Florida History Day

Resources for Florida History Day 2023

Florida History Day is an annual statewide activity sponsored by the Museum of Florida History. A Florida History Day entry can address any person, event or idea from any time or place in history, but it must relate to the 2023 National History Day theme Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas.
As described in the NHD 2023 Contest Theme Book (PDF), "This theme is broad enough in scope to encourage the investigation of topics ranging from local to global history. To understand the historical importance of their topics, students must ask questions of time and place, cause and effect, change over time, and impact and significance."

The following resources address several topics in Florida history.

The Florida Frontier

This topic explores Florida history through early settlement, the colonial period and the Territorial years. Florida has represented an unexplored frontier to many groups throughout history. Various Indigenous groups thrived on the Floridian peninsula prior to Spanish Exploration of the area. Beginning with these conquistadors in the 1500s and through the American Civil War, peoples frequently clashed over this geographic space. Nations expanded, alliances crumbled and battles raged across the unique Florida landscape.

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Map of North America, 1763
 Map of North America, 1763
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Portrait of Osceola
 Portrait of Osceola
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Example of a Freedmen Contract
 Freedmen Contract

The Technological Frontier

The scientific revolution that resounded throughout the world in the 1700s paved the way for the development of many transformative technologies in the 19th and 20th century United States. Steamboats, railroads and roadways expanded human infrastructure into previously inhospitable spaces in the state. In the 20th century, the establishment of a NASA launch site at Cape Canaveral brought Florida into the Space Race and beyond the atmospheric boundaries of our planet. In the process, businesses flocked to the state to support this growing industry. But while many businesses and innovations in Florida flourished, others floundered.

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Navy blimp and its hangar - Naval Air Station Pensacola
 Navy blimp and its Hangar, Naval Air Station Pensacola
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Florida: Moonport USA
 Florida: Moonport USA
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Dr. Davidson's Medical Journal
 Dr. Davidson's Medical Journal
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The Case for the Canal
 Video: The Case for the Canal

The Social Frontier

From the earliest territorial days to the present, Floridians have broken new ground in the state and across the nation as leaders, advocates and activists. Through the Civil Rights and Women's Rights Movements, they helped to expand social and legal frontiers in Florida and beyond. The scientific revolution that resounded throughout the world in the 1700s paved the way for the development of many transformative technologies in the 19th and 20th century United States. Steamboats, railroads and roadways expanded human infrastructure into previously inhospitable spaces in the state. In the 20th century, the establishment of a NASA launch site at Cape Canaveral brought Florida into the Space Race and beyond the atmospheric boundaries of our planet. In the process, businesses flocked to the state to support this growing industry. But while many businesses and innovations in Florida flourished, others floundered.

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Judge James Dean of Key West
 Judge James Dean of Key West
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Scene from the NAACP march in Tallahassee
 Scene from the NAACP march in Tallahassee
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Roxcy Bolton with Eleanor Roosevelt
 Roxcy Bolton with Eleanor Roosevelt

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