Peering into Tallahassee’s Past
by Rachel Olson
Are you curious about Tallahassee’s earliest history? Do you want to learn about the diversity of territorial Florida’s past – and of modern Florida’s present? Do you want to experience free food, free dancing, and free learning?
If any of these queries pique your interest, venture out to Mission San Luis on the 21st and 22nd of this month. Once there, you will find the Tallahassee Historical Society and Theater with a Mission (TWAM) have joined forces to bring you the “Bicentennial Commemoration of the Founding of Tallahassee Symposium” – a star-studded speaker series celebrating Tallahassee’s bicentennial anniversary. Scholars and actors alike will draw you back in time into the foundation and growth of Florida’s capital. Over the course of the two days, you will learn about the roles of indigenous Floridians, women, African Americans, and governors in shaping our city. Prepare to discuss, dine, and dance your way through early Tallahassee as TWAM weaves authentic characters from Territorial times and hilarious comedies from Spanish Florida into this rich lineup of compelling speakers.
Festivities will begin at noon on Thursday the 21st. Join us with minds hungry for knowledge and stomachs hungry for Halisi Africa’s delicious demonstration of African American cooking in Florida 200 years ago! Once Halisi Africa has captured your taste buds, take a seat and prepare to have your eyes and ears enraptured. Watch Mercedes Vidal, a free black citizen of Pensacola, step straight out of the pages of history and onto the stage in order to introduce the series’ keynote speaker: Dr. Larry Rivers. Listen as Dr. Rivers illuminates the legacy of Mercedes and the Free Black communities of early Florida with his talk, “African Americans and the Early Development of Tallahassee.”
Dr. Larry Rivers comes to Mission San Luis as a respected scholar and a distinguished professor of history at Florida A&M University. His expertise in the history of black Floridians, slave and free, is demonstrated by his books, including the award-winning works Slavery in Florida and Rebels and Runaways. After hearing this expertise laid out before you, take the history into your own hands through a Q&A, facilitated once more by the historic Mercedes Vidal. When you have fully satiated your curiosity through Dr. Rivers’s expert answers, take a brief step away to reenergize yourself with coffee (a delight to both historic and modern Floridians) before the next speaker draws you back in.
Thursday’s schedule features four expert speakers, two meals, and a tour of Mission San Luis. At 7pm that night, you can crown the first day of the Symposium with a suite of three 15-minute Spanish comedies from the 1600s, translated into English spiced with extracts from the original Spanish by TWAM, and served up with authentic sweets from Territorial Tallahassee. Leaving Mission San Luis with a sweet taste in your mouth on Thursday night will get you ready for the Symposium’s second day, which picks up bright and early with Territorial breakfast treats at 9:30am on Friday morning. Friday’s schedule proceeds to feature four more expert speakers, a free paella lunch (with lessons in Territorial Florida’s famous “Spanish Dance”), a Q&A with all eight of the Symposium speakers, and a haunting “Florida, Farewell” in song at 5pm.
To take full advantage of all the facets of this Founding Tallahassee Symposium, keep your eyes peeled online. Free registration for the speaker series is available at www.tallahasseehistoricalsociety.org, and early registration includes free meals! For updates on registration, more details about the speaker series, and insight into other bicentennial celebrations, visit Theater with a Mission’s website (www.theaterwithamission.com) and follow TWAM on FB, IG, Twitter, and Tik-Tok.
