Sunday Favorites: The Sarasota Experience

credit: Hartford Public Library - YOUMedia Hartford Facebook Page

When the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus moved to Sarasota, Fla., in the 1950s, black residents had to wade in the water at the white-only Lido Beach, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports.

"No African American felt comfortable going to Lido Beach in 1952," says Vicky Oldham, president of the Sarasota African American Cultural Center.

"The song is the exact opposite of what African Americans experienced."

But that's not the only discrimination blacks experienced in Sarasota's history, according to a new documentary that premiered on WEDU PBS last week.

The Sarasota Experience, produced by Triforce Pictures, takes viewers on a journey through time, from the area's indigenous population to the early development of a sleepy fishing village, and finally, to the transformative city it is today.

Most notably, the largest change that occurred in the area was Hernando de Soto's arrival in the 1500s.

His discovery of Florida completely altered the trajectory of the land by bringing disease, destruction, and eventual demise to indigenous tribes.

More occurred during the Seminole Wars when natives resisted efforts to be exiled from their land and were eventually taken to join others on the Trail of Tears.

It was William Whitaker and his cousin Hamlin Snell who were the first white settlers to stay

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