In celebration of Black History Month, join us this month for an evening of networking and history at the Orange County History Center.
Learn from Pamela Schwartz, the center’s executive director, how the center has been working for several years to decolonize their collections to share a narrative more reflective of the entire community’s experience. From the earliest origins of enslavement on Florida’s coast to events unfolding locally every day, you’ll hear an overview of more than 500 years of Black history and gain insights on the exciting things your local museum has in store.
After the presentation, attendees can enjoy the museum on their own, which offers four floors of exhibits exploring 12,000 years of Central Florida’s rich heritage and it’s a Smithsonian affiliate. You’ll also have the option to stay and experience the popular Downtown Orlando’s Third Thursday event, featuring free entrance to City Arts Orlando (note - this portion is optional and not part of the FPRA event).
Light refreshments, wine and soft drinks will be provided.
Parking: The most convenient parking is at the Library Garage (112 East Central Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32801). You can see other parking options in downtown Orlando here: https://www.orlando.gov/Parking-Transportation/Parking/Parking-Garages-and-Lots
Speaker Bio
Pamela Schwartz, Executive Director
Pamela Schwartz is a national award-winning museum executive and curator who currently serves as executive director of the Orange County Regional History Center and the Historical Society of Central Florida.
Working within the museum industry since 2002, Schwartz joined the History Center in 2016 as its chief curator and senior program manager. In her role as chief curator, she helped increase diversity and inclusion in collections and exhibitions and exponentially grew the museum’s oral history collection toward centering community voices.
Shortly after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, Schwartz was the architect of the urgent-response One Orlando Collection Initiative, which includes over 14,000 artifacts, photographs, archives, and oral histories documenting the memory of the event. She has become a national authority on historical collecting after community tragedy and has assisted other sites globally from Parkland, FL to New Zealand. She was also the chief curator of the landmark, globally-covered Yesterday, This Was Home: The Ocoee Massacre of 1920 exhibition. For these and other efforts she and the staff have been honored with more than twenty-five national or regional awards in just seven years, including the 2019 Institute of Museum and Library Services National Medal, the nation’s highest honor in the field, as well as other prestigious awards from the American Alliance of Museums, the American Association for State and Local History, and the Society of American Archivists.
Schwartz was designated as one of Orlando Business Journal’s 2022 40 Under 40, Orlando Magazine’s 2020 Women of the Year and 2021 Ones to Watch, as well as Watermark’s (Florida’s largest LGBTQ Media Group) 2017 Most Remarkable People in Central Florida.
Schwartz received her Master of Arts in Museum Professions from Seton Hall, a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from the University of Northern Iowa, and a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University.