Meek-Eaton Archival Collection MS_0014
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Collection
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1856 - 2021
Attorney Armstrong Purdee (1856-1937), was the first professionally trained African American lawyer in Jackson County, Florida. According to the online resource Roots Web, "Armstrong Purdee was born into slavery on the Wardell Plantation in Jackson County, FL, March 16,
- His account of the Battle of Marianna was published in The Kalendar, the monthly publication of the Men's Club, St. Luke Episcopal Church, Marianna, FL, Vol. | No. 3. June 1.
- After slavery. Purdee, a protégé of Florida State Senator William H. Milton, became the first African American lawyer in Jackson County, a successful businessman, and an influential community leader. Froma the 1890s until the mid- 1920s. Purdee published the West Florida Bugle, a Black newspaper.*
Source: Armstrong Purdee - Roots Web htps://sites.rootsweb.com/-gals/Actstrats.homl