Header image  
Saint Augustine, Florida  
line decor
    
Presented by The Northrop Grumman Corporation
SITE MAP
   
line decor
 
 
 
 


PHASE III LAUNCH CELEBRATION

ACCORD’S FREEDOM TRAIL PHASE III SITES UNVEILED IN ST. AUGUSTINE

By David Nolan (Co-Chair of ACCORD Freedom Trail Committee)


The 45th anniversary of the signing of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 was celebrated here by the launching of the third phase of the Freedom Trail of historic sites of the civil rights movement, sponsored by ACCORD with the support of the Northrop Grumman Corporation.

A tour of the Freedom Trail on the Red Trains included a stop on Julia Street for the symbolic unveiling of a marker at the Habitat for Humanity home of Audrey Nell Edwards, one of the St. Augustine Four who spent six months in jail and reform school in 1963 and 1964 for asking to be served at the local Woolworth's lunch counter.  She and her three colleagues are honored on the marker, as are many of the civil rights veterans buried in the nearby historic Woodlawn Cemetery.  Dr. Robert B. Hayling, leader of the St. Augustine movement participated in the marker unveiling, along with State Senator Tony Hill and Gwendolyn Duncan, president of ACCORD.

After the tour, there was a luncheon for a full house, in the Casa Monica Hotel (where, it was pointed out, police dogs had been kept in the lobby, of the then-vacant building, in 1964 during the civil rights demonstrations that brought Dr. Martin Luther King to St. Augustine).

There were two prominent guest speakers at the luncheon.  Attorney Willie E. Gary of Stuart, Florida, recounted his rise from field hand and busboy to one of the nation's best-known lawyers.  He said he didn't even have the ten dollar application fee when he went off to college, but they trusted him for it.  Later, when he prospered, he gave a ten million dollar gift to his alma mater, Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C.

After winning many multi-million dollar verdicts for his clients, he and his wife established the Gary Foundation  to help  those in need, particularly in the educational field.  He emphasized the importance of giving back, and also told people to remember that "what goes around, comes around."  He said he once worked as a busboy at a fancy hotel, and had two white colleagues--one of whom was nice to him, and the other who constantly shouted racial slurs at him.  After his great success in the legal field, he bought that hotel, and promoted the nice one--right into the job of the one who had harassed him.  Gary said he was pleased to visit St. Augustine and have a chance to meet some of the heroes of the civil rights movement here.

             

The other speaker was Leon Russell, a former president of the Florida NAACP and longtime director of the Office of Human Rights for Pinellas County, Florida.  Russell noted that this year marked the one hundredth birthday of the NAACP, as well as the two hundredth birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  He recounted the story of the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the NAACP anthem written by Jacksonville native James Weldon Johnson, and was glad to hear that one of the Freedom Trail markers had been put on the old NAACP office at 76 Washington Street to celebrate that organization's centennial.

             

The first "Dr. Robert Hayling Award for Valor" was presented by State Senator Tony Hill to James S. Jackson for his civil rights activities in the 1960s.  He told how Jackson had been arrested 19 times for protesting racial discrimination and had participated in the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965.  Jackson was also beaten, with his colleagues, Dr. Robert Hayling, Clyde Jenkins, and James Hauser, at a Ku Klux Klan rally held in the fall of 1963 behind what is now the Big Lots shopping center.  He later became one of the first black repairmen hired by the telephone company, and worked at that job for 23 years before retirement.  Jackson is quoted at length in Tom Dent's 1997 book Southern Journey that deals with places that played a prominent role in the civil rights movement.

             

Carolyn Fisher, with accompanist Philip Brown, moved the crowd with a stirring rendition of "May the Works I've Done Speak for Me," the song that was sung at the 2002 funeral of civil rights activist Katherine "Kat" Twine.

             

Northrop Grumman vice president Rick Matthews told the group that the first thing he did on coming to St. Augustine in 2007 was to take part in the launching of the Freedom Trail.  He has often said that it celebrates not just black history, but underappreciated American history.

             

City Commissioner Errol Jones was master of ceremonies, and concluding remarks were given by Dr. Robert B. Hayling.

ACCORD sends a special thanks to all of its sponsors and supporters.  Photos, taken by Mrs. Shirley Williams-Galvin of the event, can be found at the Spotted page of StAugustine.com.

Bookmark and Share

Previous Freedom Trail Launch Celebrations

Launch Celebration 2008         Launch Celebration 2007

 
 
© 2009 ACCORD, Inc. All Rights Reserved.