Waging War on the Mosquito Menace

How Florida overcame the challenge of mosquitos, perhaps the most vexing struggle humans encountered in the past two centuries. As vectors of diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and dengue, mosquitoes and our species’ effort to institute mosquito control played a crucial role in Florida history.

Dr. Gordon Patterson explores how Florida overcame the challenge of mosquitos, perhaps the most vexing struggle humans encountered in the past two centuries. As vectors of diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and dengue, mosquitoes and our species’ effort to institute mosquito control played a crucial role in Florida history.

This event is funded by the Florida Humanities Florida Talks: At Home! program.

"Florida Talks: At Home!"

Central Florida has become an area of rapid growth. From Zora Neale Hurston to Mary McLeod Bethune, Black women made significant contributions across Florida. Our scholars will discuss the sites and stories unique to Black women in Central Florida. Video | 1h 07m

Two hundred years ago a group of pirates and privateers invaded Amelia Island, Florida in hopes of striking a blow for the Spanish American Revolutions.
Video | 1h 04m

The state of Florida has recently mandated public schools and institutions teach the history of the Ocoee Massacre. What happened in Ocoee, Florida in 1920?
Video | 1h 00m

Art historian, Mallory O’Connor, presents a 'Look' at Florida through the many eccentric images that tell the story of our state.
Video | 0h 55m

Explore efforts to restore Florida’s waterways and the motivations of environmentalists who love and advocate for these water bodies.
Video | 0h 59m

America has faced many crises, from its very beginning as a new nation, to the Civil War and Great Depression, to World War II, the Cold War, and 9/11.
Video | 1h 27m

To some, it’s a paradise. To others, it’s a punchline. It’s actually both, as you’ll learn from the author Craig Pittman.
Video | 1h 04m

For more than a decade, journalist Art Levy has traveled the state, interviewing prominent Floridians for a Florida Trend magazine feature called Icon.
Video | 1h 15m

Stereotypes created during the Jim Crow era are deeply embedded in the collective American consciousness and unfortunately have been internalized by many.
Video | 1h 16m

A rare look at a part of Florida history that most people have never heard of, urban fires.
Video | 1h 17m

An examination of the perceptions of women in popular culture through comic books and how this culture has changed over time.
Video | 1h 28m

After the Civil War, gaining voting rights and starting businesses, African-Americans saw education as essential to progress.
Video | 1h 00m

Diane Roberts will discuss how each new wave of Florida settlers through time has reinvented the state to suit themselves.
Video | 1h 06m

Questions that continue to impact Floridians: Who has the right to vote, what are the freedoms of citizens, and whose voices will be heard?
Video | 1h 18m

Mark Catesby surveyed Florida sixty-two years before William Bartram. This lecture is an overview of the over 200 watercolors and drawings.
Video | 1h 10m

Enslaved Africans brought their foodways with them during their forced journey through the Middle Passage. How African influence what Floridians eat today.
Video | 1h 10m

The fascinating history of Weeki Wachee Springs told through vintage photographs of the mermaids from their earliest days.
Video | 1h 13m

How Florida overcame the challenge of mosquitos, perhaps the most vexing struggle humans encountered in the past two centuries.
Video | 1h 32m

Eastern European Jewish immigrants in Key West in the 1890s delivered weapons to the Cuban revolutionary rebels.
Video | 0h 54m

The true story of how two separate oil tankers split in half off Cape Cod and how the Disney movie about the disaster was made. Video | 1h 01m