William Keddell is an artist, film-maker. stereographer and teacher from New Zealand who has resided in Miami since 1989. Since the late 1990s he has presented the untold stories of the 1850s’ Wagner Homestead and of the 1840s’ William English Plantation Slave House. Both are preserved in downtown’s Miami’s Lummus Park. The Dade Heritage Trust has now taken over presenting historical outreach programs in the park. In 2006 William wrote and published “The Spanish King’s Edict” with a major grant from the Florida Humanities Council. This booklet is an overview of Florida’s Spanish eras which granted full freedom to independent African and Native Americans. The booklet also covers the their truly heroic defense against the US’s 19th century program of ethic cleansing which is nowadays called the Seminole Wars. The Spanish Kings Edict is currently being re-published.
Since the 1998 discovery of the Miami Circle, William and many others have witnessed, with horror, as developers who with political enablers, continue to desecrate and destroy our important downtown Native American archaeological and burial sites. The Mound Project will present artists, teachers, Native Americans, archaeologists and others to celebrate these ancient sites.
Contact me if you wish to join the Mound Project as a supporter and/or if you have project ideas to contribute.