3 Review(s)

As Remembering St. Petersburg, Florida, More Sunshine City Stories unfolds, it is the dawn of 1913. North of Central Avenue the members of the St. Petersburg Women's Club are beginning to advance city improvements. South of Central Avenue black children are witnessing the opening of Davis Academy, an institution that will help prepare them to tear down the walls of hardship and prejudice. Presented in the order in which they impacted the city, stories detail the struggles of Dr. Johnnie Ruth Clarke, Ernest A. Ponder and Gibbs High School, all contributors to local racial equality. Other stories note the influence of such cultural enthusiasts as Helen Derse Roberts and Margaret Acheson Stuart, as well as the antics of media personalities Glen Dill and Dick Bothwell. Readers will be transported back to the first day of 1914, when the city made aviation history. They will appreciate the magnificence of the Florida Theatre and savor the energy of developer and self-confessed bootlegger Walter P. Fuller. Within the past decade, author Scott Taylor Hartzell has chronicled the Sunshine City's history for the St. Petersburg Times and in his books, St. Petersburg: An Oral History and Remembering St. Petersburg, Florida, Sunshine City Stories. He has tirelessly promoted the city's history to middle school students, lecture audiences at Eckerd and St. Petersburg colleges, and numerous groups and civic organizations. This book furthers his efforts in grand fashion, offering a look at St. Petersburg's history that cannot be found anywhere else.