As one of the largest families of diverse people, the Clarke family of East Florida had lived in the region since the early 1700s only to be forced out of the area after the US took over Florida in 1821. Thomas Clarke, an English Protestant, who married Honoria Cummings, an Irish Catholic, was a successful businessman and landowner. Honoria came from one of the important families of St. Augustine. Together they had six children. The first book looked at the life of the Clarke family through the eyes of Honoria Clarke. This book follows the lives of the descendants of Thomas and Honoria Clarke. Information on their eldest children is limited. Thomas, Isabel, and later James lived their lives in Europe, while Margarita moved to Cuba with her husband and children. This book focuses on the lives of Charles and George and their families in East Florida. The book begins in 1808 when the two brothers move from their mother's home in St. Augustine to Fernandina. Charles and George, unlike other European men who had one European family and one family of color, maintained one family. They lived with their families of color. We observe how these men supported their children of color; how they supported their wives of color. We learn that these were men who found methods for circumventing the laws in order for their children of color to legally marry their European spouses. In 1821 the United States gained control of Florida and the story shifts towards the sinister beginnings of how laws were eliminated and others were created to prevent free people of color from owning and operating businesses, and from living their lives freely. Furthermore, laws were developed to ignore and prevent the marriages of "white" and "black" people. Under the United States racism became enveloped and ingrained into the governance of the States that would continue to be enforced for centuries to come.
About the Author: Gylbert Garvin Coker has a BFA in Fine Art from Pratt Institute, an MA in American Civilization from New York University, an MA in Art History from Hunter College, a PH.D. in Art Administration from Florida State University. She also has a Certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Coker looks to the diversity of US culture and attempts to connect its diversity to the diverse cultures of Central and South America looking for the commonalities that appear as a result of French, Spanish, English, Native American, and African cultural influences. More recently Coker has been approaching her historical research through the eyes of women uncovering previously overlooked sources of information.