The African American experience in Florida from the Spanish era to today, within the regional and national context, is presented by Florida A&M University in original scholarly essays and classic selections in Go Sound the Trumpet! Selections in Florida’s African American History, edited by David H. Jackson, Jr. and Canter Brown, Jr.

Contributing scholars include: Canter Brown, Jr., Titus Brown, Willie L. Butler, Rick Campbell, Darryl K. Clare, Sylvester Cohen, Jr., E. Murrell Dawson, Reginald K. Ellis, Juanita Gaston, Theodore Hemmingway, Tameka B. Hobbs, Jonathan Hutchins, David H. Jackson, Jr., Shirletta Kinchen, and Larry E. Rivers, Jr.

Section 1, “Spanish Florida, 1513-1821,” introduces us to the African American heritage in the state. Jane Landers emphasizes the value accorded slaves in 17th century St. Augustine, of whom the Crown stressed, “so that for lack of them, royal service does not cease,” while Canter Brown, Jr., in an overlay of the 1812-1821 era, brings alive the short-lived black community of Angola at the Manatee River.

Section 2, “Antebellum Era, 1821-1861,” chronicles the complicated, diverse, and changing nature of life for blacks as the Cotton South emerged. For example, Larry E. Rivers in “A Troublesome Property: Master-Slave Relations in Florida, 1821-1865” examines the interaction between bondsmen and masters, in which the master might claim the body of his property but could never quite dominate his or her soul.

Section 3, “Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877,” relates the obstacles freedmen confronted and how their leaders of diverse views reacted to John Wallace’s admonition, “Go sound the trumpet, ring the bell!” Articles on Rev. James Page and Jonathan C. Gibbs provide cases of how dissimilar men achieved their aims, while Tameka B. Hobbs provides a study on racial violence in “Strange Fruit: An Overview of Lynching in America.”

Section 4, “Gilded Age Through Progressive Age, 1877-1914,” examines the emergence of African Americans, who, despite Redemption and Jim Crow, achieved success in various professions and founded institutions of lasting significance. Accordingly, John Willis Menard’s poem “Florida” is followed by an essay on Dr. William J. Gunn, a pioneer physician and surgeon. Detailed also are educators and the founding of historically black colleges and universities, i.e., Edwards Waters College, featuring its women educators, and Florida A& M College and its predecessor institutions, emphasizing President Nathan B. Young and his elationships with Booker T. Washington and State Superintendent William N. Sheats, of whom David H. Jackson, Jr. expounds upon the former in his March 1912 tour of Florida.

Section 5, “The Era of the World Wars, 1914-1945,” analyzes this period primarily through the contributions of its black women, featuring an essay on the northern migration, which led to the emergence of many of its women into industrial workers, and concluding with the contributions of four women who helped forge Florida’s future, Mary McLeod Bethune, Eartha M. M. White, Clara Frye, and Blanche Armwood.

Section 6, “The Post-War World and the Civil Rights Struggle, 1945-2005,” concludes with a review of the civil rights movement in Florida and black student activism in Tallahassee, Pan-Africanism, and Representative Meeks’ protest of the 2000 presidential election.

Go Sound the Trumpet! is a much needed addition to Florida history as an African American history reader, ideally suited for schools. Clearly written, it contains 367 pages, 55 illustrations, and index. It can be ordered from the University of Tampa Press, 401 West Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL 33606, 813-253-6266, or online at University of Tampa Press.

This review was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.), 5B, September 21, 2005.

September 14, 2005