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Edward Baptist, history professor and author,
to speak at FSC's Florida Lecture Series

LAKELAND, Fla. (Oct. 11, 2002) - Florida Southern College's Center for Florida History welcomes Dr. Edward E. Baptist, history professor and author, to the Florida Lecture Series Oct. 24. Baptist will discuss his book, "Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier Before the Civil War." The lecture will start at 7 p.m. in the William M. Hollis Seminar Room on campus. The author will sign books following the program. The lecture is free and open to the public. 

"We are delighted to have Professor Baptist from the University of Miami speak about his study of the emergence of Florida's "Cotton Kingdom" in the 1830s to the 1850s," said James M. Denham, Director, Center for Florida History. "Here well told is a fascinating story of white and black migration from the older states into the new Florida frontier. Dr. Baptist is one of Florida's most promising young scholars." 

"Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier Before the Civil War" was published in 2002 by the University of North Carolina Press. 

Baptist is Charlton Tebeau professor of Southern history at the University of Miami. Growing up in Durham, N.C., he received his bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and went on to study American history at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his doctorate in 1997. Baptist, his wife, Stephanie, and their two children reside on the University of Miami campus as associate masters of Mahoney Residential College. Baptist is currently researching and writing a book about the forced migration of enslaved African Americans to the Mississippi Valley and Deep South after 1790, which he sees as an essential but neglected part of the story of how the South was created. 

About the Florida Lecture Series 
The Florida Lecture Series, produced by the Center for Florida History, brings speakers to the Lakeland campus who approach the issue of "Florida Life and Culture" from a wide range of disciplines, including history, public affairs, law, sociology, criminology, anthropology, literature, music and art. Its overall objective is to create an opportunity for members of the community, faculty, and student body to listen to, interact with and learn from leading scholars and specialists of the state's history and culture. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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