What A Treasure....Tampa Historical Center at Channelside...
Our son, Chad, has been wanting to go to the Tampa History Museum with me and finally yesterday we were able to do it.
It 'blew me away' and was a special time of a 'A Land Remembered' as Patrick Smith so aptly describes it...
A few of the pictures below is just a taste of this wonderful first~class adventure in history.
Kudos to the many people involved in bringing to life this awesome place of our rich heritage as native Floridians....yep, I'm proud to be a 'Cracker'!!!!
Having lunch at the Columbia Cafe that is adjacent to the Museum, enhanced the experience.
View from Tampa History Center and Columbia Cafe...
FLORIDA LOTTERY
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolita
Bolita (Spanish for Little Ball), is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. In the basic bolita game, 100 small numbered balls are placed into a bag and mixed thoroughly, and bets are taken on which number will be drawn. Many variations on this theme were created. Bets were typically very small and sometimes sold well in advance, and the game could be rigged, by having extra balls of a given number or not including others at all. Other means of cheating included having certain balls filled with lead so they'd sink to the bottom of the bag, or putting certain balls in ice beforehand so they'd be cold and therefore easy for the selector to find by touch.
History
Bolita was brought to Tampa, Florida in the 1880s, and flourished in Ybor City's many Latin saloons. Though the game was illegal in Florida, thousands of dollars in bribes to politicians and law enforcement officials kept the game running out in the open. The alleged king of Bolita in the 1920s was Tampa native, Charlie Wall. Later, Italian mafiosi Santo Trafficante, Sr. and Santo Trafficante, Jr. also figured prominently in the Florida bolita games.
Bolita was widely played in Miami in the middle of the 20th century.
Bolita has been illegal in Cuba since the Cuban Revolution, but a form of the game based on the results of the Florida Lottery is still played by many Cubans.
Cigar City chronicles Tampa's cigar industry and immigrant communities while featuring one of the most extensive cigar memorabilia collections in the world.
El Lector.... The Job of Reading to the Workers
A History of the Cigar Factory Reader
A History of the Cigar Factory Reader
From the above site an article states:
"People speak ill of the cigar workers because they do not understand the value of the job these workers do, nor are they capable of doing with their own hands any sort of work; nor can these people understand at all the value of a life that is both free and respectable."
With his customary brilliance, Martí was aware of oral reading by the Lector in workshops and the enrichment it afforded the employees and thus adds:
"This woman or man, who defied death for years on end, who is well versed and discerning with regard to the classics of history and literature, who fearlessly speaks their mind in a living language that naturalness and honor tend to endow with literary beauty, earns their daily bread . . . in a leather chair, before a leaf-stripping barrel."
There is no doubt that reading aloud—especially in the context of the overwhelming monotony to be found at a leaf-stripping workshop—not only educates, but also enriches the spirit."
A Land Remembered, inspired by Patrick Smith’s novel by the same name, this area includes a replica pioneer cabin, original artifacts, and a hands-on Discovery Center.
What really makes a person a true Florida Cracker
(besides being born in the state)? Several things:
A love of the land and nature, growing things in soil,
close family ties, and a deep sense of religion.
It also means cracklin' bread and grits and periwinkle soup and swamp cabbage
and okra gumbo and ham hocks with collard greens and chicken fried in a
cast iron skillet and guava jelly and homemade blackberry cobbler...
(Early 1600s)
Silver from the New World
Spanish colonists sought wealth in the new world, mainly through the mining of precious metals.This silver ingot came from Potosi, Peru, and was among the artifacts found with the Atocha shipwreck.
http://www.newworldtreasures.com/atochastory.htm
Cowmen & Crackers showcases Florida’s cattle ranching history,
putting viewers in the middle of an actual cattle drive.
People often ask me after hearing my 'accent', "Are you from Tennesse, Georgia etc.?"
I always answer "Yes, I'm from the deep south, Florida, and proud of it!"
En~veritably they will answer, "Florida is not Southern."
" Come on Now, Gimme a break, You'll!"
Yes, you have had a 'History' lesson for today....
Florida History...about the 'deep south'!
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