Clerk celebrates Black History Month

BRONSON - Levy County Clerk Danny Shipp held a special celebration on Feb. 1 to herald the start of Black History Month.

This year marked the fifth time Carolyn Cohens of Chiefland organized the event.

Cohens gathered several photographs to put in the Archives and History Display Case in the lobby of the Levy County Courthouse in Bronson. A tri-fold pamphlet tells about the photos. Among the people featured in local black history is Marie Mungen who worked at Long Pond Motor Court and Grill, just south of Chiefland on U.S. Highway 19.

Other photos on display are of a Church of God by Faith fifth Sunday meeting in Bronson; Jessie Battles with her second grade class of 1963 in Chiefland; several Williams' family members at the Marshburn Turpentine Still in Bronson; WWI veteran PFC Eddie Buie in 1918; Murphy Faircloth and railroad workers near Six Mile Still; and the Rev. James Melvin Brown, Florence Z. Thompkins, Lonnie Capers and members of the peanut harvesters in Williston.

Joining Shipp and Cohens for the celebration that Friday were relatives of the people in the photos, including Olivia Tompkins, 68, of Lawtey, Eddie Jean Williams, 69, of Chiefland, Johnnie Brown Phillips, 58, of Chiefland, Virginia McDonald, 71, of Williston. McDonald and Donna Cicale work in the clerk's office, and they helped Cohens with the display this year.

Shipp said he changes the displays in the case about every three months. There have been displays for local history, including everything from turpentine to steamboats to steamboats running down the Suwannee River.