What better way to learn history than to hear it from the people who lived it? In a collaboration between the Museum of Art – DeLand and the West Volusia Historical Society, the photos of artist Hugh Mangum were brought to life by portrayals by DeLandites of local residents who lived in the same era when his anonymous subjects did.
Mangum’s photographs captured North Carolinians from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the talented re-enactors related some of DeLand’s historic figures from the same era to the photos.
Photos by Beacon photographer Marsha McLaughlin
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DeLand High School actors, from left, Jaidyn Richardson, D’Montrae Harris and Blaire Carswell, smile for a photo. Richardson portrayed Black businessman J.W. Wright, Harris played the role of DeLand doctor S.R. Coleman, and Carswell acted as DeLand’s first Black midwife, Amanda Worthy.

Museum of Art - DeLand Curator of Education Pam Coffman speaks to the audience. The event, as a collaboration between the museum and the historical society, came from an idea of Coffman's.