The Foundations of Civil Rights Movement

UNF Digital Commons UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 2014 Before King Came: The oundF ations of Civil Rights Movement Resistance and St. Augustine, Florida, 1900-1960 James G. Smith University of North Florida Suggested Citation Smith, James G., "Before King Came: The oundF ations of Civil Rights Movement Resistance and St. Augustine, Florida, 1900-1960" (2014). UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 504. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/504 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at UNF Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UNF Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Digital Projects. © 2014 All Rights Reserved BEFORE KING CAME: THE FOUNDATIONS OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT RESISTANCE AND SAINT AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, 1900-1960 By James G. Smith A thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES April, 2014 Unpublished work © James Gregory Smith Certificate of Approval The Thesis of James G. Smith is approved: _______________________________________ Date: __________________ Dr. James J. Broomall _______________________________________ Date: __________________ Dr. David T. Courtwright _______________________________________ Date: __________________ Dr. Denise I. Bossy Accepted for the History Department: _______________________________________ Date: __________________ Dr. Charles E. Closmann Chair Accepted for the College of Arts and Sciences: _______________________________________ Date: __________________ Dr. Barbara A. Hetrick Dean Accepted for the University: _______________________________________ Date: __________________ Dr. Len Roberson Dean of the Graduate School ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. James J. Broomall for serving as my advisor for this thesis project. His insights and recommendations proved invaluable in producing this work. I would like to thank Mr. David Nolan for sharing his knowledge of the history of Lincolnville and the African American community in St. Augustine. His willingness to answer questions and suggest potential sources for information was vital to completing this project. I would also like to thank the staff of the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library for their assistance in this project. I would like to sincerely thank my family for their support while pursuing my master’s degree. Without their support, none of this would have been possible. iii Table of Contents List of Charts and Images..………………………………………………………………………..v Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….…..…... vi Introduction: The Long Civil Rights Movement and St. Augustine, Florida…………………......1 Chapter One: 1900-1920…………………………………………………………………………11 Chapter Two: 1920-1940………………………………………………………………………...40 Chapter Three: 1940-1960……………………………………………………………………….71 Epilogue: The Oldest City’s Memory Problem……………………………………………...…101 Appendix: Lincolnville and St. Augustine, Florida.....…………………………………………113 Appendix: Population, Migration and Agricultural Charts………………………………….….116 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………118 Vita………………………..…………………………………………………………………….137 iv List of Charts and Images Figure 1: The Knights of St. John…………………………………………………………….…19 Figure 2: Anderson Hall, Florida Normal and Industrial Institute………………………………34 Figure 3: Administration Building or Westcott Hall, Florida State University………………….34 Figure 4 and 5: Entrance to Florida State University……………………………………………34 Figure 6: Memorial Arch, Florida Normal and Industrial Institute…………………………...…34 Figure 7: Campus of Florida Normal and Industrial Institute…………………………………...35 Figure 8: The Lincolnville Community in St. Augustine, Florida…………………………...…113 Figure 9: Map of Lincolnville, the Campus of Florida Normal and Other Sites……………….115 Chart 1: Total Population by Race of St. Johns County and St. Augustine…………...………..116 Chart 2: Net Intercensal Migration of Negro Males and Females…………………………...…116 Chart 3: State of Residence of Native Non-Whites of Florida…………………………………117 Chart 4: Agricultural Data for St. Johns County, 1925-1955…………………………………..117 v Abstract In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called St. Augustine, Florida, the most racist city in America. The resulting demonstrations and violence in the summer of 1964 only confirmed King’s characterization of the city. Yet, St. Augustine’s black history has its origins with the Spanish who founded the city in 1565. With little racial disturbance until the modern civil rights movement, why did St. Augustine erupt in the way it did? With the beginnings of Jim Crow in Florida around the turn of the century in 1900, St. Augustine’s black community began to resist the growing marginalization of their community. Within the confines of the predominantly black neighborhood known as Lincolnville, the black community carved out their own space with a culture, society and economy of its own. This paper explores how the African American community within St. Augustine developed a racial solidarity and identity facing a number of events within the state and nation. Two world wars placed the community’s sons on the front lines of battle but taught them to value of fighting for equality. The Great Depression forced African Americans across the South to rely upon one another in the face of rising racial violence. Florida’s racial violence cast a dark shadow over the history of the state and remained a formidable obstacle to overcome for African Americans in the fight for equal rights in the state. Although faced with few instances of violence against them, African Americans in St. Augustine remained fully aware of the violence others faced in Florida communities like Rosewood, Ocoee and Marianna. St. Augustine’s African American community faced these obstacles and learned to look inward for support and empowerment rather than outside. This paper examines the factors that vi encouraged this empowerment that translates into activism during the local civil rights movement of the 1960s. vii Introduction: The Long Civil Rights Movement and St. Augustine, Florida In the mid-1990s, a contractor restoring a building in the heart of Lincolnville, St. Augustine’s predominantly black neighborhood that predates the Civil War, offered noted local historian David Nolan a gift. The contractor had discovered an old newspaper tucked away in the walls of the building. Nolan had expected to receive an old copy of The St. Augustine Record; instead, the newspaper was an edition of The St. Augustine Post from June 22, 1933, the only existent copy of a black newspaper printed in St. Augustine. 1 The newspaper contains advertisements for black-owned businesses in the city, stories about Lincolnville churches, and various details about everyday life. The discovery provides a glimpse into Lincolnville’s culture and heritage as well as the hardships of life during the Great Depression. James G. Reddick, the Post editor, served as the first principal of the Excelsior School, the city’s black public high school which opened in 1925. An educator and newspaper editor, Reddick was one of several community leaders who contributed to the sense of community and racial solidarity which united Lincolnville’s citizen through the Jim Crow era. The unique community that formed in Lincolnville in the midst of the Jim Crow era represented a formative challenge to segregation. This study argues that the racial solidarity and sense of community engendered in Lincolnville and St. Augustine’s African American community encouraged the formation of a grassroots civil rights movement in the 1960s. By examining how Lincolnville responded to events between 1900 and 1960, this study reveals growing resistance against segregation and Jim Crow, which presaged the more widespread civil 1 The story of the discovery of the newspaper was carried in the St. Augustine Record and appeared on www.staugustine.com on February 27, 2004 in an article written by David Nolan. David Nolan has also provided a great deal of information on the black history of St. Augustine, Florida, throughout this study. 1 rights movement of the 1960s. Beginning in the early 1900s, the black community of St. Augustine began to adapt to and resist efforts of control put into place with the passage of Jim Crow legislation. In addition, by relying upon their community, African Americans renegotiated the boundaries of segregation within St. Augustine. Lincolnville became the home of black churches, schools and organizations that challenged notions of white superiority. This visible separation from the white community also provided space for African Americans to socialize and strengthen the networks established outside of the white community. Outside of Lincolnville, African Americans faced the realities of the South: lynchings, discrimination and disenfranchisement. These realities encouraged the bonds of racial solidarity and racial pride against the common enemy, the Jim Crow society of St. Augustine and beyond. As time progressed, African Americans weathered obstacles and events that tested the strength of the community, yet at the same time galvanized the bonds between neighbors. Black schools focused attention on Negro history through programs such as Negro History Week in order to challenge the white-centered history found in the black students’ textbooks. Organizations such

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