ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0During Black History Month, one local volunteer is making sure the stories of west Winter Park\u2019s Black community are never forgotten. <\/p>\n
For more than two decades, Fairolyn Livingston has helped preserve generations of memories contained in photos and artifacts at the Hannibal Square Heritage Center Museum \u2014 a free space where neighbors, old and new, can connect with the area\u2019s rich past.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Museum volunteer Fairolyn Livingston has been working for decades to preserve Black history through photos, artifacts and personal stories\u00a0at the Hannibal Square Heritage Center Museum
\nLivingston, a lifelong west Winter Park resident, has been volunteering for more than 20 years to help revive and preserve the Hannibal Square Heritage Center Museum
\nVolunteers work tirelessly to educate people ensuring that the community\u2019s legacy is remembered, not erased<\/p>\n
Livingston knows the museum like home \u2014 because it practically is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born only a block away from here,\u201d she said. \u201cI spent all of my childhood, my teenage years, my young adult life here.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said growing up in west Winter Park wasn\u2019t defined by struggle alone, but by strength and connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t live in the kitchen of despair \u2014 our community was vibrant,\u201d Livingston said. \u201cI don\u2019t remember thinking about it as segregation. It was my world.\u201d<\/p>\n
That world is now carefully documented inside the museum\u2019s walls \u2014 from family photographs to oral histories \u2014 many of which Livingston helped research and organize herself.<\/p>\n
Her passion is driven by one concern: that new residents may not fully understand the neighborhood\u2019s roots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so passionate about this collection and this community,\u201d she said. \u201cMy only disappointment is the new residents \u2014 I only wish they knew and understood the history of this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Museum visitors say her work makes a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is absolutely amazing (that) there are people here that are preserving stories,\u201d said one patron. \u201cIt\u2019s really important to see that being showcased.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staff members say Livingston has led much of the research behind the exhibits, helping hundreds of guests immerse themselves in local Black history each year.<\/p>\n
For Livingston, the mission is simple: protect the past so it can inspire the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be institutional situations where they can erase or minimize our history,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is still here \u2014 and that\u2019s what I\u2019m thankful for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0During Black History Month, one local volunteer is making sure the stories of west Winter Park\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[274,48241,28293,54687,28,115,1335,139,141,140,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-141815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-black-history-month","10":"tag-curtis-mccloud","11":"tag-everyday-heroes","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-orange-county","15":"tag-orlando","16":"tag-orlando-headlines","17":"tag-orlando-news","18":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}