Greater Union Life Center Inc.

02/18/2025

Congratulations to all honorees!

02/18/2025

GULC would like to thank all of our Black History Month Banner honorees for attending tonight’s DeLand City Commission meeting and being pillars in our community. Thank you to DeLand City Commission for presenting each honoree with their own proclamation due to the great work they have done in our city and beyond. Remember to take a stroll through Downtown DeLand on Woodland Boulevard to see the banners in person!

02/13/2025

02/08/2025

Congratulations to GULC DeLand’s 2025 Black History Month Banner Honorees! All 16 Honorees and/or their family will be recognized at the City of DeLand City Commission meeting on Monday, February 17, 2025 at 7pm. City Hall address is 120 S. Florida Ave., DeLand, FL 32720. Please take a stroll through Downtown DeLand to see the banners in person. Thank you to our sponsors The Krewe of Amalee, Turn-Key Design, LLC and The City of DeLand. 🖤❤️💚💛

12/31/2024

Greater Union Life Center’s Black History Month banner applications for DeLand are available for our 2025 honorees. Deadline to submit is January 17, 2025. Further details available on application. Happy New Year to all.

11/29/2024

DeLand Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Preparation underway. Make sure to read flyers to see how you can participate!

02/20/2024

Thank you to the Greater Union Life Center executive board and the BHM banner committee members for another successful year with our Black History Month banner program. Thank you to the 16 oldest black churches in DeLand for being apart of history and helping us to shine light on our local DeLand history.

Tonight we officially recognized Black History Month and hosted members of our historically black churches, which are featured on our banners in Downtown DeLand.

The proclamation presented tonight reads as follows:

Whereas, Black History Month began in 1926 as Negro History Week, sponsored by Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History; and

Whereas, throughout history many African Americans have played significant roles in the City of DeLand’s economic, cultural, spiritual and political development, and Black History Month is a time to reflect on and appreciate the contributions of African Americans in our city and throughout our country; and

Whereas, African Americans embrace their cultural heritage in various ways including events sponsored by the African American Museum of the Arts; and

Whereas, all of us should celebrate the many accomplishments and achievements of African Americans in all fields and endeavors, and all citizens are encouraged to learn about African American history; and

Whereas, The Black History Month banner program was created in 2019 by the Greater Union Life Center and local community leaders to showcase prominent black community members in order to educate, inform and inspire all who walk or drive through Downtown DeLand, and during the month of February 2024 you will see banners recognizing the historically black churches of DeLand; and

Whereas, the Black History Month banners are important to our community and The City of DeLand is proud to honor the history and contributions of African Americans in our City and throughout the nation.

02/06/2024

Black History Month banners are up in Downtown DeLand. Thank you to the GULC board and Banner Committee for your dedicated service to our community. Please make sure you, your family and friends take a stroll or drive through our beautiful Downtown to see them in person. Thank you to the Daytona Times Newspaper and West Volusia Beacon for the articles highlighting our historic churches.

Black History Month program to highlight 16 places of worship

12/09/2023

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Gala & Awards Banquet coming up 1.13.2024. Save the date and please read the flyer for details. The MLK committee is looking forward to seeing all of DeLand and surrounding areas very soon.

06/19/2023

❤️💛💚

05/31/2023

For our final stop on our digital historic tour, we visit the JW Wright Building.

The building was developed by James W. Wright, a Black businessman and agriculturist. Wright helped develop a number of Black businesses including the DeLand Mercantile Company, which was housed in the building at 258 W. Voorhis Ave.

Wright managed the building until he died in 1956. The sand-lime bricks, also called sandstone bricks, used to construct the Wright building were made by Black laborers at the Bond Sandstone Brick Company, Inc, in Lake Helen. Wright regularly joined forces with Mary McLeod Bethune in the 1920s and '30s to create exhibits on Black successes for display at Volusia County fairs.

The JW Wright Building received a local historic designation in August 2018. It made the National Register of Historic Places in February 2021.

While Historic Preservation Month ends today, our work continues. And we invite residents to continue to learn about our local history or contribute to its preservation. To learn more or donate toward historic preservation go here: https://www.delandhouse.com

Of course, our digital historic tour will always be available: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1E1UZojVDGIqCbOxwtXEqLMTw0r09JYU&usp=sharing

05/25/2023

Our next stop on our historic tour is Greater Union first Baptist Church.

This church was organized in 1880 and was once associated with the historic, all-Black Yemassee Settlement. At its inception, it was the only Christian organization in DeLand for black residents. Services were initially held at a wood-framed building on Rich Avenue before it moved to 240 S. Clara Ave.

The church’s first spiritual pastoral leader was the late Rev. A.J. Brown, who led its 75 members in prayer each week in the section of town known as Bermuda Bottom. The Little church, called the “Union,” was the union of multiple denominations who at the time did not choose to affiliate with the Bethel AME church, which was establishing membership in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination in 1878-79.

After the establishment of the Florida Baptist Convention in early 1880, a decision was made to affiliate with the growing Missionary Baptist denomination, the history of the church reads.

For more sites on our historic tour, go here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1E1UZojVDGIqCbOxwtXEqLMTw0r09JYU&usp=sharing