New Book Release: St. Mark's Church in Ortega

St. Mark's Church in Ortega: The First One Hundred Years 1922-2022

For the last century, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has served Jacksonville’s Ortega neighborhood and its generations of members. While the spiritual roots of the church go back to the nineteenth century, it wasn’t until November 1919, when a lanky, young clergyman pedaled his bicycle across the St. John’s River to embrace a new assignment. Douglas Bagwell Leatherbury climbed the steps of a small wooden building known in the neighborhood as “The Little Brown Church.” This is the story of those 100 years. It’s the story of how St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has evolved and how it has grown into a multi-generational neighborhood church on an expansive and gorgeous campus. It’s also the story of St. Mark’s embracing change and preparing to embrace the next century.

This book offers something for everyone. Perhaps, it’s simply browsing all seventy-two carefully curated pages to enjoy and explore archival memoirs and historical snapshots. Everyone will marvel at stunning, artistic images vividly captured in St. Mark’s extraordinary stained-glass murals, and others may fully immerse themselves in a century old historical journey.

New Book Release: Originals! Black Women Breaking Barriers

 Originals! Black Women Breaking Barriers by Jessie Carney Smith

Discover and celebrate the achievements of some of America’s most inspiring women!

The first female. African American vice president, first U.S. senator, the 83rd U.S. Attorney General, and first black state legislator in Alaska. The first time a black woman and a white band shared the same stage; the first black woman writer to win a Pulitzer Prize; and the first black prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera Company. Black women have accomplished incredible things throughout American history.

An important book, Originals! Barrier-breaking Black Women profiles the lives and successes of such notable and iconic women as abolitionist Harriet Tubman, Olympic gold medalist Wilma Rudolph, mathematician Katherine Johnson, organizer and politician Stacy Adams Stacey Abrams, astronaut Mae Jemison, jazz legend Billie Holiday, ballerina Misty Copeland, Vice President Kamala Harris, and also the accomplishments of hundreds of less-famous and lesser-known women. This fascinating read recounts 1,400 achievements, including …  

Gail Fisher, the first black actress to receive an Emmy Award.

Tina Sloan-Green, the first black American woman to compete on the U.S. National Lacrosse team.

Sarah J. (Smith Thompson) Garnet, the first black female principal in the New York City public school system.

Ruth Carol Taylor, the first flight attendant to smash the color barrier.

Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, the first black woman awarded a medical degree in the United States.

Camilla Ella Williams, the first black woman to sing with the New York City Opera.

Altha Stewart, the first African American president of The American Psychiatric Association.

Jessie Carney Smith, the first black national president of Beta Phi Mu, the honor society for persons with graduate degrees in library science.

Gwendolyn Brooks, the author of Annie Allen, a book of poetry that won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to an African American.

Jeanine McIntosh-Menze, the first African American female aviator in the U.S. Coast Guard’s 215-year history.

The story of black women in America is one of struggle and obstacles overcome. It’s a story of great achievement and soaring heights. Let Originals! inspire and educate you as it shares the stories and breakthroughs of hundreds of black women in American history!! With more than 210 photos and illustrations, this enlightening book also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.