The Timucuan Parks Foundation has been awarded a $10,000 grant for programming that highlights the historic and continued role slavery plays in the U.S.
Felicia Boyd, outreach and program director for the foundation, said the focus will be to show “that the enslaved peoples had a rich culture, that they were resilient, and that slavery impacts our society today.”
The National Park Service’s Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Northeast Jacksonville is home to the Kingsley Plantation, Florida’s oldest standing plantation house, with original slave cabins made from tabby, a building material made from crushed oyster shells.
“While tours of this historic site can’t be done in person, we are working with our national park partner to develop ways to showcase the African American history of the area through virtual events and programs,” Boyd said.
One of the programs the grant will support is a podcast produced in partnership with Groundwork Jacksonville’s Green Team Youth Corps.
“Throughout the summer, the teens have been working on an audio presentation, or radio show as the teens refer to it, that tells the story of the enslaved at Kingsley Plantation in a unique and creative way,” Boyd said.
The grant money will also be used to help pay for the annual Kingsley Heritage Celebration and Harvest Day in 2021.
The grant comes from the 400 Years of African American History Commission, which was created in 2018 to plan and develop events throughout the country to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
