On Thursday, August 29, the Destination Sistrunk Oral History Program presented an evening of inspiration, reflection and remembrance at the Tower Club in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It included a reception, networking, preservation initiative update, keynote address and book signing -  presented in partnership with Old Dillard Foundation, the Elks Lodge Project, the Broward People of Color Caucus, Children’s Services Council of Broward County and Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Keynote Speaker was Historian Dr. Paul Ortiz, Professor at the University of Florida Department of History, and Director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. Dr. Ortiz discussed the role of secret societies such as the IBPOEW, in cultural preservation, and include insights from his books Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920.