PBS Documentry: Secrets of Spanish Florida

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/secrets-spanish-florida-full-episode/3666/

This is an excellent film about the early colonization of Florida, an often overlooked part of American history because Florida was relegated to a backwater after the Spanish colonists, their Native American allies and fugitive slaves all fled when it was seceded to the British in 1763. I don't really like the part about the Revolutionary War but otherwise it is great.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Saw that last night -- full of stuff I hadn't known, and some of it quite surprising ...

Last edited Mon Jan 1, 2018, 01:41 PM - Edit history (1)

... since I used to know all about how the states got their borders, and what territories they formerly formed part of or were composed of. I even made up little maps for each state when I was in grade school.

I had known that a lot of escaped slaves had escaped to join the Seminoles, but not that the newly formed US had protested to Spain about its giving sanctuary to escaped slaves, and pressured Spain to change its policies, and even carried out an (unofficial, non-government sanctioned) invasion of Spanish FL. Interesting to realize that the Southern states once had a refuge for escaped slaves to their south, and that some of those slaves were skilled in arms ... Thomas Jefferson's reputation should take another hit for his role in ending that.

A little strange that it ran as an episode of "Secrets of the Dead", since there wasn't much of the evidence-disinterring and forensics that usually makes up those shows. Also, it was two hours long ! I kind of wish they would re-run it as a free-standing documentary, with a title that captures the content a little better. And hey, some advance publicity wouldn't have killed anybody !

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. There have been other oddballs too

I suspect it's just the production company working with funding already allocated for that series.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/dick-cavetts-watergate-full-episode/1880/ Secrets of the Dead
http://www.pbs.org/video/pbs-presents-dick-cavetts-vietnam/ Not Secrets of the Dead

I was fortunate to have the benefit of a history professor who was from Spain and had done most of his research on the Spanish in America and drew on a lot of material from European rather than American history books.