Dr. Robert B. Hayling and the St Augustine by Valerie Etienne-Leveille

The year 1965 marked the four hundredth founding year of the City of St Augustine. senators introduced a federal appropriation bill of $350,000 to help finance the anniversary celebration. Even though State and Federal funds were being used for the celebration, no one from the Black community was invited to attend or appointed to be part of the commission(1).

In May 7th, 1963, the St Augustine local NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), sent a letter to President Kennedy to bring to his attention the fact that democracy was not working in the nation’s oldest city. The pleas and requests for more equitable outcomes went unanswered.

Robert B. Hayling, a local dentist, was an active member of the NAACP branch in St Augustine. He was born in Tallahassee, Florida on November 20, 1929(3). Dr. Hayling was a graduate of Florida A & M. He served in the United States Air Force and earned his degree in Dentistry from the Mehany Medical College in Nashville, (2).

Dr. Hayling was frustrated with the undemocratic treatment of the City of St Augustine towards the Black population and he was determined to fight the practice of segregation in St Augustine. Because of Dr. Hayling aspiration for equality, his home was shot into killing his dog and narrowly missing his pregnant wife(3). Dr. Hayling was also kidnapped by the Klu Klux Klan along with other fellow Black citizens. During this kidnapping, Dr. Hayling and his friends were beaten unmercifully and left semi-conscious.

Robert B. Hayling is left of Martin Luther King Jr.

Courtesy of the St Augustine Record

Dr. Hayling promised to fight the practice of segregation in St Augustine until his last dime was gone. Dr. Hayling sacrificed everything in his attempt to end segregation. In 1965, he moved his dental practice from St Augustine to Cocoa Beach. As a resident of Cocoa Beach, he helped other displaced St Augustine Civil rights supporters find work. He moved to Fort Lauderdale in the 1970s and practice dentistry until his retirement(4).

The struggle over civil rights did not end in St Augustine and the other southern states with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act but it forced the South to abandon the Jim Crow laws that had repressed 17 million citizens for more than a hundred year as Dan Warren states in his book (1).

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Dr. Hayling's dental office at 79 Bridge Street in St Augustine, FL

Courtesy of visit St Augustine.com

In commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Demonstrations, the planning committee and residents of Scott street requested that the City of St Augustine rename Scott street to Dr. Robert B. Hayling in honor of his courage, perseverance and love for his fellow man (2)(3).

Dr. Hayling’s home at 8 Dr. R.B. Hayling Place in St Augustine, FL

Courtesy of visit St Augustine.com

The street Dr. Hayling lived on was renamed in his honor in 2003.

Courtesy of visit St Augustine.com

Dr. Hayling is considered by many as “The Father of the .”

References

1. Warren, D. (2008). If It Takes All Summer: Martin Luther King, the KKK, and States’ Rights in St. Augustine, 1964.

University of Alabama Press.

2. Accord Freedom Trail. (2010). St Augustine Civil Rights Movement. https://accordfreedomtrail.org/movement.html

3. The Optional Facts. (n.d.). Dr. Robert Hayling- Dentist/Civil Rights Leader. https://www.theoptionalfacts.com/blog/2019/5/22/dr- robert-hayling-dentistcivil-rights-leader

4. The St Augustine Record. (2015, December 23). 1929 – 2015: Robert B. Hayling, father of St Augustine’s civil rights movement, dies. https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20151223/NEWS/801259544

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