Against multiple odds

This photo of Lawrence B. Brown is
from the cover of the book
'From Slavery to Community Builder'

Born enslaved in North Florida in 1856. Died a prosperous builder and community leader in South Central Florida in 1941. We'd all do well to learn a bit more about Lawrence Bernard Brown. And you can, by visiting the website of the Historic L.B. Brown House:  https://www.lbbrown.com

Brown achieved his success and respect "at a time when it was dangerous to be a successful Black person." That quote is from the website dedicated to Brown and the large Victorian house he built. The house is now a Florida Historical Landmark. Brown himself is recognized as A Great Floridian by the Florida Department of State and Florida League of Cities.

I've been digging up Florida history for years, but it took a long time for the algorithms (current) or books, pamphlets and local histories (pre-internet) to bring Brown to my attention. He even lived for a while in the county of my residence, about which I thought I knew a lot. 

There is - or was - even a street named after him in my county (Volusia). The Brown house website says he named a Lawrence Street during his 19th century tenure in DeLeon Springs, known at the time as Spring Garden.

He'd "acquired a considerable amount of property" in Spring Garden, says the website, on which he built houses and then rented and sold them. To learn more, I plan to read the book From Slavery to Community Builder, The Story of Lawrence B. Brown. You can find more information about the book on the website.

Brown's time in Spring Garden was temporary but was a step on his journey to success. That journey began near Gainesville, where he grew up. As a free man, he applied for and received a homestead grant in Alachua County. From there, he bought land and built a subdivision in Volusia County. In the mid-1880s, the family moved to Bartow (Polk County) and that's where his legacy really took root.

Brown was a self-taught master carpenter. The beautiful Victorian family home he built in about 1892 is testament to that. But the house was abandoned and nearly lost to the elements before being restored in 2001. It's available for tours by appointment: an email, phone number and a contact form are all available on the website. You may watch a YouTube video tour linked at the bottom of this post. There's also an annual L.B. Brown Heritage Festival at the site. 

The L.B. Brown House. Photo credit: 
www.lbbrown.com

The house today is owned by the Neighborhood Improvement Corporation of Bartow Inc. If you can't get to Bartow, you can view many house photos on the website.

May Lawrence Brown's legacy continue to inspire. 

Modern parallel to sad chapter

The Florida guide was part of the Federal Writers' Project.

I was casting about for a topic this month, and couldn't settle on anything. I kept being drawn back to an anecdote in the 1939 WPA guide to Florida featured in November's post.

The episode details an incident from the Reconstruction Era of the late 1860s to 1870s. I wondered if the authors included it to illustrate how much more civilized everyone had become by the 1930s. The problem is, the anecdote caught my attention because it reminded me of where we are today, in 2017-almost-2018. And that's a sad fact.

Within the WPA guide are road-trip itineraries identified as numbered tours. Tour 7 is 20 pages of tidbits about the area that parallels Florida's northern boundary. The episode that stayed with me is one paragraph on page 443 of Tour 7.

Readers learn that violence flared during Reconstruction in the city of Marianna and the surrounding areas of the county. Several killings took place. I assume the authors mean lynchings but that isn't specified. Only the fact that killings occurred. Opinions varied as to why they occurred, and the polarization is what struck me as so contemporary:

• Some laid the blame on "the activities of unscrupulous Bureau officials and politicians." 

• A bishop from Massachusetts, "who had first-hand knowledge of the situation, placed the guilt on the shoulders of the planters of Jackson County." 

• A judge, "an aristocrat of Marianna, claimed that 'ruffians' from the border States were responsible."

• A certain preacher and legislator believed "disputes over farm land caused much of the disorder, as poor whites objected to Negro ownership of choice farms."

• Another man, "a wealthy Bostonian living in Jacksonville, declared the lawlessness was caused by carpetbaggers."

How much finger-pointing can ostensible leaders do? They looked the other way, blamed everyone else, pitted two less-privileged groups against one another, and seemed set in their own opinions. The reader can almost sense the tension simmering among these one-percenters.

Each person was in his own camp. Just like today. The Northerners and Southerners were at odds, similar to how Blue and Red adherents are today. I wouldn't be surprised to learn fake news was thrown about back then, too.

The WPA authors are silent about resolutions. The very next paragraph is about an abandoned inn standing in overgrown grounds.

We don't yet have any resolutions to the polarization and incivility of our times. I have to remain optimistic. In part, it's my nature. In part, it's how I stay hopeful that someday, maybe, love really will prevail.