The inaugural offering of the 2010-2011 Emerson Center Florida Humanities Series, “Bring ’em Back Alive: An Up-close Look at the First Floridians,” presented by Fredric M. Hitt, will be held on Thursday, October 21, at 7 p.m. at the Emerson Center. Admission is free.
Author Fredric Hitt lives on the River of the Sun; today known as the St. Johns River, which flows northward through Central Florida until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville, Florida. He shares his love of the river with earlier inhabitants who disappeared from the face of the earth three hundred years before he was born. From his dock he can see where the river the Seminoles called Wekiva enters the St. Johns.
Hitt’s stories of the river, its history and its ecology, have been published in traditional and internet magazines including Going Places, the AAA magazine, Finest Fishing.com and others. His novels, Wekiva Winter, Beyond the River of the Sun and The Last Timucuan have received numerous honors, awards and a Florida Historical Society presidential citation. The Timucuans were probably the Indians who greeted Ponce de Leon on his 1513 arrival in Florida, and this presentation is part of the 2013 Initiative.
The Humanities Series is presented by The Emerson Center, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Vero Beach. Seven acclaimed speakers and performers will be presented at the Center between October 21, 2010 and April 21, 2011 with all presentations relating to Florida history and issues. Admission to each is complimentary and all performances will begin at 7 p.m.
Other performances in the Humanities Series will include “Florida Cracker Humor and History Through Song” with Frank and Lisa Thomas on December 2; “The Role of African-Americans in Civil War History” with Mary Fears on January 20; “The Freedom Riders” by American South specialist Raymond Arsenault, Ph.D., on February 10; “Florida’s Delicious History: A Gastronomic Journey Through Modern Florida,” a history of Florida’s restaurants and food culture with Andrew Huse on March 10, and concluding on April 21 is award-winning author and nationally recognized magazine writer Shawn Bean with “The First Hollywood: Movie-making in Jacksonville, Florida.”
The capacity of the Emerson Center is more than 800; free admission will be offered on a first-come first-served basis. Reserved seating for season ticket holders of the Celebrated Speakers Series will be offered with prior telephone arrangements.
Information: Call 772-778-5249.