the public excited about
Angola. They wanted to create a lot of goodwill
and credibility by moving slowly and involving the
public in the process of discovery. Because digging
would be invasive, it would be essential to create a
common understanding and convey genuine respect
for people’s land and property.
Local Sarasota County archaeologist Dan Hughes
explains, “The reason we do it is for the public. So
we can all share the experience, our history and fully
understand where we’ve been and hopefully, help us
to know where we’re going in the future.”
Since January, 2005, community citizens and
stakeholders have been informed and encouraged
to ask questions and share information about
the Looking for Angola project
through public lectures, discussions
and educational publications. A
public screening of the Looking for
Angola documentary short debuted in
February of 2006. Thatsummer and fall,
panel of experts discussions were held at
the University of Tampa and during the
Sarasota Reading Festival, among others.
From the beginning, an integral part of the
educationalcomponentforLookingforAngolawould
involvethelocalcountyschoolsandtheschoolinthe
Bahamas. Angola project Director Vickie Oldham
connected with Newspaper in Education program
coordinator Mary
Charland at
the Herald-Tribune. Together, they hatched the
idea for the publication of a three-part special section
series in the newspaper. Local educators enjoyed
precursors to the print series, which included an
archaeological field trip and boat tour conducted by
Dr. Cozzi, as well as teacher workshops to kick start
its implementation in social studies classrooms.
Year 2007 was ushered in with the distribution
of the first annual Looking for Angola student
publications: “Roots of Community”, “History”
and “Archaeology” from January through April.
_How many?__ students from Manatee, … counties
participated, along with the young generation
descendents of Angola living in Red Bays, Andros
Island, Bahamas.
Red Bays school Principal, Ms. Michele Bowleg
shared, “My teachers loved the tabloids, since it
provided a way for the children to learn about their
history in a new way. They were a great new learning
tool because they gave the children something they
could identify with directly, learning more about
themselves and their ancestors. We don’t have a
local newspaper here on the island. To see pictures of
their community and their classmates, people whom
they know in the newspaper, that was extremely
exciting and a first for them.”
ROOTS of COMMUNITY
community
[kuh-myoo-ni-tee]–noun
1. a social group of any size whose
members reside in a specific locality,
share government, and often have
a common cultural and historical
heritage.
2. a locality inhabited by such a group.
3. a social, religious, occupational,
or other group sharing common
characteristics or interests and
perceived or perceiving itself as distinct
in some respect from the larger society
within which it exists.
SETTING OBJECTIVES, CUES:
As you read this special
section, continue to relate your
understanding of the material
with the theme of community.
How does the story of Angola
fit each of the three dictionary
definitions of community? What parallels can you
draw between the communities of the past and
present: Angola, the Tampa Bay area and Red Bays,
Andros Island, Bahamas today?
Sunshine State Standards: LA(grades 6-12)161, LA(grades 6-
12)173, LA(grades 6-12)178, LA(grades 6-12)223
Red Bays student,
Amanda Barr, reads about the story
of her ancestors in the first Looking for Angola
special section, “Roots of Community”.
HOMEWORK:
Write a persuasive dialogue,
convincing a homeowner to allow
your team of experts to dig in
his/her backyard. Take time to
discuss this issue with your parents before writing,
as if it were their backyard being considered for
excavation.
Sunshine State Standards: LA(grades 6-12)431, LA(grades 6-
12)432, LA(grades 6-12)521, LA(grades 6-12)612, LA(grades
6-12)311, 312, 322, 331, 332, 353
Charland at
coordinator Mary
stakeholders have been informed and encouraged
to ask questions and share information about
February of 2006. That summer and fall,
panel of experts discussions were held at
the University of Tampa and during the
Sarasota Reading Festival, among others.
4. 4 LOOKING FOR ANGOLA A HERALD-TRIBUNE MEDIA GROUP NEWSPAPER-IN-EDUCATION PUBLICATION4 LOOKING FOR ANGOLA A HERALD-TRIBUNE MEDIA GROUP NEWSPAPER-IN-EDUCATION PUBLICATION
Dream project born:
“Looking for Angola”
Dr. Canter Brown, Jr., Lead Historian for the “Looking for Angola”
project, first became aware of a settlement, found out later to be called
Angola, when he was researching his book, “Florida’s Peace River
Frontier” in the late 1980s.
“I kept finding references, official documents and
newspaper reports, of a massive Indian slave raid into
Floridain1821. FromtheGeorgiaarchives,Iencountered
a collection of letters from the Creek Indian agency. I
found a flurry of correspondence about this raid and some
listing of the slaves who had been seized in this raid. Then
I got lucky. From a microfilm of the Charleston City
Gazette newspaper, I found a letter from a man describing
the raid. I slowly began piecing the story together. I
didn’t yet know the name of the settlement. There I got
lucky again.”
In 1992, I found some old microfilm of Spanish land grant appeals.
In it were references to Spanish land grants relative to Angola. Reading
them carefully, it became clear that they were referring to the site of the
Indian raid. Through continued persistence and luck I was able to piece
together the story pretty well. Although there are more documents to
be discovered, we now had a body of conclusive evidence that firmly
establishes the existence of Angola.
Enter “Looking for Angola” project director, Vickie Oldham. “I
learned about the existence of Angola about 16 years ago. While
producing another documentary about the history of Sarasota’s black
community, Dr. Canter Brown’s newly released book, “Florida’s Peace
River Frontier” was recommended to me. I met and interviewed Dr.
Brown for a show I hosted that aired on the ABC affiliate.
The story of Angola lingered in my mind until 2003. I was going
through a major challenge, asking myself the question, “What am I
going to do with my life?” Around the same time, I was completing the
documentary assignment. I read the story and gleaned from it in this
transition period, that I had to be resourceful, I needed to be courageous
and enterprising, and all of the things that the Angola people were. It
pushed me on to follow my passion in getting this story told…and look
what it has ballooned into. I want everyone to read the story and glean
from it what these ancestors will be speaking to each and every person
who knows about it.
Dr. Uzi Baram, the team’s historical archaeologist, heard about
the story of Angola from his conversations with local historians and
archaeologists. What became very evident to Dr. Baram “was how much
issues of race haunt the recent past of Sarasota and Manatee Counties.
[The story of Angola] really captured my imagination. I saw the article
by Canter Brown, Jr., and it seemed to me that Angola was obviously
very important to look for.”
Dr. Baram was contacted by Vickie Oldham and recognized that this
“firestorm” who came into his office one day was the person who could
pull it off. He believed that she “would do the project the way I though
it needed to be done, that is, with the African American community.”
Jumpbackto1996. Dr.RosalynHowardwasforgingherownacademic
path, which eventually would lead her to Angola. After spending a year
living with Black Seminole descendents in Red Bays on Andros Island,
Dr. Howard had evidence from the oral histories she had taken and
documents from the archives in the Bahamas that substantially agreed
that their ancestors had come from Florida. Not long after that, through
her association with Canter Brown, Jr., Dr. Howard’s research became
permanently connected to Vickie Oldham’s fascination with Angola.
For Howard, it figured to be the place of origin in Florida for the Black
Seminoles in Red Bays and for Oldham, this Bahamian link provided a
living testimony to the spirit of Angola.
The Dream Team
“Looking for Angola” has developed its own phenomena in terms of
its team of collaborating scholars and educators. Extraordinary people
in their fields of expertise with unique skills and knowledge have come
together as one in the quest to uncover the history of Angola.
Dr.CanterBrownexplained,“Thewallsbetweenacademicdisciplines
can be really high and that’s a shame. All of us are connected in the
“Looking for Angola” project. We have been working hand in hand,
with no desire for conflict or the attitude of guarding your own turf, and
that’s truly special.”
Dr. Uzi Baram, the team’s historical archaeologist, will tell you with a
grateful demeanor while laughing at the same time that Project Director,
Vickie Oldham, came into his office one day “like a force of nature”.
Her passion for the story of Angola that spoke to her during a crossroads
in her life, along with her media and marketing savvy, have put this
dream team in the crosshairs of public attention.
A Hatching of DREAMS
Dig Deeper
Go online to www.lookingforangola.
com and click on the “Looking for Angola”
documentary link. Or you can access the
DVD in your school. Before viewing the
22-minute movie (Produced by Vickie Oldham in 2005),
write down an event or concept you expect to be covered and
two questions you have, which you’d like to be answered by
the content of the documentary. Compare your notes to what
you view on screen. Discuss, and then draft a newspaper-style
movie review of the documentary.
Sunshine State Standards: LA()162, LA()171, LA()311–353, LA()421, LA()521-522,
LA()632
Note to Teachers: Create a rubric for evaluating students’ writing and
to set up expectations for meeting the criteria of a newspaper-style review,
modeled in the Herald-Tribune.
5. A HERALD-TRIBUNE MEDIA GROUP NEWSPAPER-IN-EDUCATION PUBLICATION LOOKING FOR ANGOLA 5
The “Looking for Angola” team of experts is truly a model for the
ultimate interdependency of academic disciplines for the greatest
outcomes. Their success is not only of a professional collaboration, but
also an achievement of like minds. Together, they each lead with their
human conviction and the dream to have this story told.
Red Bays Dream
Many of the people in the community call him teacher. Reverend
Bertram A. Newton’s history lesson was prompted in 1968, when a
road was finally cut into Red Bays, connecting it to the outside world
of Andros Island in the Bahamas. It was an auspicious time for the
community. Reverend Newton knew it would bring great change
to Red Bays. Now retired after 40 years of service, Newton was the
principal of the primary school back then. His history lesson for his
people, and those with virgin access to Red Bays, took the form of a self-
published, six page pamphlet. It was the first ever attempt to document
their oral history. Naturally, Reverend Bertram is enthused about any
project that would help promote and teach their proud oral history,
as was his intention 40 years ago. The “Looking for Angola project”
may have taken his dream many steps further than he could have ever
imagined.
The outside world for Red Bays now extends across the ocean to the
United States, as well as around the world. A new road has been forged
into Red Bays with a boomed in satellite connection. Pending access
to this isolated community from the Tampa Bay area will come in the
form of digital roads, linking students by computer. But first comes
snail mail, until additional computer equipment can be supplied to the
Red Bays primary school. Another dream to come!
Black Seminole Floridians called to a dream
This past summer, a dream was born for Matthew Griffin and his
great Uncle John Griffin, Black Seminole descendents living in Florida.
Matthew is a high school student who shares passion for his ancestry
with fellow Black Seminole descendent, Dr. Rosalyn Howard. Matthew
traveled to Red Bays with Dr. Howard in July, to be steeped in the
living history of Angola. His great uncle John feels it is a calling to be
involved with the “Looking for Angola” project.
“It’s like someone in my family chose Matthew and I. What I am
amazed about is that people out of the past are guiding all of us together
for a common cause, a spiritual hand leading us to present a story that
never really was presented before. I believe our ancestors are urging
us…it’s like they are in a state of unrest, and it seems as though they
might be restful after the story is really brought out. I believe Florida’s
history is incomplete because all the different segments of the history of
its people have not been told.”
Dream for the Future
Graced by a fortunate string of events, along with miracles along the
way (yet to mention in this special section!), it’s obvious the time is
right to have this story told. So many things have found connections
and so many people have bonded with the story and to each other to
make it happen. Dear reader, we hope that you, too, will become an
integral part of the unfolding of this story. Your engagement can happen
for a variety of reasons. Whatever the motivation, we encourage you
to listen carefully to the story and act upon its dream for today and
generations to come.
Matthew
Griffin with
Rev. Dr.
Bertram A.
Newton,
Pastor of New
Salem Baptist
Church in Red
Bays.
Dr. Rosalyn
Howard in
traditional
Black Seminole
dress.
