Remembering Ms. Magaline Duncan

    Ms. Magaline Duncan was born in Madison, Florida in 1942. She began seasonal farmwork at a very young age picking pecans and cotton, along with working in a diner with her mother. Then, after moving to Apopka at age 13, she began working on Lust & Long Farms on the North shore of Lake Apopka. Ms. Duncan was a farmworker for several years before leaving the industry in 1997, shortly before the closure of the Lake Apopka farms. After her retirement from farmwork, she began working at Apopka High School as a custodian. As a member of FWAF, she continued to advocate for better working conditions for her community of farmworkers, and was featured in The Last Harvest photodocumentary project- a collaboration between Crealde School of Art and the Farmworker Association of Florida in 1998. The exhibit traveled to several locations around the state, and Ms. Duncan participated on panels at exhibit opening receptions, at which she gave personal testimony of her experiences as a farmworker.

To listen to the Ms. Magaline Duncan remember her childhood and her time in farmwork, listen to the University of Florida Samuel Proctor Oral History Program interview below, or read the partial transcript.

Recorded interview: 

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/08/59/19/00001/FAF%20020%20Magaline%20Duncan%207-22-2013.mp3

Partial transcript: 

http://gainesvilleiguana.org/2019/articles/history-and-the-people-who-make-it-magaline-duncan/

  

  Ms. Duncan was a deeply influential part of the work at the Farmworker Association. Her advocacy work for the thousands of farmworkers effected by the pesticide mal use on Lake Apopka Farms was monumental. 

    Below is a excerpt from a poem written by one of  Ms. Duncan's granddaughters, 

Tyne' Michelle Evans, called My Grandma's Horn 

I can't imagine not hearing her signature sayings.

Come on now! We've all heard her say

"Keep on living! How sweet it is,

and Thank the Lord for another day!"

But I won't keep going on and on because I know she wouldn't like a fuss!

My grandma probably would remind us that now that she's in Heaven

she is doing better than all of us!

I believe she'd say "I love y'all and I'm here with Jesus, so stop all that crying over me."

I'm sure she'd add "Just make sure Jerry, Darren, and Tanglia don't run my A.C.!"

"Tell Lucille thank you for alwasy taking care of me"

"Oh and tell my grands and my great-grands thanks for always loving me."

Rest in peace, Magaline.

by Finn Spencer