FPAN C - Digital Outreach Challenge Grant

Goal of the 2020 Digital Outreach Challenge Grants:

As part of its outreach mission, the West Central and Central Regions of FPAN are focused on amplifying the work and heritage of BIPOC to help in the struggle against pervasive Anti-Black and Anti-Indigenous racism throughout Florida and in Florida archaeology. The history of archaeology is rooted in Eurocentric, white supremacist ideology. Though these origins have been rebuked, this social science, like many other disciplines, has a long way to go in efforts to be more inclusive, representative, and anti-racist.

Our goal with the issuance of these Digital Outreach Challenge Grants is to support the local economy and work to empower communities in the telling of their own stories. The award process is competitive. Maximum amount awarded is not likely to exceed $2,000 and some proposals may receive partial funding.

How to Apply:

This round of the Digital Outreach Challenge Grants will take place in the last quarter of 2020, roughly October-December.

Please contact central@fpan.us if you have questions.

The key criterion in evaluating and ranking applications is the potential to increase awareness of racial disparities and improve racial equity in Florida archaeology and cultural resource preservation.

Applications are judged on:

Potential to raise awareness and interest in Florida archaeology and cultural resource preservation.
Experience with digital design, public interpretation, and visual storytelling.
Clarity of theme and concept.
Demonstration of originality and professional quality.

Send proposals to central@fpan.us with the subject line "Digital Outreach Challenge Grant Proposal." Please be sure to include:

Written statement, no longer than 250 words, describing your idea and the form of digital outreach that will be utilized;
one to three examples of previous work in digital media/content;
a sketch or storyboard of your idea and concept;
and design template or elements.

In order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we request any text that is part of final digital submission be a minimum size of 16pt and in a san serif typeface. All images must be a minimum of 72 DPI and between 400 - 600 pixels wide. Please no images behind text as this may limit use of digital readers for the visually impaired.

Available Project Opportunities:

Ongoing preservation efforts at the Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in Archer, Florida, centered on the organized community group (see below).

Community connections, locations, and status of Alachua County’s African American cemeteries (see below).

Or a related topic you are interested in exploring. We want to help you make it happen. Let us know!

Further information on the two available preservation projects in Alachua County:

Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Cemetery Restoration Organization

Around 1855, Reverend Major Reddick, with his wife Daphney Robinson Reddick and their three children, moved from Early County, Georgia to Deer Hammock, Florida. At the time, the village of Deer Hammock was positioned between two large plantations and served as a railroad stop. Deer Hammock, now Archer, is located fifteen miles southwest of Gainesville. According to Federal and Alachua county records, Major Reddick received a forty-acre homestead claim in 1875. Reddick, who worked as pastor, farmer, and merchant donated 1 acre of his land to a group of trustees, including two of his sons, to establish the Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church. Burials in the church cemetery began around this time. Since then, and up through 1989, generations of families from Archer were buried there.

By mid-1900s, the small church house had fallen into disrepair and the congregation merged with Pinesville Methodist Church in Archer. Later, the Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church cemetery also fell into disrepair, broken tree limbs littered the grounds, and headstones were lost. In 1999 Clyde Williams, a descendant to many of the people laid to rest in the cemetery, formed the Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Cemetery Restoration Organization (BMECRO) to address cemetery upkeep. In 2011 members of the Means family, who held the deed to the property, transferred the land to BMECRO. Later, the City of Archer annexed the property. Following damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017, Ms. Clyde Williams handed the baton of managing cemetery preservation to her sister, Roberta Lopez. Former mayor and city council member of Archer, Ms. Lopez continues to lead the group and the restoration efforts at the cemetery today.

Alachua County’s African American Cemeteries

In March 2019, the Alachua County Historical Commission passed a motion on cemetery maintenance, endorsing a request to the Board of County Commission that funding for the county’s African American cemeteries be considered as reparation. The County Board read the motion into the official record, as is the process with all recommendations and motions made by the Historical Commission but, to date and to the best of our knowledge, has not earmarked funds for cemetery restoration. Many of Alachua’s historic cemeteries are located on private properties, outside of county oversight and maintenance.

Since then, the Historical Commission has worked to ensure that all burial grounds in Alachua County, particularly African American cemeteries, are properly documented in the Florida Master Site File, an inventory of Florida’s historic and archaeological sites. FPAN staff has assisted the Commission in the effort. Missing from those basic records, however, are connections to local communities and Alachua County’s history, cemetery imagery and images of headstones, a compilation map showing each cemetery’s location, and other information the public might find interesting and want to know. With the help of Commission members and County archivists, we have compiled a list of these places and are plugging away to make sure each is properly documented. The next step is to build awareness of these burial places.

Click on the image to download a shareable flyer.

Limited License:

Notwithstanding the Client’s ownership of the copyright of the Artwork, the Client (FPAN) grants the Artist a license to include the Artwork in his or her portfolio, including digital portfolios presented on the Internet, as an example of his or her work. Any reproduction shall identify the Client as the owner of all trademarks and copyrights associated with the Artwork.