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Tallahassee Democrat | SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | 1C

TLHLIFE

“There’s the ‘great man theory’ that says leaders are born and they’ve always been leaders,” says

Miles Feacher, Museum Educator at The Grove Museum. “But if we can change that

viewpoint and recognize that everyone has the potential to be leaders, that influ-

ences history and who gets highlighted and recognized.” h Feacher’s personal con-

nection with history and legacy does in fact lead back to a great man — his great-

grandfather Moses White. White was a prominent leader and activist in Tampa, and

owned several businesses including the first sit-down dinette for people of color. He

is remembered for his calming nature and important role during the 1967 Tampa race riots when

he fed first responders and protesters while calling for peace and facilitating conversations.

Although The Grove Museum remains temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Miles Feacher andthe staff have pivoted from traditional tours and live events to virtual programming. In June, Feacher led the

book club through Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” which was well-received. TALLAHASSEE

The Book Club will feature Zora NealeHurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”on Aug. 20. STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA

Linkingpast topresent

The Grove Museum educator helps bring history alive with book club

Amanda Sieradzki Council on Culture & Arts

Feacher

See FEACHER, Page 4C

Americans who have come of age inthe last half century have been raisedwith the notion that we are a nation of

immigrants; that we have always em-braced our immigrant legacy; that therecent anti-immigration attitude es-poused by the current occupant of theWhite House is an aberration; that xe-nophobia is anathema to who we areand what we have been.

Jia Lynn Yang’s compelling “OneMighty and Irresistible Tide: The EpicStruggle Over American Immigration,

1924-1965” (WW Norton & Company), isa painful reminder of how misinformedwe are about American history and howforgetful we are prone to be about themisdeeds of the past.

Yang, a New York Times editor whoseparents emigrated from Taiwan, con-fronts the myth and the self-deceptionwith an unflinching truth – America’simmigration policy has long been im-

bedded in racism and white supremacy.The 1790 naturalization law reserved

citizenship for free white men. In the af-termath of the Civil War, the 14thAmendment gave Americans of Africandescent the right of citizenship in 1868.There was the Chinese Exclusion Act of1882; In 1922, the U.S. Supreme Court

‘Irresistible Tide’ reveals depth of racist policyAndrew J. SkerrittSpecial to Tallahassee Democrat

USA TODAY NETWORK –

FLORIDA

See POLICY, Page 2C

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4C | SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

That same fire for facilitation remainslit within Feacher.

Feacher began his current position asMuseum Educator during his third yearat Florida State University, and his ex-tensive leadership training has contin-ually shaped how he builds program-ming at The Grove Museum. Next up isthe Community Book Club, which willtake place virtually on Thursday, Aug.20, and features Zora Neale Hurston’s“Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Feacher chose the book to honor thestrong, black women in his family suchas his grandmother. He sees the bookclub as an opportunity to welcome peo-ple into a community conversation andrelay personal experiences through thelens of the novel.

“I think that’s so important to the en-tire process that everyone feels listenedto and heard,” says Feacher. “One of myfavorite things to do is end my dialogueswith positive affirmations to acknowl-edge the courage it takes to speak frompersonal experience. The person leavesthe dialogue feeling like they want tocome back and that’s what we wantmore than anything. We want people touse The Grove as a place of community.”

While other kids were tuning theirtelevisions to Saturday morning car-toons, Feacher was entranced by histori-cal documentaries. He gravitated towardthe social sciences in school, and pushedup against who was getting included andleft out of the conversation when it cameto world and U.S. history courses.

Feacher will begin his final year at FSUthis fall, majoring in international affairsand minoring in social entrepreneurship.His formative experiences in leadershiphave mostly taken place under the aus-pices of the Center for Leadership andSocial Change where he has held posi-tions as a Service Leadership Seminarfacilitator, student coordinator and ori-entation leader.

He looks up to professors like Dr. Lau-ra Osteen who are pioneering the cultur-ally relevant leadership learning model,which highlights cultural and historicallegacies of inclusion and exclusion.

“What it really talks about is empa-thy,” says Feacher. “I’m someone who isvery interested in the past but I’m alsofiguring out how the past can influenceour present day. I think when we recog-nize that the present moment is some-thing we’re active agents in and have theability to influence, there’s a lot of collec-tive power in that.”

At the Grove Museum, Feacher bringsanother leadership tool known as innergroup dialogue to the table. He devel-

oped a training manual for the staff sothey can lead the public through an em-pathetic and deep listening processwhen it comes to sharing the history oftheir site.

This training came to the forefrontwhile leading an annual tour with pro-gram coordinator Patricia Singletary forthe Florida Senate pages many monthsago. Feacher asked the pages to describetheir feelings walking around the proper-ty, a former plantation. He says the vary-ing responses revealed the importanceof being open with the community, andwhy it remains core to The Grove Mu-seum’s mission to provide the space totalk about civil rights.

“Some people see it as a big house andother people see it as a site that hascaused a lot of pain to many differentcommunities over time,” says Feacher.

“The Grove Museum is located at theborder of two large, well-known commu-nities in Florida, Midtown and French-town. The experiences of Midtown andFrenchtown are very different and it’sabout engaging both communities to-gether and make sure everyone feelswelcome.”

Although The Grove Museum remainstemporarily closed due to the COVID-19pandemic, Feacher and the staff havepivoted from traditional tours and liveevents to virtual programming. In June,Feacher led the book club through AliceWalker’s “The Color Purple,” which waswell-received.

For the upcoming August meeting,more spots have been opened up to reg-ister, and participants can pick up a dis-counted copy of the book at the MidtownReader. Hurston’s words paint a smalltown feeling that resonated with Feach-er. He hopes participants will find similarinroads to the main character’s journeyand confidence.

“A lot of people in the world right noware trying to create the change that theywant to see,” says Feacher. “Now morethan ever, knowing history is importantand necessary to create change.”

Amanda Sieradzki is the feature writ-er for the Council on Culture & Arts. CO-CA is the capital area’s umbrella agencyfor arts and culture (www.tallahas-seearts.org).

FeacherContinued from Page 1C

If you go (virtually)What: The Grove Museum CommunityBook Club

When: 6-7:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 20

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Contact: For more information on howto participate and register, please visitgrovecommunitybookclub

LOS ANGELES – “Watchmen,”cloaked in superhero mythology andgrounded in real-world racism, receiveda leading 26 nominations Tuesday forthe prime-time Emmy Awards.

The HBO series, which capturedAmerica’s deep unease as it faces racialand political clashes amid a pandemic,was nominated as best limited seriesand received bids for cast members in-cluding Regina King and Jeremy Irons.

King was part of a vanguard of actorsof color who showed that TV academyvoters took heed of the social climate.

“Zendaya!” exclaimed Emmy an-nouncement host Leslie Jones, her glee-ful reaction to the “Euphoria” star’snomination as best actress in a drama.“This is a great day,” Jones added.

She was part of a socially distanced,virtual release of nominees that was on-line, not on television as is usual. Butnothing is usual during a coronavirusera that has brought Hollywood produc-tion to a virtual standstill and is makingthe Emmys and other awards grasp foralternatives.

The strong showing by Netflix’s“Ozark” helped the streaming serviceachieve a record-setting 160 nomina-tions that bested onetime perennialleader HBO, which earned 107 nods.

Streaming newcomer Apple TV+earned attention in its first season withJennifer Aniston’s best drama actressbid for “The Morning Show.” Anotherstreaming newbie, Disney+, saw its StarWars franchise spinoff, “The Mandalor-ian,” claim a best drama nominationamong its hefty 15 total nods.

The Amazon comedy “The Marvel-ous Mrs. Maisel” is the second most-

nominated series with 20, followed byNetflix’s “Ozark” with 18.

“This year, we are also bearing wit-ness to one of the greatest fights for so-cial justice in history. And it is our dutyto use this medium for change,” FrankScherma, chairman and CEO of theTelevision Academy said at the outsetof the presentation.

Diversity was especially notable inthe comedy categories after being near-ly absent last year.

“Ramy,” which finds nuanced humorin a young Muslim American’s crisis ofidentity and faith, earned a best actorbid for its star and co-creator, RamyYoussef. Issa Rae returned to the bestcomedy actress category for her series“Insecure,” which earned a best comedybid.

“Schitt’s Creek,” the quirky littleshow that went without Emmy recogni-tion until last year, received 15 nomina-tions for its final season, including forbest comedy series and lead acting nodsfor Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara.

“The Good Place,” also at an end,earned a best comedy bid and, for TedDanson, a best comedy actor nomina-tion.

The farewell was less fond for othershows that wrapped last season, withno major bids for “Modern Family,”“Homeland” or “Silicon Valley.”

But the late Fred Willard received anod for his “Modern Family” guest ap-pearance. A posthumous nominationalso went to director Lynn Shelton, forthe limited series “Little Fires Every-where.”

Joining Jones on Tuesday were pre-senters Laverne Cox (“Orange is theNew Black”), Josh Gad (“Frozen”) andTatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”). Cox,Gad and Maslany appeared on by videofeeds.

Among the honorees whose nomi-nation collided with current events:Brad Pitt earned a nod for a guest ap-pearance playing Dr. Anthony Fauci on“Saturday Night Live.”

The nominees for best comedy se-ries are: “Curb Your Enthusiasm”; Deadto Me”; “The Good Place”; “Insecure”;“The Kominsky Method”; “The Marvel-ous Mrs. Maisel”; “Schitt’s Creek”;“What We Do in the Shadows.”

The nominees for best drama se-ries are: “Better Call Saul”; “TheCrown”; “Killing Eve”; “The Handmaid’s

Tale”; “The Mandalorian”; “Ozark”;“Stranger Things”; “Succession.”

In addition to “Watchmen,” thenominees for best limited series are:“Little Fires Everywhere”; “Mrs. Amer-ica”; “Unbelievable”; ”Unorthodox.”

The nominees for drama series ac-tress are: Jennifer Aniston, “The Morn-ing Show”; Olivia Colman, “The Crown”;Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”; Laura Lin-ney, “Ozark”; Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”;Zendaya “Euphoria.”

The nominees for drama series ac-tor are: Jason Bateman, “Ozark”; Ster-ling K. Brown, “This is Us”; Billy Porter,“Pose”; Jeremy Strong, “Succession”;Brian Cox, “Succession”; Steve Carell,“The Morning Show.”

The nominees for lead actor in acomedy series are: Anthony Anderson,“black-ish”; Don Cheadle, “Black Mon-day”; Ted Danson, “The Good Place”;Michael Douglas, “The Kominsky Meth-od”; Eugene Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”; Ra-my Youssef, “Ramy.

The nominees for lead actress in acomedy series are: Christina Apple-gate, “Dead to Me”; Rachel Brosnahan,“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; LindaCardellini, “Dead to Me”; CatherineO’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek”; Issa Rae, “In-secure”; Tracee Ellis Ross, “black-ish.”

The nominees for best TV movieare: “American Son”; “Bad Education”;“Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These OldBones”; “El Camino: A Breaking BadMovie”; “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt:Kimmy vs. The Reverend.”

A high energy Jones kicked off Tues-day’s announcement by appearing on avirtual set and joking that she was toldthere would be many others on set toannounce the nominees, but insteadshe was locked in a studio with only acameraman.

The Emmy Awards, hosted by JimmyKimmel, will be presented Sept. 20 onABC.

Regina King appears in a scene from “Watchmen.” The series was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding limited series on Tuesday. King was also nominatedfor outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie. HBO VIA AP

‘Watchmen’ leads in Emmy nominations HBO’S dystopian seriesgets the nod 26 times

Lynn Elber ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jeremy Irons appears in a scene from “Watchmen.” Irons was nominated for anEmmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a limited series or movie. HBO VIA AP