From the time of the 1st World War to the height of the Cold War, the two major parties will change many of their platforms as they evolve into the base of the modern party system.

The years between the Civil War and WWII are hardly ever a part of major historical profiles of the state. It doesn't mean nothing was happening from 1865 until 1914. Battles between cattle barons replace battles with Indians. Diston drained the land and speculators destroyed Florida’s reputation with crooked land deals. Hurricanes far more destructive and deadly than those heralded today stalked the land. Orange blossoms drenched the states air with perfume and Edison perfected his light bulb here. Don’t forget the forgotten years. This exciting talk covers forgotten events that affect us today.

Juneteenth commemorates slaves in Texas belatedly learning two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been promulgated and two months after the end of the Civil War that they were free. It has been 155 years since the end of the Civil War and yet, America still lacks "domestic tranquility," one of the four aims of the Preamble to the Constitution.

This presentation examines "domestic tranquility" is not possible, that the vital organs of the body politic have been gravely affected by the pernicious institution of slavery in this country.

The 1968 Kerner Report states: "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal. What white Americans have never fully understood but what the Negro can never forget - is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it." Is Kerner right or wrong?

How do we proceed toward domestic tranquility? After a presentation, join in an open discussion to talk about if and how domestic tranquility is possible. Those at the original Juneteenth had to decide where to go and how, "But a nation cannot choose its past; it can only choose its future." (Lepore)

The history of famous and infamous Madams continues in Part II, but the location shifts from the old west to the wild side of San Francisco's crib rows, cow yards, and Chinese sex slaves to the Alaskan gold rush and the madams who established their houses of joy in the last, great wild frontier of America.

Although the United States has been largely a two-party system, 3rd/minor parties have led to many changes in the major parties and impacted multiple elections. Take a look back at what caused these parties to form and what impact they had.

Historians today concur "Reconstruction" is the Second American Revolution. The ideal of equality would become enshrined in law in new amendments to the Constitution. Reconstruction was the process of putting America back together after the most devastating event in American history, the Civil War. No external power had damaged the nation as what Americans did to one another. As a result, more persons died cumulatively than in all military conflicts from the Revolutionary War to current military engagements. Reconstruction became a "dry war" to thwart the ideal of equality in the American Experience.

Clouded by local Confederacy apologists, and annually celebrated in a wholly fake "re-enactment" event, the true story of the Marshall Plantation raid in early 1865 has remained hidden. Research by then-Star Banner reporter Rick Allen in 2016 discovered the truth and added a stunning chapter to Black History in Marion County. Learn the story of daring courage and unheralded success in the only hostile action of the Civil War in Marion County.