Local author uses fiction to share Pensacola history
- June 19, 2015
- / Reggie Dogan
- / civiccon
Georgia McCorvey Smith is a history buff who rarely passes an opportunity to talk about Pensacola’s rich and varied past.
She’s also a local author who relishes in writing fictional stories about historical people and places.
Her latest book, “Elizabeth Finds Freedom for Christmas,” is a geared toward middle-school aged children and based on real events.
“I wrote this book particularly for the students who don’t like to read history but like to read good stories,” says Smith. “It’s history in storybook form.”
Smith’s latest book will be unveiled at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 20, at the E.S. Cobb Community Center in Pensacola.
The African-American Heritage Society Inc. has invited 350 people to the event to meet, mingle and get copies of their books signed by Smith.
Attendees won’t easily get away without hearing Smith delve in to conversation about Pensacola history in general and its black history in particular.
Ora Wills knows Smith’s story inside out. A retired educator and writer herself, Wills helped Smith edit the book.
Available at Smith’s beck and call, Wills became her sounding board for suggestions and ideas in crafting the book’s final draft.
In the early mornings or late at night, Smith would call Wills to read new material she wanted to add. Other times, she’d bring the rough draft to her house to read and edit over and over again.
“She would write stuff and then think of new things to add,” says Wills.
Wills described the book as a fascinating example of historic fiction to reach and teach children who may not want to read a history book.
“This book is a good tool for introducing Pensacola’s history to young kids on the middle school level,” Wills says.
Four of Smith’s six books are children’s historical fiction stories. In Smith’s story, fictional characters are depicted in fictional situations, but in the context of a real historical period.
Colorful illustrations showcasing historic places and buildings add another dimension of details to capture the attention of young readers, like Smith’s youngest granddaughter, Jaya Smith.
Jaya says she read the book while Smith was writing it, and now that it’s completed, she said she loves the pictures as much as the story.
“I love the part where when Mama and Elizabeth sneaked to Pensacola and the master didn’t hear them,” says Jaya, a sixth-grader at Sacred Hearth Catholic School. “I so proud of her for writing this book.”
Smith artfully meshes fiction with reality through religion. Mama and Elizabeth, along with their cousin Alex, are the story’s main characters.
They spend a Christmas service at Circular Congregational Church, one of the oldest churches in Charleston where slaves attended services before the Civil War.
After fleeing Charleston, the mother and daughter attend a church service at John the Baptist, originally called the First Baptist Colored Church of Pensacola. Smith is a longtime active member of the church today.
According to an 1866 letter now in the National Archives, the church was established in 1846, Smith wrote in the appendix.
It was the only church opened in Pensacola during the Civil War. Owners of the First Baptist Colored Church were slaves and free people of color.
For Smith, her history is rooted in the South.
Born in Tallahassee, Smith grew up in Mobile after her father’s job was transferred to the port city.
She finished school in 1959 at Southern Normal School in Brewton. Four years later, she graduated from Florida A & M University.
Smith made her way back west to Pensacola and began teaching in the public school system. She retired from Spencer Bibbs Elementary School in 2005.
Still hearing the call to teach, Smith went back to the classroom at Jacqueline Harris Preparatory Academy before retiring for good in 2014.
Smith now enjoys spending time with her two granddaughters, delving into historical research and writing essays, stories and books.
It is through research and writing that Smith discovers her passion for history and storytelling.
Smith’s got the inspiration to tell Elizabeth’s story from a South Carolina native who relocated to Pensacola and opened an art gallery in historic Belmont-DeVilliers.
Sonja Griffin Evans grew up south of Charleston in Beaufort County. Evans encouraged Smith to tell a story about a fictional slave leaving Charleston for Pensacola.
Smith says she’s always loved the history and picturesque setting of historic Charleston. Some of the photos she has taken during visits to the city appear in the appendix.
Smith began writing the story in 2008, but never finished. The story laid dormant for six years until a friend told her about a trip to Charleston.
“I woke Elizabeth up and finished the story,” she says.
As the story unfolds in Charleston, S.C., the nation is torn over slavery and is moving toward a civil war - a war that has a significant impact on the character’s journey.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s mother, a rented slave, earns good money making elegant dresses, but her master keeps it all for himself.
The mother has plans of using the money to buy special fabric for a Christmas dress, but instead changes her focus to freedom after Alex tells her about free black people living in Pensacola.
As the pilot of the master’s boat that made regular business trips to Pensacola, Alex sees many free people in the city. He has been to their homes. He has been to their shops. And, he knows that with Mama’s skills as a seamstress and her husband’s skills as a carpenter, they'll be able to live as free people and prosper in Pensacola.
In the book, Alex never failed to repeat his free people of Pensacola speech:
“The free people of Pensacola have no masters.
“The free people of Pensacola own their homes.
“The free people of Pensacola own their shops.
“Every slave can find freedom in Pensacola.”
Instead of saving money for the Christmas dress, Elizabeth’s money is used to flee the plantation in Charleston for freedom in Pensacola.
Smith deftly weaves historical fact with entertaining fiction.
In the 1800s, Pensacola and New Orleans were two Gulf Coast cities known for having freed blacks working for pay and owning businesses, Smith says.
In 1805, for example, Julee Cottage was owned by Julee Panton, a free woman of color. Panton ran a pastry and candle shop in the cottage. Today, the cottage is in Historic Pensacola Villlage.
In Smith’s story, Alex often stops to eat in the pastry stop.
Smith points out that the Spanish government welcomed slaves to Pensacola, partly to keep soldiers supplied with women and make the colonies prosper.
“It was called the town of freedom in the land of slavery,” Smith Said.
An intriguing part of Smith’s book is the references to rented slaves in Charleston and Pensacola.
It’s another bit of history, as rented slaves were used in the construction of many of the city's coastal fortifications. All the forts in Pensacola were constructed by New Orleans rented slaves, Smith says.
According to Smith, William Chase, who was over the construction of Fort Barrancas and Fort Pickens, brought rented — and paid — slaves from the Crescent City to work on the Pensacola structures.
Some of them include the Navy Yard Hospital wall, Pensacola Lighthouse, the Scenic Highway Chimney and Old Christ Church, all of which now are tourist attractions.
Using these historical tidbits, Smith weaves the complicated fabric of slavery and freedom, fiction and reality, despair and hope into a patchwork of prose that both children and adults can enjoy and share with others.
“Everybody looks to her as the pre-eminent black historian in Pensacola,” Wills said. “It’s wonderful way to generate interest in black history and American history as well,” Wills said.
Colorful illustrations showcasing historic places and buildings add another dimension of details to capture the attention of young readers, like Smith’s youngest granddaughter, Jaya Smith.
Jaya says she read the book while Smith was writing it, and now that it’s completed, she said she loves the pictures as much as the story.
“I love the part where when Mama and Elizabeth sneaked to Pensacola and the master didn’t hear them,” says Jaya, a sixth-grader at Sacred Hearth Catholic School. “I so proud of her for writing this book.”
Smith artfully meshes fiction with reality through religion. Mama and Elizabeth, along with their cousin Alex, are the story’s main characters.
They spend a Christmas service at Circular Congregational Church, one of the oldest churches in Charleston where slaves attended services before the Civil War.
After fleeing Charleston, the mother and daughter attend a church service at John the Baptist, originally called the First Baptist Colored Church of Pensacola. Smith is a longtime active member of the church today.
According to an 1866 letter now in the National Archives, the church was established in 1846, Smith wrote in the appendix.
It was the only church opened in Pensacola during the Civil War. Owners of the First Baptist Colored Church were slaves and free people of color.
For Smith, her history is rooted in the South.
Born in Tallahassee, Smith grew up in Mobile after her father’s job was transferred to the port city.
She finished school in 1959 at Southern Normal School in Brewton. Four years later, she graduated from Florida A & M University.
Smith made her way back west to Pensacola and began teaching in the public school system. She retired from Spencer Bibbs Elementary School in 2005.
Still hearing the call to teach, Smith went back to the classroom at Jacqueline Harris Preparatory Academy before retiring for good in 2014.
Smith now enjoys spending time with her two granddaughters, delving into historical research and writing essays, stories and books.
It is through research and writing that Smith discovers her passion for history and storytelling.
Smith’s got the inspiration to tell Elizabeth’s story from a South Carolina native who relocated to Pensacola and opened an art gallery in historic Belmont-DeVilliers.
Sonja Griffin Evans grew up south of Charleston in Beaufort County. Evans encouraged Smith to tell a story about a fictional slave leaving Charleston for Pensacola.
Smith says she’s always loved the history and picturesque setting of historic Charleston. Some of the photos she has taken during visits to the city appear in the appendix.
Smith began writing the story in 2008, but never finished. The story laid dormant for six years until a friend told her about a trip to Charleston.
“I woke Elizabeth up and finished the story,” she says.
As the story unfolds in Charleston, S.C., the nation is torn over slavery and is moving toward a civil war - a war that has a significant impact on the character’s journey.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s mother, a rented slave, earns good money making elegant dresses, but her master keeps it all for himself.
The mother has plans of using the money to buy special fabric for a Christmas dress, but instead changes her focus to freedom after Alex tells her about free black people living in Pensacola.
As the pilot of the master’s boat that made regular business trips to Pensacola, Alex sees many free people in the city. He has been to their homes. He has been to their shops. And, he knows that with Mama’s skills as a seamstress and her husband’s skills as a carpenter, they'll be able to live as free people and prosper in Pensacola.
In the book, Alex never failed to repeat his free people of Pensacola speech:
“The free people of Pensacola have no masters.
“The free people of Pensacola own their homes.
“The free people of Pensacola own their shops.
“Every slave can find freedom in Pensacola.”
Instead of saving money for the Christmas dress, Elizabeth’s money is used to flee the plantation in Charleston for freedom in Pensacola.
Smith deftly weaves historical fact with entertaining fiction.
In the 1800s, Pensacola and New Orleans were two Gulf Coast cities known for having freed blacks working for pay and owning businesses, Smith says.
In 1805, for example, Julee Cottage was owned by Julee Panton, a free woman of color. Panton ran a pastry and candle shop in the cottage. Today, the cottage is in Historic Pensacola Villlage.
In Smith’s story, Alex often stops to eat in the pastry stop.
Smith points out that the Spanish government welcomed slaves to Pensacola, partly to keep soldiers supplied with women and make the colonies prosper.
“It was called the town of freedom in the land of slavery,” Smith Said.
An intriguing part of Smith’s book is the references to rented slaves in Charleston and Pensacola.
It’s another bit of history, as rented slaves were used in the construction of many of the city's coastal fortifications. All the forts in Pensacola were constructed by New Orleans rented slaves, Smith says.
According to Smith, William Chase, who was over the construction of Fort Barrancas and Fort Pickens, brought rented — and paid — slaves from the Crescent City to work on the Pensacola structures.
Some of them include the Navy Yard Hospital wall, Pensacola Lighthouse, the Scenic Highway Chimney and Old Christ Church, all of which now are tourist attractions.
Using these historical tidbits, Smith weaves the complicated fabric of slavery and freedom, fiction and reality, despair and hope into a patchwork of prose that both children and adults can enjoy and share with others.
“Everybody looks to her as the pre-eminent black historian in Pensacola,” Wills said. “It’s wonderful way to generate interest in black history and American history as well,” Wills said.
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