Week Twelve: "Radio Ga Ga"

Hello, reader! This week, I went on the air for the very first time! As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, I met Mr. John Perry of the Caribbean Rhythms Radio Network at the Museum of the Military History through my contact, Mr. Louvette Williams. After we enjoyed a long conversation on the subject of Michael Gladden Jr. and my digital archive, Mr. Perry invited me to speak with him on his radio show, “Life Raw & Real.” We subsequently scheduled our conversation for Wednesday, April 1st, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. I will admit, reader, that speaking engagements cause me a lot of anxiety. However, as Mr. Perry advised me, the only way to become comfortable with public speaking is through exposure.

During the radio show, Mr. Perry and I discussed life after the Ocoee Massacre of 1920 and the need for strengthened community bonds in mid-1920s Apopka, spearheaded by the youthful and entrepreneurial spirit of Michael Gladden Jr. I introduced my Michael Gladden Jr. Digital Archive to the audience and gave a history of Mr. Gladden and his friends and family. We also discussed the necessity of record-keeping in Black communities in this day and age. By Mr. Perry’s advice, I suggested to the audience how they might recover and record pieces of family and community history. Above all, I emphasized that everyone has a voice and a history. I recommended to our listeners that they start recording aspects of their life that may seem unimportant or mundane, but, like the Gladden Collection, contain missing “puzzle pieces” that simply aren’t available in existing archival spaces. Pushing through my nerves, I made it through my first radio appearance! After the fact, I was delighted to learn that Mr. Perry had intended for my appearance this week to be the first of an ongoing series. I look forward to continuing the conversation with Mr. Perry in the future!

A Polaroid photograph of Marie Stapler Gladden holding a clown stuffed animal, c. 1999.

Over on the Michael Gladden Jr. Digital Archive, I reached 110 object pages! This week, I mainly focused on examining the Gladden family scrapbooks and figuring out which photographs could be safely removed from the scrapbooks. Back in 2003, Ms. Boykin decided to keep the recovered photographs in a photo album with pages covered in adhesive, which made removal particularly challenging. I carefully checked which objects were only lightly attached or had overlapping corners with other photos. With gentle prying, I was able to successfully retrieve 10 photographs and scan them into the Gladden Family Photographic Collection. One of these newly-scanned photos was a personal victory for me. When I first read Marie Stapler Gladden’s 2004 obituary in the Orlando Sentinel, the writer mentioned that Mrs. Gladden was a dedicated collector of “clowns and butterflies.” Since then, I’ve searched the Gladden Collection for evidence of either collection. This week, I got lucky! While sorting photos, I came across a 1999 Polaroid of 96-year-old Mrs. Gladden holding a stuffed clown toy, taken by her nephew, William “Perrine Slim” Gladden Jr. Excited, I sent a picture of it to Ms. Boykin. She informed me that Mrs. Gladden’s clown collection numbered in the hundreds, but after she died in 2004, her niece donated every piece of her clown collection. Though saddened by this bittersweet news, I’m glad that one artifact so sentimental to Mrs. Gladden survived.

Over the weekend, I plan on laying the groundwork for a web page on the history of Black Apopka, a short biography for Marie Stapler Gladden, and lastly, an acknowledgements page to celebrate everyone who has personally supported this project. See you next week, reader!