Making Modern Florida, with Mary Adkins, Master Legal Skills Professor, Levin College of Law, University of Florida, and author of Making Modern Florida: How the Spirit of Reform Shaped a New Constitution
FREE EVENT
The History Center is offering free-parking validation for this event.

Brechner Series – Making Modern Florida: How the Spirit of Reform Shaped a New Constitution

Sunday, March 10, 2 – 4 p.m.

2019 Series in Partnership with the League of Women Voters of Orange County

In the early-to-middle 20th century, Florida shot from a frontier state populated mostly in its north to an urban state populated mostly in its south and leading America’s race to the moon. Trouble was, its post-Reconstruction, “Old South” constitution of 1885 locked the legislative districts into their 1885 scheme, keeping a stranglehold of power in the rural north. Dade County, with a half-million residents, had only three representatives, while every tiny county in the Panhandle had at least one. Twin fights by reformers who sought a modern constitution and fair districting —with the League of Women Voters playing a leading role —tell the story of how Florida modernized its government to match its new face.

Mary E. Adkins is director of legal writing and appellate advocacy and master legal skills professor at the University of Florida’s Fredric G. Levin College of Law and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society.

Our 2019 series is presented in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Orange County, Florida, celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. This series honors the late Orlando journalist and freedom-of-information advocate Joseph L. Brechner. All programs take place from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Chapin Gallery on the fourth floor of the Orange County Regional History Center and are free. The History Center is offering free-parking validation for this event.