UROP Project

***Family Feuds in Florida, 1776

America250, Florida history, Romeo & Juliet, festival, games, reenactment

Research Mentor: Dr. Benjamin Gunter, he, him, his
Department, College, Affiliation: Theater with a Mission, Communication and Information
Contact Email: bengunter@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Idy Codington she, her, hers
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: idycodington@gmail.com
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 6
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors.
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 7.5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Tuesday, September 2
  Start Time: 4:00
  End Time: 5:00
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/94967065555
• Day: Thursday, September 4
  Start Time: 12:00
  End Time: 12:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/97521107673
• Day: Friday, September 5
  Start Time: 2:00
  End Time: 2:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/97119160788

Project Description

Just in time for America250, revisit the Revolution from the perspective of Florida families who were feuding over Loyalist and Patriot perceptions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Collaborate with a cross-disciplinary research team to build a research basis for reenacting Florida’s pivotal but little-known role in the American Revolution, complete with authentic foods, games, animals, characters, and speeches.

Learn how to make history come to life, by digging into letters, diaries, pictures, play scripts, newspaper stories, recipes, fashion plates, architectural plats, archaeological finds, music, dances, toasts, government documents, speeches, and tall tales from 250 years ago.


Research Tasks: We’ll start with orientation. You’ll get a crash course in British Florida’s loyalist past through assigned readings – selected passages from “Florida in the American Revolution” and “Florida Historical Quarterly.” You’ll get to see what you’re reading about, first person, in targeted group excursions to historical sites and archives (like Mission San Luis, the Museum of Florida History, and FSU Special Collections).

We’ll proceed to specialization. Each member of the team will select one Loyalist vs. Patriot feud that raged in Florida during 1776 and become our resident expert on that particular “family.” You’ll build an annotated bibliography of sources that make the members of your feuding “family” come to life. With the help of two mentors and five fellow UROP members, you’ll dig up primary documents from Florida’s revolutionary history (letters, diary entries, speeches, newspaper stories) and produce research-based suggestions for how to put family feuds from 1776 Florida onstage.


Skills that research assistant(s) may need: You need 5 essential skills for success with “Family Feuds in Florida, 1776”:

1) Curiosity, since the past does not reveal itself unless you look for it. (Required.)

2) Collaboration, since understanding context from many points of view makes history come to life, for you and for your teammates. (Required.)

3) Commitment to learning, since every research project demands diligence, hits snags, and profits by calling others in to help. (Required.)

4) Time management, since “Family Feuds in Florida, 1776” calls for averaging 7.5 hours of work per week over 2 semesters of research, and a project this large calls for breaking big goals into manageable bites. (Required.)

5) Technological know-how, since your research will involve strategic use of digital libraries, our team meetings may include Zoom, and your research progress will be posted on a Google Drive. (Required.)