Zora Neale Hurston: The Florida Writer Who Saved a People's Stories
Published July 3, 2026 · Updated July 3, 2026 Zora Neale Hurston was a Florida writer, anthropologist, and folklorist who grew up in Eatonville, one of the first …
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Florida Lives
Stories of noteworthy Floridians whose turning points, values, and voices reveal something larger about the state and the lives we preserve.
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Before the Happy Little Trees: Bob Ross's Florida Beginnings
Published July 2, 2026 · Updated July 2, 2026 Bob Ross, the gentle painter behind The Joy of Painting and its “happy little trees,” was born in Daytona …
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How Gainesville, Florida Made Tom Petty
Published July 1, 2026 · Updated July 1, 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Petty was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, where a chance meeting with Elvis …
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Mary McLeod Bethune: The Daytona Educator Who Left a Legacy of Values
Published June 30, 2026 · Updated June 30, 2026 Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator and civil rights leader who founded a school in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1904 …
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Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings: The Writer Who Preserved Rural Florida's Voices
Published June 29, 2026 · Updated June 29, 2026 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling, who moved to the tiny settlement of …
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