This thesis demonstrates how some women used the power of their ancestry and family name to run for political office, to become a positive role model for other women, and also to help pass laws favorable to the improvement of gender equality. Edna Pearce Lockett was unique, but also a reflection of the values of her community. Women who ran for office tended to have strong male figures in their lives that treated them as equals. They often were savvy enough to use the novelty of their gender to encourage positive press. Far from trying to be men, they accentuated their femininity through press accounts detailing their fashion sense, their dedication to feminine pursuits, and their ability to be ladies as well as serve their constituency. Edna Pearce Lockett's life also illustrates what society was like in central Florida during the first half of the 20th century for men and women living on and around the cattle industry. / by Terry L. Dooley. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The Florida land boom was an orgy of real estate speculation and development that swept the state during the period 1924 through 1926. The few books and articles that deal with that event rarely mention Jacksonville, although it was Florida's largest city and its chief commercial and transportation center. This could lead one to the conclusion that the North Florida city did not become caught up in the boom. Yet scattered throughout the Jacksonville area are the remains of a number of real estate projects that date from that period. Therefore, this thesis examines the effects of the boom on greater Jacksonville during the 1920s. During the years immediately following World War I, Jacksonville's leaders concentrated on expansion of industry and commerce to promote their city's growth, rather than building tourism. Jacksonville had not been a major winter resort since the building of railroads southward in the late 1800s, and this made the North Florida city different than its downstate rivals. The increasing prosperity of the 1920s brought growing numbers of tourists, new residents, and land speculators to resort centers in South and Central Florida, but few to Jacksonville. As interest in Florida grew, the expanding numbers of land buyers created a frenzy of real estate sales and development downstate. The most immediate effect of the boom for Jacksonville was tremendous expansion of the city's industries, as they provisioned the state. However, many local residents became interested in syphoning off some of the tourists and land buyers for their own community. This resulted in civic promotion of Jacksonville as a resort, and the construction of a number of new real estate projects primarily for winter residents, including San Jose, Venetia, Florida Beach, and San Marco. Local expansion of business and real estate also resulted in the construction of several major buildings in downtown Jacksonville. Early in 1926, real estate prices broke downstate and many of the speculators and other newcomers went home. This created a statewide economic decline during the late 1920s that resulted in the failure of many real estate developments throughout Florida, including some in greater Jacksonville. With its extensive commercial and transportation complex, however, the North Florida city fared better than its tourist-dependent rivals downstate. Throughout the late 1920s, percentages of economic decline for Jacksonville were much smaller than in cities such as Miami and St. Petersburg.