Dr. Edward E. James II has been an active civil rights leader in the Newtown community since he was a college student at Florida A&M University. He was the producer and host of the local television show "Black Almanac" for 38 years and served as a columnist and governmental reporter for the Sarasota Journal newspaper. He was a writer/associate producer of "Positively Black," a half-hour TV show on New York's WNBC-TV, and also worked as an editorial assitant for the New York Post.

He has received the President's Award, a Lifetime Service Award and a Freedom Award from the Sarasota County NAACP, and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sarasota African-American Chamber of Commerce.

Vickie Oldham is leading a groundbreaking historic preservation project called “Newtown Alive.” In 2015, her team of scholars and volunteers began tracing the 100-year history of the African American community of Newtown. The project expanded into a cultural heritage tourism initiative. Oldham is a journalist, marketer and chief motivation officer.

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