Week Nine: Collections Connections

Hello, reader! After the excitement of the Georgetown History Harvest, I dedicated my time this week to fully completing the Apopka Negro Business League Collection. All 18 records relating to this league from the Gladden Collection are now available to view online! One fascinating artifact from the update of this digital collection is a typewritten document from the Apopka Negro Business League announcing the death of a respected elder, Zack Turk. Zack Turk was the brother of Apopka’s famous Rev. Zephaniah, who founded Pleasant View Baptist Church and was responsible for the great migration of Black Americans from Alabama to Apopka in the 1930s. Originally born in Auburn, Alabama, Zack Turk was known as "Old Turk" to residents and, according to the announcement, enjoyed riding his horse and wagon along the Orlando Highway, where he would successfully sell chickens and eggs to wandering customers. Mr. Turk also owned a bar and restaurant called “Little Harlem” in Apopka. Aside from his entrepreneurial pursuits, he served as one of the first trustees of the Booker T. Washington Institute (what would become Tuskegee University). He was also directly involved in the establishment of Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School, alongside Mr. Hungerford himself. Working through this collection of records, I am extremely grateful that these documents survived to provide evidence of a bustling parallel economy in Apopka’s Black business district. Very rarely do these documents spanning over two decades surface from communities such as Apopka, compared to other Black “Wall Streets” of this era. I am proud to say that, with the completion of this collection, the Michael Gladden Jr. Digital Archive now totals 80 objects!

1929 Business League Announcement

Next week, Spring Break is upon us! As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, Dr. Lester secured a meeting between herself, me, Ms. Boykin, and David Benjamin of Special Collections to discuss housing options for the Gladden Collection. In preparation, I discussed strategies with my Collections Manager over at the Museum of Military History in Kissimmee, Harrison Smith. Harrison brought it to my attention that if Special Collections does not show interest in housing and preserving the Gladden Collection, the Orange County Regional History Center would be a more than suitable alternative. He very kindly put me in contact with their Collections Manager, Kara Kovalev, who is excited to go over the specifics of the collection together and discuss Michael Gladden Jr.’s significance to Central Florida Black history and beyond. I look forward to scheduling a meeting with Kara soon and am eager to introduce this new avenue with both Dr. Lester and Ms. Boykin to determine the collection’s future housing.

In addition to making connections in collections, I had the honor of speaking with one of the Military History Museum’s dedicated board members, Mr. Louvette “Lou” Williams. Mr. Lou co-founded the National Veterans Parade in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a government employee for decades, and is part of the Osceola chapter of the NAACP. Passionate about Black history, Mr. Lou and I sat down to discuss the Michael Gladden Jr. Digital Archive, where he expressed interest in supporting my research alongside other members of the Osceola chapter. Tagging along with Mr. Lou were Tiffany Jeffers, another board member of the NAACP and candidate for Kissimmee Commissioner Seat 4, and Congressman Darren Soto’s Military and Veterans Liaison, Stanassia Sammy. I anticipate meeting the chapter president, Rev. Nina Hill, to discuss how my research can best serve the NAACP Osceola Branch.

I can’t wait to tell you the results of my upcoming meetings, reader! See you after Spring Break with some (hopefully) good news!