, Valada Parker Flewellyn
Valada Flewellyn: Author,
Poet, Storyteller,Curator
Social Justice Advocate
Author/Storyteller
Her books include: “Poetically, Just Us” (c.1990), “Yours Truly” 1994, “Jack & Jill of America into the New Millennium” (c.2000),“African Americans of Sanford” an Arcadia Publication. (c.2010) . Her most recent publication is"For the Children: The History of Jack and Jill of America Incorporated" (c.2018), the history of the oldest African American family organization.
Valada has been a presenter at several Walt Disney World venues: The Disney Market Place, The Grand Floridian, and Epcot. Her children’s book, “The Mosquito” was first introduced in a one women show at the Disney Institute, 1997.
For many years Valada has supported the Zora Neale Hurston festival as a performer, as the Zora Special Places tour guide and as a volunteer. She played the role of “Juel” in the festival’s first production of Zora’s play, “From Sun to Sun” presented at the Annie Russell Theatre, on the campus of Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida. Due to the racial prejudice of the time, 1930s, Zora Hurston and her troupe were not allowed to perform on the theatre stage, but was relegated to the school's cafeteria, making the performance a significant moment in the history of the college.
Documentaries include :
Goldsboro: An American Story, 2006
Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown the first African American Naval
Fighter Pilot, 2011. We Are Still Here, 2016.
IF Only You Knew: Icabod Flewellen: Father of the African American Museum.
Premiered at the Washington Shores Prebyterian Church, September 22, 2019 and Presented at the Association for the
Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Conference in Charlston, South Carolina. October 2-6, 2019.
.
Exhibit Curator:
“Enter Colored Hats: Poetry & Presence”Seminole County Museum, Sanford Florida
“Enter Colored Hats” University of Central Florida Library, Sanford Museum. Historical Museum of Seminole County.
“A Pilot Lights the Way: A tribute to Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown & Blacks in Aviation” opened at the Univ.
of Central Florida Library and traveled to the following venues:
Oakmonte Village, Lake Mary, Fl
Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), Melbourne, Fl,
The Warbird Adventures Museum, Kissimmee, Fl
Orlando Sanford International Airport, Sanford, Fl
(Items from exhibit is currently on display)
The African American Military Museum, Hattiesburg, Ms
The National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Fl
(2011 as a part of the U.S. Navy's 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation Celebration)
The Sanford Museum, Sanford, Fl
"PRAISE, REACH & TEACH: The Legacy of Joseph N. & Wealthy Crooms," founders of Crooms Academy, the first
Negro High School in Sanford, Florida. Sanford Museum, Sanford, Florida (2015)
"He Shook Hands With MLK", Seminole County Museum
"Celebrating the Purdy's" , Oakmonte Village, Lake Mary, FL
"The National Black Golf Hall of Fame: Celebrating Golf's Black History" June 2014 St. Augustine, Florida
*Note: Valada Flewellyn is the Historian & Archivist for the National Black Golf Hall of Fame"
"Dr. Myron Moorehead: A Man, A Moment, A Movement" University of Central Florida Library, (February 2017)
Professional memberships include:
The Association for the Study of African American Life & History (Lifetime member)
Central Florida Dorothy Turner Johnson Branch
The Association of Black Women Historians
The Association of African American Museums
Sanford Historical Society (past president)
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The Society of Florida Archives
The Charles Wright Museum
Lincoln Museum, St. Augustine, Florida
Social Justice Advocate, member of:
The Alliance for Truth and Justice (an affiliate of the Equal Justice Institute (EJI)
Bridging the Color Divide
ALCO: Pathways to Racial Healing
NAACP
Valada has penned commemorative poems for:
Meharry Medical College, 125th Anniversary
Seminole County's 65th Anniversary
Jack & Jill of America, Incorporated, 60th Anniversary
Liberty Bank, New Orleans, 25th Anniversary
News Orleans, Zulu King & Queen of Mardi Gras, 1999
Lucille O'Neale's graduation, Bethune Cookman College
Miss America, Erika Dunlap's Coronation Celebration
Closing of Naval Base Hospital in Orlando
Trayvon Martin
Mary McCloud Bethune, monument installation Bethune Cookman College (publish in Onyx Magazine)
Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Onyx Magazine's Women of the Year 2022
Orange County Equal Justice Iniative Lynching, Soil Collection
Congresswomen Corrine Brown (Coretta Scott King Memorial), Eatonville, Fl)
and a host of friends and relatives.
Valada was formerly appointed to the Sanford Historical Advisory Board by the Sanford
City Council, she is past president of The Sanford Historical Society.
Crealde School of Art and the Hannibal Square Heritage Center, Winter Park,
Florida. (board member)
She served on the Advisory Board of Creative Sanford Incorporated producers of the
community folkplay, “Touch& Go”, written by award winning playwright Jules Curry-Corriere and
produced by Sanford Celery Soup, a community folk play based on the stories of people in the Sanford
community. Valada was an actor in the Inaugural production. The story of Valada's childhood
experience with race was among the central themes in the play. Her grandchildren Kwabena
and Anika were also in the production.
Valada is Historian for the Central Florida Dorothy Turner Johnson Branch of the Association
for the Study of African American Life and History.
Valada is National Archivist emeritus for Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated and
author of two of the organizations three history books.
Valada is an Honorary Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
(Orlando, 2002)
Valada recited her poetry at the installation of the historic marker for Isaac Barrett, who was
lynched in St. Augustine, Florida.
Valada and her husband Thomas are active members of Washington Shores Presbyterian
Church, Orlando Florida, Pastor Erika Rembert Smith.
She enjoys music, art, history, tennis, golf and grandchildren.
Valada Flewellyn: Author,
Poet, Storyteller,Curator
Social Justice Advocate
Author/Storyteller
Her books include: “Poetically, Just Us” (c.1990), “Yours Truly” 1994, “Jack & Jill of America into the New Millennium” (c.2000),“African Americans of Sanford” an Arcadia Publication. (c.2010) . Her most recent publication is"For the Children: The History of Jack and Jill of America Incorporated" (c.2018), the history of the oldest African American family organization.
Valada has been a presenter at several Walt Disney World venues: The Disney Market Place, The Grand Floridian, and Epcot. Her children’s book, “The Mosquito” was first introduced in a one women show at the Disney Institute, 1997.
For many years Valada has supported the Zora Neale Hurston festival as a performer, as the Zora Special Places tour guide and as a volunteer. She played the role of “Juel” in the festival’s first production of Zora’s play, “From Sun to Sun” presented at the Annie Russell Theatre, on the campus of Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida. Due to the racial prejudice of the time, 1930s, Zora Hurston and her troupe were not allowed to perform on the theatre stage, but was relegated to the school's cafeteria, making the performance a significant moment in the history of the college.
Documentaries include :
Goldsboro: An American Story, 2006
Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown the first African American Naval
Fighter Pilot, 2011. We Are Still Here, 2016.
IF Only You Knew: Icabod Flewellen: Father of the African American Museum.
Premiered at the Washington Shores Prebyterian Church, September 22, 2019 and Presented at the Association for the
Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Conference in Charlston, South Carolina. October 2-6, 2019.
.
Exhibit Curator:
“Enter Colored Hats: Poetry & Presence”Seminole County Museum, Sanford Florida
“Enter Colored Hats” University of Central Florida Library, Sanford Museum. Historical Museum of Seminole County.
“A Pilot Lights the Way: A tribute to Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown & Blacks in Aviation” opened at the Univ.
of Central Florida Library and traveled to the following venues:
Oakmonte Village, Lake Mary, Fl
Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), Melbourne, Fl,
The Warbird Adventures Museum, Kissimmee, Fl
Orlando Sanford International Airport, Sanford, Fl
(Items from exhibit is currently on display)
The African American Military Museum, Hattiesburg, Ms
The National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Fl
(2011 as a part of the U.S. Navy's 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation Celebration)
The Sanford Museum, Sanford, Fl
"PRAISE, REACH & TEACH: The Legacy of Joseph N. & Wealthy Crooms," founders of Crooms Academy, the first
Negro High School in Sanford, Florida. Sanford Museum, Sanford, Florida (2015)
"He Shook Hands With MLK", Seminole County Museum
"Celebrating the Purdy's" , Oakmonte Village, Lake Mary, FL
"The National Black Golf Hall of Fame: Celebrating Golf's Black History" June 2014 St. Augustine, Florida
*Note: Valada Flewellyn is the Historian & Archivist for the National Black Golf Hall of Fame"
"Dr. Myron Moorehead: A Man, A Moment, A Movement" University of Central Florida Library, (February 2017)
Professional memberships include:
The Association for the Study of African American Life & History (Lifetime member)
Central Florida Dorothy Turner Johnson Branch
The Association of Black Women Historians
The Association of African American Museums
Sanford Historical Society (past president)
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The Society of Florida Archives
The Charles Wright Museum
Lincoln Museum, St. Augustine, Florida
Social Justice Advocate, member of:
The Alliance for Truth and Justice (an affiliate of the Equal Justice Institute (EJI)
Bridging the Color Divide
ALCO: Pathways to Racial Healing
NAACP
Valada has penned commemorative poems for:
Meharry Medical College, 125th Anniversary
Seminole County's 65th Anniversary
Jack & Jill of America, Incorporated, 60th Anniversary
Liberty Bank, New Orleans, 25th Anniversary
News Orleans, Zulu King & Queen of Mardi Gras, 1999
Lucille O'Neale's graduation, Bethune Cookman College
Miss America, Erika Dunlap's Coronation Celebration
Closing of Naval Base Hospital in Orlando
Trayvon Martin
Mary McCloud Bethune, monument installation Bethune Cookman College (publish in Onyx Magazine)
Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Onyx Magazine's Women of the Year 2022
Orange County Equal Justice Iniative Lynching, Soil Collection
Congresswomen Corrine Brown (Coretta Scott King Memorial), Eatonville, Fl)
and a host of friends and relatives.
Valada was formerly appointed to the Sanford Historical Advisory Board by the Sanford
City Council, she is past president of The Sanford Historical Society.
Crealde School of Art and the Hannibal Square Heritage Center, Winter Park,
Florida. (board member)
She served on the Advisory Board of Creative Sanford Incorporated producers of the
community folkplay, “Touch& Go”, written by award winning playwright Jules Curry-Corriere and
produced by Sanford Celery Soup, a community folk play based on the stories of people in the Sanford
community. Valada was an actor in the Inaugural production. The story of Valada's childhood
experience with race was among the central themes in the play. Her grandchildren Kwabena
and Anika were also in the production.
Valada is Historian for the Central Florida Dorothy Turner Johnson Branch of the Association
for the Study of African American Life and History.
Valada is National Archivist emeritus for Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated and
author of two of the organizations three history books.
Valada is an Honorary Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
(Orlando, 2002)
Valada recited her poetry at the installation of the historic marker for Isaac Barrett, who was
lynched in St. Augustine, Florida.
Valada and her husband Thomas are active members of Washington Shores Presbyterian
Church, Orlando Florida, Pastor Erika Rembert Smith.
She enjoys music, art, history, tennis, golf and grandchildren.
