Some honored legends died as recently as 2024
The third annual Celebrating Legends of Apopka Black History Month event will celebrate a new group of 28 Black community members who left indelible marks in the Apopka area and its history.
Organized by the Apopka Youth Council (AYC), the 2025 Celebrating Legends of Apopka event is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, at the Apopka Community Center/VFW Building, 519 S. Central Ave., Apopka.
That night, the AYC will recognize this year’s legends and their families. Volume 3 of the booklet titled “Celebrating Legends of Apopka in Honor of Black History Month” will be available for purchase at the event for $10 (cash only). The booklet is a collaboration between the AYC, the city of Apopka, and Francina Boykin, vice president of the Apopka Historical Society.
In addition, the event will feature a special proclamation by Mayor Bryan Nelson, a reception for attendees, and special music performances by Mark Wright-Ahern and the Wekiva High School Chorus.
A Feb. 14 city of Apopka Facebook post announced the legends recognized this year: Charlotte Branch, Elvie Nazareth Brannon, Simuel “Bubby” Burrell, Lennell “Lucy” Cooks-Shaw, Clarence “Sonny” Cunningham, Jr., Walter A. Davis, Sr., Cora “Nora” Edwards, Mabel Ellison, Betty “Hundo” Garrett-Jacobs, Maxwell Howard, Charlie Hughley, Josiah Kirkland, Dr. Rodell Lawrence, Pearl Louise Mason, Van Grady McKinney, Donald B. “D-MO” Morse Jr., Dr. Henry Pearson, Samuel Perry, Prince E. Pollard Jr., Romelia Bridges Prince, Dr. Carolyn Richardson-Frazier, Maxey Stanley Rose, Ernest Swift, Charles “Charlie” Taylor, Sr., Bill Arthur Thomas, Hattie Bridges Thomas, Apostle G.H. Washington, and Dover Wynn, Sr.
Legends were selected from a collection of obituaries in the Historical Society’s possession. Also, families in the community have conferred with the Historical Society regarding the history and people who impacted or changed Apopka for the better; for example, individuals who were born in the late 19th century during a difficult period, when many were just coming out from under slavery, Boykin said.
In 2024, Apopka lost several key figures who greatly influenced the community, such as midwives like Charlotte Branch, who lived to be 100 years old and was a nurse practitioner as well as a farmer.
“When you’re asking about the substance of the individuals who were selected, we are trying to acknowledge the older people who passed on, like Miss Branch; Charlotte Branch passed in 1982,” Boykin said. “We talked about where they came from and the hardships and what contributions we have, persons who were musicians or Ph.D.s in the community.”
Another legend who will be recognized this year is Charlie Taylor, who owned and operated a citrus fruit company for 60 years. Then there is Mayor John Land’s maid of many years, Pearl Mason, a poet born in Zellwood who lived into her late 90s.
The booklet project “is a beautiful takeaway from the Youth Council, a beautiful group of young people,” Boykin said. “I’ve enjoyed working with putting this book together. We are not experts, but we put it in the best (light) we know how.”
The AYC is the ideal group to organize the Celebrating Legends of Apopka event because, like the honorees, the youth council is diverse, said Stephen Cribb, city special project manager.
“It is certainly something that the youth have enjoyed doing the past two years,” he said. “They are the ones that put a lot of the booklet together, and that’s why it makes sense for them to host the event.”
One criterion for someone to be named an Apopka legend is that he or she must be deceased, because if one were alive, that person isn’t forgotten yet, Nelson said.
“I think what’s unique about what we’re doing is that we, everybody’s got the historical leaders, national and international Black leaders that have obviously made big impacts,” Nelson said. “But I thought it’s also important for us to remember our roots and that we want to recognize those that have made an impact here in the Apopka area. So that was our whole reason.”
To learn more about the booklet and the celebration, go to Apopka.gov/BlackHistoryMonth.
