- In the early 1960s,
when the Quadricentennial Commission
was created to plan for
St. Augustine's 400th birthday,
it had no black members,
despite an engaged black community.
Community leaders wrote President Kennedy
in May of 1963,
asking that he oppose a federal grant of $350,000
for the Quadricentennial.
They also discouraged Vice President Johnson
from attending any segregated events.
Boycotts, picketing, and sit-ins began.
Black teenagers of the NAACP's Youth Council,
led by local dentist, Dr. Robert Hayling,
picketed, the St. Augustine Civic Center,
local Woolworth's, McCrory's, and Service Drugs.
White business owners began intimidating
and firing their Black employees
for taking part in demonstrations.
With white residents awakened
to the presence of an active civil rights movement
in their city,
many became staunchly opposed
to what they perceived as a "militant-led" movement,
including the Mayor.
By the beginning of 1964,
Ku Klux Klan rallies,
violent clashes during protests,
youth arrests,
shootings, and messy court cases,
had all but erased the local NAACP's chances
at resolving the racial issues in the city.
It was time to turn elsewhere for help.
Hayling and other local Black leaders
reached out to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
also known as the SCLC,
led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..
The SCLC had been watching events of the movement
unfold in the Ancient City and realized
that their involvement could strengthen
its presence in Florida.
The organization would eventually bring
Hosea Williams,
Reverend CT. Vivian,
Andrew Young,
and Dr.King himself, to St. Augustine
to lead campaign efforts to pressure Congress
into passing the Civil Rights Bill.
Non-violent meetings, sit-ins,
marches, and demonstrations
were all part of plans
to bring national attention to the city.
Even Northern religious supporters,
including Ms. Malcolm Peabody,
mother of the Governor of Massachusetts,
helped support the cause
by being arrested and spending two nights in jail,
for participating in a sit-in
at a segregated motel dining room.
(singing "We Shall Overcome")
The National Park Service
permitted several meetings to take place
on the lawn at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument,
which was open to citizens of all races.
As Federal property, the grounds of "the Old Fort",
as some called it, were considered a safe
and relaxing assembly point
outside of the control of the Klan,
local police departments,
and other segregationist forces.
Meetings led to protests to integrate more public areas,
including segregated swimming pools and beaches.
African-Americans in St. Augustine
famously planned to "beat the heat
and segregation."
Wade-ins at the St. Augustine beach
drew the attention of both supporters
and opponents of integration.
In the summer of 1964,
Dr. King was arrested
at the Monson Motor Lodge,
along with 17 rabbis who joined to protest
the segregated swimming area.
The manager of the hotel poured acid into the pool
in which black and white protesters were swimming.
The extensive media coverage of this
and other events in the nation's oldest city
led to more public support of integration.
The events of the summer of 1964 in St. Augustine
are widely credited
for the passage of the Civil Rights Act,
signed into law that year.
Today, the Fort remains remarkably unchanged
from the time when civil rights activists
gathered on its lawn.
For some, the Castillo symbolizes
the pursuit of a better future.
It started with the very first arrivals to this land,
continued through the civil rights movement,
and still exists today.
What does it mean to you?