ReportWire

Tag: Black History Month 2025

  • Bealsville native starts farmers market to keep his family history alive

    [ad_1]

    MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — One farmer in Bealsville is keeping the history of the small town alive.

    What You Need To Know

    • Sylvester McCloud started Bealsville Farmers and Flea Market earlier this month to continue his family’s long history in farming

    • McCloud says farming in his family started with his great-great-grandmother, Mary Reddick, and her son, Alfred Beal, whom Bealsville is named after
    • He says Reddick was one of 12 slaves who were freed in 1865

    • Sylvester is also working on a newspaper that will focus on the history of Bealsville, which he hopes to launch in March

    Bit by bit, Sylvester McCloud is farming, pulling what he knows from his roots.

    “When I was eight years old, Dad had us in the backyard doing this,” he said. “It’s been in the family for over two hundred years.”

    But this is new.

    He just opened the Bealsville Farmers and Flea Market earlier this month.

    Sylvester McCloud’s family helping with harvesting for the farmers market. (Spectrum News/Julia Hazel)

    It operates on the honor system: people come, pick their crops, and leave cash behind.

    “I got collard greens, I got mustards, I got turnips, I got cabbage,” he said.

    It’s a business that he’s growing from the heart.

    “It feels natural. It feels good that I can do something my ancestors did,” McCloud said.

    He says farming in his family started with his great-great-grandmother, Mary Reddick, and her son, Alfred Beal, whom Bealsville is named after.

     

    McCloud says Reddick was one of 12 slaves who were freed in 1865.

    “They did that for the overseer, then the overseer said, ‘I can’t pay you, but we can sharecrop.’ So they got their land, and they sharecropped,” he said.

    Now, he’s carrying on the family legacy, but with the help of modern technology.

    McCloud has a Facebook Marketplace page, where he lists his produce.

    “We are getting busy,” he said.

    He’s also getting smarter and thinking about what this food market could bring to the community.

    “I hope to get some of the youngsters out here to take an interest,” he said.

    Much like the rain fuels the soil, McCloud hopes that the history of his family in farming fuels continued growth for his new business.

    McCloud is also working on a newspaper that will focus on the history of Bealsville, which he hopes to launch in March.

    [ad_2]

    Julia Hazel

    Source link

  • Beloved Bartow artist honored for contributions during Black History Month

    [ad_1]

    BARTOW, Fla. — From the melodies he sings to the clothes he wears, the spirit of the Old West still lives within James Camp.

    What You Need To Know

    • James “Lone Star” Camp, 85, is known for his western-themed artwork

    • Because of Camp’s contributions, he received the 2025 Black History Month Champion Award from the city of Bartow

    • Camp credits his success to God and his supporter




    “In school, I used to draw the circus,” Camp said. “Then I started watching westerns and silver saddle and things. Fancy gun belts, silver bullets kind of took my eye.”

    Camp, who goes by the nickname “Lone Star,” dreamed of becoming a western actor as a child. Though the 85-year-old never made it to Hollywood, his love for the era is captured in his artwork.

    “(I) haven’t spilled a drop yet. I’m still good,” he said with a chuckle.

    Camp said he first picked up a paintbrush when he was a teenager. Over the years, he left his mark on the sides of buildings from Polk County to Mississippi, including Treasure Marts in Bartow. Now, people from all over travel to Bartow just to buy one of his paintings.

    “I think of the good Lord when I paint, because he’s the one who gave it to me,” Camp said. “And I’ve done a good job lighting up the city, beautifying it. You’re not playing the part of anybody — you’re playing the part that God wants you to play. And I enjoy doing what I did. I brought a lot of love toward myself and people.”

    Bartow leaders recognized his contributions during a city commission meeting earlier this month, which Camp received wearing his cowboy hat and with a song in his heart.

    “I love me an old western song,” he said.


    While inside City Hall, Commissioner Leo Longworth shared a few words as he presented Camp with the 2025 Black History Month Champion Award.

    “So, we want to present to you and introduce to others, James L. ‘Cowboy’ Lone Star Camp, the man who Hollywood overlooked,” Longworth said.

    Now, Camp is certainly in the spotlight.

    “I feel satisfied,” he said. “I feel like I’m wanted. Like I’m someone.”

    But to the community, Camp is more than just somebody — he’s a legend. And if you ask him, he would say it wouldn’t have been possible without God and his supporters.

    “And I want to thank you all out there, people that I never saw,” he said. “I’m your friend. Regardless of who you are, I’m a friend and I just want you to know that.”

    In addition to being honored this year by Bartow’s City Commission, the city had also previously proclaimed June 10 as James “Lone Star” Camp Day.

    [ad_2]

    Alexis Jones

    Source link

  • History-making meteorologist: The story of Charles E. Anderson

    [ad_1]

    Charles E. Anderson paved the way for diversity in atmospheric sciences, starting with being a weather officer for the Tuskegee Airmen. 

    What You Need To Know

    • Charles E. Anderson was the first African American to earn a PhD in meteorology

    • Anderson served as the weather officer at several Army Air Force bases

    • He worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and North Carolina State University for decades

    One of Anderson’s most notable and recognized accomplishments in his lifetime was being the first African American to earn a PhD in meteorology. 

    This was no easy feat, and in doing so, opened a door for a more inclusive and diverse world of meteorology.

    Anderson’s background

    His background to getting his PhD in meteorology is quite interesting. 

    In 1941, Anderson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Lincoln University.

    Shortly after, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps where he was sent to study meteorology at the University of Chicago. It was there where he earned his master’s degree in meteorology in 1943.

    While serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Anderson was stationed as a weather officer in Tuskegee, Ala. Some of you may know of the Tuskegee Airmen that Anderson was a part of.

    He spent some time after as a squadron weather officer, training other fighter pilots.

    Listen to him share his experiences in the Air Corps:

    In 1960, Anderson received his PhD in meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    After receiving his PhD, Anderson served as the Director of the Office of Federal Coordination in Meteorology in Environmental Science Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

    Finally in 1966, Anderson was hired as a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Wisconsin. Although he started in this position, Anderson wore many hats during his time in Madison.

    From becoming the Professor of Afro-American Studies and Chairman of the Meteorology Department to being promoted to Associative Dean in 1978, he spent over two decades teaching young Wisconsinites the importance, science, and mechanics of meteorology. 

    Anderson finished his career at North Carolina State University as a professor in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, retiring in 1990.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

    [ad_2]

    Meteorologist Brooke Brighton

    Source link

  • Crystal River businessman continues to make Black history

    [ad_1]

    CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. — The Black community in Citrus County is small, but mighty, and has a pretty extensive history.

    It’s a history many say isn’t widely known, but there’s one lifelong Crystal River resident and Black business owner who wants his hard work to change that.

    What You Need To Know

    • Oysters restaurant owner William Bunch got his start in Citrus County in the middle of the segregated south

    • Bunch said unlike a lot of cites, there was not a bustling Black business district in Crystal River

    • Bunch said he felt a sense of responsibility to bring order to his community and wants to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs


    If you ask William Bunch, there’s no real recipe for success. There is, however, a secret recipe for the perfect fried chicken.

    “Love. I put love into it,” he said.

    Bunch has been working for a long time.

    “I’ve been working at the age of 13 and I’m 70,” he said.

    He got his start in Citrus County in the middle of the segregated south.

    “I started at the Plantation Inn as a helper, and then I worked my way up to the chef and out the door,” Bunch said.

    He was out of the door there, and into the doors at his very own restaurant in Crystal River called Oysters.

    “I had this Englishman who wanted me to come and work for him, and I said, ‘I won’t come to work for you, but I will buy it from you.’ So, I came in and he made me an offer, and I borrowed a little money and put it down, and we went to work,” he said.

    He’s owned and operated Oysters for the past 29 years and they’re most popular item is — you guessed it — fried chicken?

    That’s right. He said the most popular item isn’t oysters.

    Bunch said his spirit of entrepreneurship dates back even further.

    “Taxi business, we (were) the first taxi people in this area. So, it did good when we first started,” he said.

    There are still remnants on the walls of Oysters of Bunch’s accomplishments.

    Storm damage over the last decade wiped out all of his older photos. He said those lost photos told the story of his landscaping company he started in high school.

    That landscaping company included driving his customers to the airport, which launched his taxi service. The photos were also a reminder of the days he couldn’t pick people up past sundown in sundown towns because he’s Black.

    Bunch said unlike a lot of cites, there was not a bustling Black business district in Crystal River. No Black Wall Street. So, he didn’t have any examples. But he did it anyway, despite adversities.

    “The bad experience I had back in ’93, my brother was killed by the police in ’93, and then when the verdict came out, they said the police had just cause to do what they had done, and the city really wanted to get up in arms, but I told them go home, the verdict is done, my brother is not coming back,” Bunch said.

    Bunch said he felt a sense of responsibility to bring order to his community then, and it’s something he continues to do now. He wants to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs by doing the work.

    “You have to be dedicated if you want to do a business. You have good days and you have bad days. So, I wanted to do it since I was a little kid and I had the opportunity and I’ve done it,” Bunch said.

    Bunch said his legacy will continue long after he’s gone. He passed down his landscaping business to his son and he hopes it will continue to honor the family name.

    [ad_2]

    Saundra Weathers

    Source link