News

In an effort to spur community support and energize fundraising for a planned Black Cultural Center, Attorney Joe North and his family including his wife Benita, son, Joe North Jr., daughter, Kem Longo, and Joe’s father, James North, presented a check for $100,000 to the Lee County Black History Society on March 15 at the Williams Academy Black History Museum at Roberto Clemente Park in Fort Myers. “Over the years, this community has supported me in ways I could not even have imagined,” North said. “My wife and I discussed what we could do to give back to the community [...]

By Erica Van Buren, Fort Myers News-Press February 21, 2023 The Williams Academy Black History Museum, a staple in the Dunbar community, highlights the accomplishments of historical figures that called Fort Myers home. “The Williams Academy Black History Museum opened in January 2001,” said Charles Barnes, chairman of the Lee County Black History Society. “The building was an old schoolhouse built in 1912. It was actually the first government building funded to educate Black kids in Lee County. In 1995 the building was slated to be demolished by the Lee County School district.” Barnes said Janice Cass, founder of the Lee [...]

Movie Night planned Feb. 10; Heart Hustle health event Feb. 25 The Lee County Black History Society is hosting two events for Black History Month, including Movie in the Park Feb. 10 and Heart Hustle, a health and wellness event Feb. 25. On Friday, Feb. 10, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., the society will show “Teach Us All,” a 2017 documentary that examines educational inequality after the 60th anniversary of the 1957 Little Rock school desegregation crisis through case studies in Little Rock, New York City and Los Angeles. The movie screening is free and will be shown on a [...]