Author: Sheridan Murphy

With a group of concerned Indian and non-Indian students he helped found the Tiyospaye Indian Student Organization at the University of South Florida in 1985. With David Goyette he first founded theFlorida Indian Alliance in 1985 and then the Florida AIM chapter in1989. He has served as executive director of Florida AIM since its founding in 1989. Sheridan first came to action in Florida in 1986 when he lead the effort to close the display of five Timucuan peoples remains at the Crystal River State Archaeological site . He has since been active in virtually every Florida AIM effort ranging from the 1989-93 campaignto change the name of the Hernando De Soto festival to recent efforts to force FSU to remove its stereotypical mascot to the successful 1995 campaign to defend the Independent Traditional Seminole Nation. Sheridan has been active in community efforts being deeply involved in the multicultural CommUNITY campaign in the Tampa Bayarea and he currently sits on the Pinellas County School Board’s Multicultural advisory board. He has been recognized for his serviceby Brevard Community College, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Bring Peltier Home Campaign, and the National Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement among others. He was nominated as a delegate to the II and III Continental Encounters in Guatemala City, Guatemala and Esteli, Nicaragua respectively and was a 1995 nominee for the ACLU Medal of Liberty.