From: Delaitre Hollinger <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2020 5:21 PM To: Edwards, Ashley <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Official Biography for Dr. Charles Evans, Letter sent to commission: The current racial climate in America has given us a prime opportunity to reexamine our past in the hopes that we can bring down symbols and systems which no longer reflect the majority of persons of goodwill in our city, state and nation. Chapman Pond, located in the historic Myers Park neighborhood is named for an individual who espoused segregation, upheld unjust rulings as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida and felt it his duty to maintain the status quo against all that was fair, morally right and true. Justice Roy Chapman authored the supreme court opinion in Shepherd v. State on May 16, 1950, which upheld the wrongful Lake County, FL convictions of the Groveland Four, a group of African-American young men who were falsely accused of raping a white woman in 1948. Famed NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall was able to win the men a reversal in the U.S. Supreme Court, but only for yet another unjust retrial to take place. En route to the retrial, the notorious Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot one of the men dead in cold blood and critically wounded the other. The remaining defendants would suffer (one had already been lynched two years earlier by a mob) and their families would suffer for years to come. As a result of public outcry, the issuance of an apology from the Florida Legislature, the passage of a resolution urging the Florida Cabinet to pardon the four men, also from the Legislature; and after a plea from U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on the floor of the United States Senate in 2018, the Groveland Four were pardoned by Governor Ron DeSantis in January 2019. The injustice of the Groveland case remains one of the most atrocious crimes ever committed against the human race and the Black community. Also on March 24, 1950, Chapman authored a ruling upholding segregation in public facilities in Miami, effectively restricting golf course usage for blacks to Mondays. Mondays were at that time, and are still to this day, the days when most golf clubs are closed for maintenance. He justified this by writing: “courts are powerless to eradicate social instincts or to abolish distinctions based on physical difference, and the attempt to do so only accentuates existing difficulties.” Chapman also cited precedents of legal segregation in education, parks, and liquor. The pond was named for Chapman, a former resident of Myers Park, after his death from a heart attack in 1952, by the Tallahassee City Commission. This was before Brown v. Board, before the Tallahassee Bus Boycott, before the student sit-ins of the 1960s, and nearly 20 years before the election of James Ford to the Tallahassee City Commission. This was a different time in Tallahassee; a time that has long since passed. I would also point out that Representative Loranne Ausley and Florida State University President John Thrasher are working assiduously to remove former Florida Supreme Court Justice B.K. Roberts’s name from the FSU College of Law. This due to the fact that he authored the supreme court opinion which effectively barred Virgil Hawkins from entering the University of Florida School of Law because he was Black. Tremendous and significant support exists in our community for the removal of the name of Justice Roy Chapman from this city-owned park, which is maintained with taxpayer dollars. This is because the name is offensive to many in the African-American community and we feel that allowing its continued presence as citizens constitutes an intolerable burden. Those who have asked to have his name removed from this parcel, in writing (see attached letters), include: 1. Dr. Larry Robinson, President of Florida A&M University 2. Gwen Marshall, Leon County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller 3. Walt McNeil, Sheriff of Leon County 4. Rep. Ramon Alexander, State Representative, District 8 5. John R. Marks, III, Former Mayor of Tallahassee 6. Rev. Dr. Julius H. McAllister, Jr., 35th Senior Pastor, Bethel A.M.E. Church 7. Curtis Taylor, President, Tallahassee Urban League 8. Adner Marcelin, President, Tallahassee Branch NAACP 9. Rep. Geraldine Thompson, State Representative, District 44 (Instrumental in Groveland Four Pardon) 10. Sen. Randolph Bracy, State Senator, District 11 (Covering Groveland, FL) 11. Attorney Gwendolyn Spencer 12. Alexis Roberts McMillan, Owner, Economy Drug Store (Established 1950) 13. Attorney Ben Crump 14. Attorney Daryl Parks Again, significant support for this exists in the African-American community and Tallahassee community at-large. We have reached out to the Presidents of both the Woodland Drives Neighborhood Association, as well as the Myers Park Neighborhood Association. A response was received from the Woodland board of directors in October, which stated in essence that it was determined that the renaming of parks is “uncommon and unlikely to occur.” The board also offered that even though Chapman wrote the opinion, the opinion was endorsed by the entire court, that the views of Justice Chapman were akin to that time period, that the Groveland tragedy was not of Chapman’s making though his name was attached to it; and recommended naming an alternative site, such as the old Easter Seals site overlooking Cascades Park. We do not concur with this opinion or option and disagree that the renaming of parks in our city is uncommon and unlikely to occur. A simple vote of the city commission to rename Chapman Pond would resolve this issue. We would like the pond renamed for another former Myers Park resident, who in fact lived directly across the street from the pond like Justice Chapman, who however was antithetical of the views and ideals of Justice Chapman; and someone who spent their life working for unity, inclusion and equality on behalf of our community. That person is the late Dr. Charles Evans, President Emeritus of the Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP, who served in that role for 14 years. We would like to see the pond renamed to the Dr. Charles Evans Pond. Dr. Evans' biography is attached for your review. We thank you for your service, hard work and for your time and attention to this matter. Sincerely, Delaitre Hollinger Immediate Past President Tallahassee Branch NAACP Executive Director/CEO The National Association for the Preservation of African-American History & Culture, Inc. Florida House of Representatives Representative Geraldine F. Thompson District 44 Main District Office: Tallahassee Office: 511 West South Street 1102 The Capitol Orlando, FL 32805 402 South Monroe Street (407) 245-0288 Tallahassee, FL 32399 (407) 245-0287 (fax) (850) 717-5044 Email: [email protected] July 18, 2019 City of Tallahassee 300 So. Adams Street Tallahassee, FL 32301 To whom it may concern: In today’s social climate, it is important that we communicate our dedication to fairness and justice. In that spirit, I write to support efforts of members in the Tallahassee community to rename Chapman Pond to Chapman-Evans Pond. This initiative is timely and would communicate that Florida and Tallahassee embrace all people. Dr. Charles Evans, one of the first African Americans to settle in the Myers Park neighborhood, is worthy of being recognized in his community. The renaming of Chapman Pond to Chapman-Evans Pond would be fitting given the contributions that Dr. Evans made to his community. Our evolution as Americans and Floridians is an ongoing process. The renaming of Chapman Pond will enable reconciliation among diverse communities. Thank you for your consideration of this communication and please let me know if I can provide further information. Sincerely, ___________________________________ Geraldine F. Thompson, Representative Florida House of Representatives, District 44 Committees: Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, Ranking Member Civil Justice Subcommittee PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee Joint Committee on Public Counsel Oversight THE FLORIDA SENATE Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1100 COMMITTEES: Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice, Vice Chair Criminal Justice Finance and Tax Innovation, Industry, and Technology SENATOR RANDOLPH BRACY 11th District July 19, 2019 The Honorable John Dailey and City Commission Tallahassee City Hall 300 S Adams St Tallahassee, FL 32301 Dear Mayor Dailey & City Commission: As a Florida State Senator, I strongly support the proposal to rename “Chapman Pond” in the Myers Park Neighborhood of our State’s Capital City, to “Chapman-Evans Pond” or “Dr. Charles Evans Pond.” This renaming would serve as a symbolic redress that acknowledges the brutal history of our state’s race relations. At present, “Chapman Pond” is named for Florida Supreme Court Justice Roy H. Chapman, a strict segregationist and former resident of Myers Park. On May 16, 1950, Justice Chapman authored the Florida Supreme Court opinion in “Shepherd v. State” condemning the Groveland Four and upholding their wrongful Lake County conviction. Justice Chapman’s extensive judicial record of unrepentant segregationist opinions and votes, including one of our nation’s most abhorrent miscarriages of justice in the Groveland Case, strikes a tone of moral discord in the conscience of most Floridians. During a time when many local and state governments have elected to remove the names and likeness of such persons from publicly-owned land, and in light of the Florida Governor and Cabinet’s posthumous pardon of the Groveland Four, the renaming of Chapman Pond would prove both timely and just. The aforementioned proposed names would recognize the achievements of longtime civil rights leader Dr. Charles L. Evans, who served as President of the Tallahassee NAACP, and was one of the first African- Americans to reside in Myers Park.