About the Instructor

• Derek Boyd Hankerson, is a faculty member, world traveler, and documentary film maker who has produced 4 films on accurate American history. These films have aired nationally and on PBS. Mr. Hankerson is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a B. A. in government and politics and Webster University with a M. A., in Management and Leadership. He has been actively engaged in government and politics for 38 years. At the age of eighteen, he started his career with the Reagan-Bush 1984 Presidential Campaign in Washington, DC and worked with “African Americans for Reagan-Bush”. Mr. Hankerson’s great, great grandfather Rev., J. P. Hankerson, was a free man before the Civil War. He was President of the Florida General Baptist Convention for two terms 1894-1899 and 1903-1909. During that time the Florida General Baptist Convention worked with the freedmen’s bureau to educate the newly freed slaves and poor whites. Rev., J. P. Hankerson and others were instrumental in establishing the Florida Bible Institute, which later became Florida Memorial University located in Miami, Florida. Rev. J. H. Hankerson graduated from the Florida Bible Institute with a degree in Theology. Rev., J. H. Hankerson was one of the first Black Postmasters in the state of Florida and was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson from February 9, 1915- June 10, 1918 as the first Black Postmaster of St. Johns County. St. John’s and Escambia county were the first counties established in Florida on July 2, 1821.