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www.oridacivilrightsmuseum.org June 2025 Volume I The Florida Civil Rights Museum, Inc.℠ (FCRM) was established to display, protect, and preserve the stories, and legacies that exist to illuminate the history of civil rights and education pioneers in the State of Florida, regardless of race, color or creed. The unique aspects of the FCRM include information, presentations and artifacts not commonly found in other museums, including a youth-led component. The museum is significant as it is the only statewide-focused civil rights museum in Florida and currently, the first completely virtual. The FCRM aims to deliver these innovative, interactive, and entertaining exhibits within a physical space/building, which will facilitate live visitation from throughout the state and nation. The Florida Civil Rights Museum, Inc.℠ takes seriously, its role and mission to display, protect and preserve the rich history, stories and legacies of civil rights and educational pioneers who shaped the history and forward trajectory of Florida. Through partnerships and statewide efforts aimed at telling a comprehensive story, the FCRM hopes to inspire a generation and offer hope and help through the establishment of programs and initiatives designed to encourage civic participation and motivate all citizens. The Florida Civil Rights and Education Heritage Trail is an integral part of the FCRM. For many years, the homes, businesses, beaches, churches, or edifices that remain to tell the stories of those pioneers who made significant contributions to civil rights and education in Florida have been overlooked. This publication is an effort to acknowledge and recognize some of the most significant Floridians of the 20th century. Delare J. Hoinger Jacqueline Y. Perkins Delaitre J. Hollinger Jacqueline Y. Perkins Co-Executive Director Co-Executive Director This project was funded by the 2024 Legislature of Florida Florida Department of State | Division of Arts & Culture Delaitre J. Hollinger Co-Executive Director Jacqueline Y. Perkins Co-Executive Director © Copyrighted Material. Written permission must be granted, with the appropriate attribution made to the content author(s) for reuse of any of the information contained herein.

A. Quinn Jones A. Quinn Jones Museum & Cultural Center 1013 N.W. 7th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32601 Allen Quinn Jones (1893-1997) spent 36 years as an educational leader in Gainesville, and as principal of three schools. He retired in 1957 and lived to be 104 years old. Mr. Jones, who was affectionately known or referred to as Professor Jones or “Prof” for short, was the last principal of the old Union Academy, which was then a junior high school. He arrived in Gainesville just in time to help plan and design, what would become Alachua County’s original Lincoln High School. A great motivator and educator, Prof got the best out of every student when Lincoln opened in 1923. Their first class of graduates was in 1925 and had eight members. The visionary Prof. Jones set a goal of extending his school from grades 1st through 10th all the way through 12th grade and gaining full accreditation from the State of Florida. This was a monumental and almost unheard-of task, but Lincoln went on to become only the second African-American high school in the state of Florida to become fully accredited. This feat instilled an enormous sense of pride in the community and motivated and inspired Lincoln students. Jones so influenced the community that his home, located across the street from Lincoln, has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and now serves as the A. Quinn Jones Museum and Cultural Center. – A. Quinn Jones Museum and Cultural Center ALACHUA Jones Museum & Cultural Center A.Q. Jones Center (Formerly Lincoln High School) A.Q. Jones and A.Q. Jones House Images: Gainesville CRA | Jones Center: Alachua County Public Schools

Honorable Thomas J. “T.J.” Reddick, Jr. Judge Thomas J. “T.J.” Reddick, Jr. North Building, Broward County Judicial Complex 201 S.E. 6th St., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 The Honorable Thomas J. “T.J.” Reddick, Jr. (1919-1993) was a pioneering lawyer, judge, and elected official, serving the citizens of Broward County, Florida. The namesake of the T.J. Reddick Bar Association, Reddick was the first African-American attorney to open a law practice in Broward County. He was the first African-American to be appointed to the Broward County Court of Record, and the first African-American elected to serve as a Circuit Court Judge in the State of Florida. Reddick, a native of Sarasota, Florida, and a graduate of Tampa’s Middleton High School, received his law degree from Howard University in 1951. He practiced law for 20 years before becoming the first African-American to be appointed to a state-level court of general jurisdiction in Florida by Governor Reubin O’D. Askew in August 1971. He served his community as co-chairman of Ft. Lauderdale’s Bi-Racial Committee, director of the United Fund and chairman of the Ft. Lauderdale Economic Opportunity Coordinating Group (poverty program). He additionally served three terms on Ft. Lauderdale’s Charter Revision Board. – Delaitre J. Hollinger BROWARD Judge T.J. Reddick Portrait Unveiling Judge T.J. Reddick North Building Images Courtesy of: The 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida and The Florida Bar Association

Cookman Institute / Rev. S.B. Darnell Formerly Located in Jacksonville, Florida The Cookman Institute was founded by Reverend S.B Darnell in 1872. Darnell named the institute after the Reverend Alfred Cookman, who gave money for the construction of the school’s very first building. Originally located in Jacksonville at Beaver and Hogan Streets, Cookman was the first institution of higher education for African-Americans in the State of Florida, specializing in the religious and academic preparation of teachers. In 1925, Cookman merged with the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute, which had been founded in 1904 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. – Bethune-Cookman University Edward Waters University / Dock & Carrie Jordan 1658 Kings Rd., Jacksonville, FL 32209 In November 1895, at age 29, Professor Dock Jackson Jordan became the youngest President of Edward Waters College. Subsequently, he held several prestigious positions, and the couple relocated to North Carolina, becoming President of Kittrell College (1909-1912). He later served as Dean of History and Pedagogy; Head of the English and Education Departments; and served as the Director of the National Teacher’s Training School at North Carolina A&T State University, from 1912-1920. Jordan was founding chairman of the Department of History at North Carolina Central University from 1918-1941. Carrie Thomas Jordan spent her formative years in Jacksonville, Florida; the daughter of Rev. Lawrence Thomas, a revered and respected A.M.E. church leader, who pastored the Historic Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church, in downtown Jacksonville in the 1880s-1890s. Mrs. Jordan advocated vocational training courses for African-American youth in the South, to improve their employment opportunities. From 1923-1926, she was Jeanes Supervisor, mentoring and supporting rural schoolteachers in Durham, North Carolina under the auspices of the Jeanes Foundation. She also raised money from the Rosenwald Foundation to build twelve new schools for African-American students. – Delaitre J. Hollinger DUVAL Cookman Institute Image: State Archives of Florida | Dock & Carrie Jordan Images: Delaitre Hollinger

Honorable Winston Arnow Winston E. Arnow United States Courthouse and Federal Building 100 N. Palafox St., Pensacola, Florida 32502 The Honorable Winston Eugene “Bo” Arnow (1911-1994) was a federal judge serving in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, who presided over numerous civil rights cases. Judge Arnow made several landmark civil rights decisions that affected the area. In 1969, he ordered the desegregation of the Escambia County School District. He issued the 1973 injunction against Escambia High School’s use of the name “Rebels” and Confederate flag for their sports teams. In 1975, he ordered the City of Tallahassee to hire minorities in key government leadership roles as a result of the efforts of civil rights activists Robert and Trudie Perkins. In 1978, he ruled in favor of black groups led by Dr. Elmer Jenkins to establish single-member districts, resulting in the election of African-Americans to the Pensacola City Council, Escambia County Commission and Escambia County School Board. In 1981 he sealed a settlement in a discrimination case, requiring the Air Force to establish a $2 million fund and Eglin Air Force Base to hire 100 black workers for its civilian labor force and promote others already on the payroll. Judge Lacey Collier said of these decisions, “Judge Arnow was a man who was clearly ahead of his time, and, of course, damned and vilified for it. But history has proved he was right, not just legally but also morally.” – Delaitre J. Hollinger and Jacqueline Y. Perkins ESCAMBIA Winston E. Arnow United States Courthouse and Federal Building Winston E. Arnow Courthouse Image: Library of Congress

Honorable Reubin O’Donovan Askew Reubin O’Donovan Askew Terminal, Pensacola International Airport 222 W. Main St., Pensacola, FL 32502 The Honorable Reubin O’Donovan Askew (1928-2014) was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. In 1937, he moved with his mother and five siblings to Pensacola, Florida. Askew served in two branches of the United States military, in both houses of the Florida Legislature, through an unprecedented two terms as Governor, as United States Trade Ambassador and as an Eminent Scholar in Florida Government and Politics at Florida State University. During his tenure as Florida’s 37th Governor, he became known as a progressive reformer for his forward-thinking leadership on civil rights, tax reform, judicial and executive reorganization and open accountable government. While serving in the Governor’s Office, he brought African-Americans more fully into state government leadership. In 1971, Governor Askew appointed Athalie Range as Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs; the first African-American and the first woman ever to head a state agency in Florida. In 1975, he appointed Joseph Hatchett to the Florida Supreme Court; Hatchett was the first African-American to serve on the state’s highest judicial body. In 1978, he appointed Jesse McCrary, Jr. as Florida’s first African-American Secretary of State since Reconstruction. – Florida Commission on Human Relations ESCAMBIA Reubin O’Donovan Askew Terminal, Pensacola International Airport Askew Image: Courtesy of State Archives of Florida | Airport Image: Courtesy of City of Pensacola

Historic Bruce Beach 601 W. Main St., Pensacola, FL 32502 During segregation in Pensacola, Bruce Beach was the city’s only Black beach—a much-beloved recreational space with a steep drop-off close to the shore. As the Civil Rights Movement grew in the 1950s, local Black leaders and community advocates finally succeeded in a decades-long effort: to build a safer swimming facility on the site serving Black Pensacolans. Open from 1957 to 1975, Bruce Pool was “the place to be” come summer. After its closure due to lack of funding and mounting repair costs, the site sat empty for decades, reopening to the public in 2018.– City of Pensacola ESCAMBIA Historic Bruce Beach, Phase One, Pensacola, Florida Images courtesy of City of Pensacola

Honorable Helen Gordon Davis Helen Gordon Davis Centre, 305 S. Hyde Park Ave., Tampa, FL 33606 A legislator for almost two decades, Senator Helen Gordon Davis (1926-2015) championed the civil rights of the disenfranchised, particularly women and minorities. Born in New York City, she moved to Tampa in 1948. In 1952, she was the first White woman in Florida to join the NAACP. She chaired the Florida League of Women Voters Administration of Justice Study that ensured the passage of the constitutional amendment creating Florida’s circuit judicial system. This work resulted in an award from the National Association of Juvenile Court Judges. Davis founded Florida’s first women’s center in 1971, and in 1974, she was the first woman elected from Hillsborough County to the Florida House of Representatives. She was reelected for six consecutive terms and, in 1988, was elected to the Florida Senate. She sponsored the first legislation for displaced homemakers and spouse abuse centers, as well as the first sexual harassment law. She personally funded a study of equity in state employment and a pioneering displaced homemakers’ center in Tampa. Davis is the mother of three children and the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors, including the Outstanding Legislator Award from the National Democratic Women’s Clubs. – Florida Commission on the Status of Women Honorable A. Leon Lowry A. Leon Lowry Elementary School, 11505 Country Hollow Dr., Tampa, FL 33635 In 1956, Rev. Dr. A. Leon Lowry, Sr. (1913-2005), was called to pastor Beulah Baptist Church and became the church’s 13th pastor; a position he held for 40 years. As one of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s theology professors and State president of the NAACP, Rev. Lowry was a force for civil rights within and beyond Tampa. In 1976, he became the first African-American to be elected to a countywide office in Hillsborough County, win he won election to the Hillsborough County School Board, serving until 1992. The Florida Bar awarded him a medal of honor for easing racial tensions and promoting social justice. – Beulah Missionary Baptist Church HILLSBOROUGH

The Jackson House 851 E. Zack St., Tampa, FL 33602 The Jackson House is a two-story home consisting of twenty-four (24) rooms. The house is located at 851 East Zack Street in downtown Tampa in close proximity to the train station. The first known owner was Sarah Allen. The property is actually located in an area that is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in Tampa known as the “Scrub.” Moses Jackson acquired the property from Ms. Allen in 1903. He built his family home on that property. However, Mr. Jackson realized that African-American travelers had no place to stay while visiting Tampa. He turned their home into a downtown boarding home for travelers. It was also a place for family employment for the ladies of their home. Thus the house was given the name “Jackson House.” During the segregation era, it was one of the only places visiting African-Americans could stay. Well-known figures like Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Luther King Jr., James Brown and Ray Charles have all stayed at the Jackson House. – The Jackson House Foundation, Inc. HILLSBOROUGH The Historic Jackson House, Tampa, FL Image Courtesy of: Fox News Tampa Bay

Robert Clemon “C.T.” & Sevilla Burney Tillman Tillman Funeral Home (Original Location: 620 E. York St., Monticello, FL) Present Location: 1215 N. Jefferson St., Monticello, FL 32344 Robert Clemon “C.T.” “Pap” Tillman, Sr. (1894-1981) was a lifelong resident of Monticello. He and his wife, Leon County native Sevilla Burney Tillman (1897-2006), became the founders,’ owners and operators of Tillman Funeral Home in 1931. Tillman was the first African-American funeral director in Jefferson County, and a pioneer in African-American funeral service in North Florida. At one point in time, the Tillmans owned and operated funeral homes in Monticello, Madison and Perry. Mr. and Mrs. Tillman were well-respected by many citizens in the community. When there were fatalities, Tillman’s would retrieve the deceased, as the county did not provide ambulance service at the time. In 1965, the Tillmans turned the day-to-day operation of the funeral home over to their son, William “Spike” Tillman. Mr. Tillman was a deacon of Greater Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, where Mrs. Tillman was also a deaconess, mother and the oldest member. Over the years, she was mother to countless young men and women who served either their apprenticeships or internships for embalmer/funeral director licensure at Tillman’s. They were the parents of the late Ephraim Tillman, William Tillman, Clemon Tillman, Jr., Bessie T. Early, Almeda T. Montgomery, and Dr. Willie T. Williams. Mrs. Tillman outlived all three of her sons, dying at the age of 109. – Delaitre J. Hollinger and Dr. Willie T. Williams JEFFERSON Original Tillman Funeral Home and Tillman Family Home on York Street Images Courtesy of Dr. Willie T. Williams and Google Maps

Honorable Thomas LeRoy Collins Call-Collins House at The Grove Museum, 902 N. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32301 LeRoy Collins Birthplace (now a law office), 725 E. Park Ave., Tallahassee, FL 32301 The Honorable Thomas LeRoy Collins (1909-1991) was the first Southern Governor in the United States to support civil rights and desegregation. He served as Florida’s 33rd Governor from 1955 to 1961. He denounced the Florida Legislature’s attempts to nullify the Brown v. Topeka, Kansas Board of Education decision, promoted desegregation and vetoed bills that tried to block change. He was appointed by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve as the first director of the Community Relations Service under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In this role, he negotiated a peaceful end to the 1965 voting rights march in Selma, Alabama. He became a prominent voice for civil rights in Florida and the nation and in 1991, was declared “Floridian of the Century” by the Florida Legislature. During his tenure as Governor, he advocated for improving Florida’s public school system, and he established the state’s first community colleges. He also endorsed a more diverse economy, encouraged state-sponsored tourism, promoted agriculture and industry, and was a proponent of creating good race relations. Collins also chaired the Southern Governors’ Conference and the National Governors’ Conference during his term. – State Library and Archives of Florida and Delaitre J. Hollinger LEON Image: Google Maps, Birthplace of LeRoy Collins | Image: Visit Florida, Call-Collins House Birthplace of LeRoy Collins Call-Collins House at The Grove

Robert D. Perkins, Sr. & Trudie Chester Perkins Robert and Trudie Perkins Way, Tallahassee, FL 32307 Robert and Trudie Perkins were business owners, educators and courageous civil rights leaders, who fought against injustice on the local, state and national level. The Perkins’s were known for their academic prowess, business acumen, leadership, activism and the courage to fight for and effectuate transformational change. During the 1950’s – 1980’s, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins were at the forefront of many efforts to challenge the status quo. They fought injustice and discrimination on many fronts, having lost their jobs to bring about equality and justice for the citizens of Tallahassee and Leon County. Robert D. Perkins, Sr. (1922-1994) lobbied city leadership for parks and recreational facilities for African-Americans, served as chairman of the Negro Recreation Advisory Council, and his relentless efforts led to the construction of the Jake Gaither Park for Negroes, which was dedicated in 1954. Trudie Mae Perkins (1921-2013) was one of the first Black nurses hired at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in 1967. She waged an ultimately successful battle to highlight the discrepancies in pay between Black and White nurses. Mr. Perkins prepared case files for 25 hospital employees, using his own money and time to travel to Washington, DC, where he met with U.S. Senators Ted Kennedy, Birch Bayh and Edward Gurney. U.S. Attorney General William Saxbe agreed with Perkins and filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Tallahassee, alleging the city was engaged in a pattern and practice of racial discrimination. Federal Judge Winston Arnow entered and ordered a consent decree in April 1975, requiring that the city hire Black employees at a ratio of 23.7%, which was proportionate to their population in the city at that time. Robert and Trudie Perkins’ selfless service and courageous actions were indeed impactful and historic. Their significant efforts and accomplishments in the fight against discriminatory hiring practices, led to the desegregation and diversification of the City of Tallahassee’s workforce, which resulted in improved relationships among all races and ethnicities, and made life better for all of us. – Jacqueline Y. Perkins and Delaitre J. Hollinger LEON Images courtesy of Jacqueline Y. Perkins and Tallahassee Democrat

E. Lilyan Spencer Corner of FAMU Way and Eugenia St., Tallahassee, FL 32310 Former Home Site of E. Lilyan Spencer (now demolished), 825 W. Eugenia St. Ms. E. Lilyan Spencer (1906-1957), an educator, humanitarian and athlete, won a National Tennis Title at the 1937 Southern Open Championship, also known as the 21st American Tennis Association (ATA) Nationals, held at Tuskegee Institute. Ms. Spencer and Bertha Isaacs (1900-1997), of Nassau, Bahamas, won in the Women’s Doubles category. Her championship feat is mentioned in an exhibit of the International Tennis Hall of Fame entitled: “Breaking the Barriers: The ATA and Black Tennis Pioneers.” Achieving this at a time when African-Americans were banned from playing in the U.S. Open, she also held the state women’s singles tennis crown for 10 years without suffering a defeat in competition. Graduating from Florida A&M University in 1926, she was an educational administrator, who served as principal of Bond Junior High School (now Bond Elementary School) from 1941 to 1951; also, simultaneously serving as athletic director, math teacher, as well as both girls’ and boys’ basketball coach. She was also a teacher and principal of the now-defunct Richardson Elementary School in Southwest Tallahassee. She coached her teams to state championships, eventually moving to Roulhac Negro High School in Chipley, Florida to coach girls’ basketball, where her teams were the best in the state. For her work, she was feted by the Florida Interscholastic Coaches Association in 1954. At that time, the St. Petersburg Times wrote that Spencer was the only Florida woman to have won a national competition. In 2025, Spencer was inducted into the National Black Tennis Hall of Fame, as well as the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame. – Delaitre J. Hollinger LEON Images courtesy of Delaitre J. Hollinger FCRM Historical Marker Sign designating E. Lilyan Spencer Memorial Wy

Rev. R.N. Gooden Saint Mary Primitive Baptist Church, 454 W. Call St., Tallahassee, FL 32301 Rev. R.N. Gooden (1927-2002) was a Baptist minister and civil rights leader who pastored St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church on West Call Street for more than 41 years. Gooden’s bold courageous and relentless assault on racial segregation and social injustice led to the construction of low-income housing in Tallahassee. He pressured Florida governors, school officials, and chiefs of police in ultimately successful efforts which saw the first Black circuit court judges in Florida and supreme court justices; the first Black principals at majority-white schools; the first Black district-level school administrators; and the first Black police officers who attained higher ranks within the department. He helped desegregate public facilities, helped death row prisoners, worked successfully to eradicate slums, and led the Operation Breadbasket initiatives, which fed hungry families. – Delaitre J. Hollinger Cecil Hill Walker Gravesite: Historic Greenwood Cemetery, 1601 Old Bainbridge Rd., Tallahassee, FL 32303 Cecil Hill Walker (1912-1937) was named principal of Tallahassee’s original Lincoln High School in 1932 at the age of 20 years. Walker was a native of Alabama and a graduate of Morehouse College. His father, Clarence C. Walker, Sr., was principal of several Black high schools in Florida, before becoming principal of Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale. Clarence Walker led his students on a successful boycott of the schools, which resulted in a longer school year for black students. Young Cecil Walker encouraged health and wellness, as well as civic pride while principal of Lincoln. He brought National Negro Health Week to Tallahassee, and insisted that all Lincoln High School events be integrated, encouraging the attendance of white citizens at concerts, games, recitals and other events. Following in his father’s footsteps, he ensured that Lincoln was accredited for the first time since it’s founding in 1867. He died at age 25 of a sudden heart attack in November 1937 at his Tallahassee home. He was married to Richie Bell Stewart Walker Martin, who died in 2010, aged 100. – Delaitre J. Hollinger LEON

Paradise Park Historical Marker located at the intersection of Baseline Rd. (N.E. 58th Ave.) and N.E. 24th St., on the right when traveling north on Baseline Rd. (Park now closed) Paradise Park was a segregated African-American resort located about a mile down the Silver River from the popular Silver Springs attraction near Ocala, Florida. The park was developed by Carl Ray and W.M. “Shorty” Davidson, co-owners of Silver Springs, for nearly four decades. The park opened on May 20, 1949, and remained open until 1969. African-American families, tour buses, and church groups came from all over Florida and the United States to visit the attraction. Amenities included a pavilion with a dance floor and jukebox, a swimming area with a sandy beach, tropical landscaping and space for softball and other games. Like its counterpart Silver Springs, Paradise Park featured glass-bottom boat tours that introduced visitors to the beauty of the Silver River. Easter egg hunts, baptisms and picnics were common, and at Christmas Santa Claus would cruise down the river on a glass-bottom boat to pass out candy, nuts and fruit for the children. Beauty contests were sponsored each Labor Day by the American Legion. Herpetologist Ross Allen even set up a reptile exhibit at the park, similar to the one located upriver at Silver Springs. – State Library and Archives of Florida MARION Advertisement for Paradise Park at Silver Springs Image courtesy of State Archives of Florida

Honorable Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry Gwen Cherry Park, 7090 N.W. 22nd Ave., Miami, FL 33147 Miami native Gwen Cherry (1923-1979) spent nearly a decade in Florida’s House of Representatives fighting for African-American and women’s rights. She became the first Black woman elected to the Florida Legislature in 1970, and immediately went to work filing bills to abolish the death penalty and create a statewide childcare program. Cherry, who was the first Black woman in Miami-Dade County to pass the bar, served as general counsel for the National Organization for Women (NOW), which fought tirelessly to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the United States. Cherry introduced ERA bills in the Legislature and marched in support of the amendment with fellow Florida feminist Roxcy Bolton. The Florida House of Representatives voted on four separate occasions to ratify the amendment, but in each instance the measure failed in the Florida Senate. Cherry was a vocal advocate for equality for women and minorities. In 1972, she sponsored a bill that banned discrimination based on sex, and she served as chair of the state’s coordinating committee for the International Women’s Year in 1975. She also led the effort to pass a bill in 1978 recognizing Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday as a state holiday, five years before the national holiday was created, and she encouraged Black Floridians to run for political office. – State Library and Archives of Florida MIAMI-DADE Rep. Gwen Cherry discusses legislation with Rep. Dick Renick in 1972 (L); Cherry poses with Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm in 1972 (M); Cherry and other Legislators being sworn into the Florida House of Representatives in 1974. Images courtesy of State Archives of Florida

Honorable Carrie Pittman Meek The Carrie Meek Foundation, 4000 N.W. 142nd St., Opa-locka, FL 33054 U.S. Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek (1926-2021) was responsible for introducing Florida’s Fair Housing Act, which outlawed discriminatory housing practices and offered legal remedies to combat it. The law made it illegal to deny housing to any persons because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. She personally wrote and introduced Hospice legislation in Florida as a state representative, which eventually was adopted in other states and became federal law. She sponsored legislation in the state senate which led to thousands of affordable housing units being constructed in Florida. She successfully sued Metropolitan Dade County as a Senator, forcing the county commission there to adopt single member districts. Chosen by Tallahassee-area Senate President Pat Thomas to be Senate President Pro Tem, she was the first woman and first African-American to hold this post in the Legislature. She sponsored the Performance Bond Exemption amendment, which offered opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses to receive state construction contracts. The Congresswoman also successfully sponsored legislation for the Minority, Women and Small Business Enterprise (MWSBE) to exist in Florida. She sponsored the Community Revitalization Act of 1981, which infused $5,000,000.00 into riot-torn Miami, following the Arthur McDuffie riots. After only three years as a state legislator, she was considered the most powerful Black member of the Legislature. She loomed large over the reapportionment process in the 1982 session facilitating the switch to single-member districts in the House and Senate. She also was responsible for the legislation that created the Florida Commission on the Status of Women. Congresswoman Meek championed the renovation and expansion of the Samuel H. Coleman Memorial Library at Florida A&M University and secured funding for the construction of a new President’s residence on campus. She introduced a bill to require employers to make Social Security payments for domestic workers and to ease paperwork requirements. The so-called “Nanny” bill was signed into law. She fought to create two new USDA funded programs, which created the Center for Biological Controls and the Center for Water Resources at Florida A&M University, and secured $3.8 million for the renovation and expansion of the Florida A&M University Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum at Carnegie Library. In 2006, the Florida Legislature named the facility the Carrie Meek/James N. Eaton, Sr. Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum. MIAMI-DADE Meek was responsible for hundreds of millions dollars being invested across Florida in several new programs, buildings, initiatives, and most importantly, laws that impacted the lives of those most forgotten by society and left out of the political process. – Delaitre J. Hollinger

Honorable Claude Denson Pepper Claude Pepper Park, 1255 N.W. 135th St., North Miami, FL 33168 Claude Pepper Federal Building, 51 S.W. 1st Ave., Miami, FL 33130 In 1928, the Honorable Claude Denson Pepper (1900-1989) began his distinguished career of public service in the Florida House of Representatives. In 1936, he was elected to the U.S. Senate where he served for 14 years. In the Senate, he served on numerous committees and chaired both the Subcommittee on Wartime Health and Education and the Committee on Patents. Senator Pepper was a cosponsor of legislation creating the first of 13 National Institutes of Health, 12 of which were either directly sponsored or cosponsored by Senator Pepper. He was a key legislator in the enactment of the first minimum wage law, worked for the rights of women by introducing one of the nation’s first equal rights amendments, and wrote the “Lend-Lease Act”. Prior to being elected to the U.S. Congress, Senator Pepper worked earnestly for causes he supported including being the only southern Congressman to support civil rights and voting rights legislation. During his Congressional career, he chaired the Select Committee on Crime and the Select Committee on Aging and its Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care. He was chairman of the Committee on Rules and a member of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Senator Pepper was also one of the principal sponsors of the Older Americans Act. – State Library and Archives of Florida MIAMI-DADE Pepper Federal Building in Miami; Senator Pepper and wife Mildred, Circa 1940s. Images courtesy of State Archives of Florida

Honorable M. Athalie Range Athalie Range Park, 525 N.W. 62nd St., Miami, FL 33150 A widowed mother of four small children, the Honorable M. Athalie Range (1915-2006) served as a president of local and county Parent Teacher Associations for 16 years, where she promoted equal rights in education for minorities. Born in Key West, she attended the New England Institute of Anatomy and Embalming in Boston, Massachusetts and subsequently became a licensed embalmer and funeral director. In 1965, Range became the first African-American to serve on the Miami City Commission. She introduced several citywide ordinances resulting in a stringent handgun law, updated fire codes, a restriction on the sale of glue to minors, and the creation of parks and play areas. In 1970, Range was appointed by Governor Reubin O’D. Askew to serve as Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs. She was the first African-American to serve as head of a Florida state agency. She is the recipient of more than 125 local, state and national awards and honors. – Florida Commission on the Status of Women Annie Manning Coleman Annie M. Coleman (1894-1981) was one of the City of Miami’s first African-American civic leaders. She was born in Quitman, GA, and attended Paine College in Augusta, before moving with her husband, the Rev. James E. Coleman, to Miami in 1922. She organized the Friendship Garden and Civic Club with two White women in 1923, which worked for seven years to have the first Black policemen hired in Miami. Coleman founded the first library for the Black community, utilizing a vacant building she owned next door to her home, and worked to raise money to build a Black hospital. The Miami Housing Authority named a community housing project after her in 1966. Coleman was responsible for the first streets being paved, as well as the first parks being built in African-American neighborhoods, held interracial meetings at a time when doing such was prohibited by law, and raised money for various charitable causes. – Delaitre J. Hollinger MIAMI-DADE

Historic Wells’Built Hotel Wells’Built Museum of African-American History and Culture 511 W. South St., Orlando, FL 32805 Dr. William Monroe Wells (1889-1957) built the hotel and a nearby entertainment venue for African-Americans visiting Orlando. During the Segregation era, this hotel served as host to several now famous African-American performers. On February 4, 2000, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Although African Americans were taxpayers like other residents of Orlando, they did not have access to recreational facilities, good schools, police protection, health care and other services that were provided to white citizens. This led him to build the South Street Casino and the hotel next door after being issued a building permit in 1924 and ’26. Dr. Wells erected the Wells’ Built Hotel to provide lodging to African Americans during an era of segregation when accommodations were not available to them in other areas of Central Florida. – Wells’Built Museum of African-American History and Culture Honorable Geraldine F. Thompson State Senator Geraldine Fortenberry Thompson (1948-2025) was a pioneering graduate of the University of Miami and Florida State University. She served as executive secretary to State Rep. Gwen Cherry, eventually becoming a classroom teacher in Orange County. An administrator at Valencia College for 24 years, she founded the Wells’Built Museum of African-American History and Culture in Historic Parramore. In 2006, she was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, becoming the first Black woman to serve in the Legislature from Orlando. In 2012, she was elected to the Florida Senate, serving until 2016. Thompson returned to the House in 2018 and was again elected to the Senate in 2022. She passed numerous pieces of impactful and transformational legislation, and secured millions for museums and historical ORANGE initiatives. Included among her final legislative accomplishments were chairing the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force and securing $250,000 for the Florida Civil Rights Museum. – Delaitre J. Hollinger

Honorable Catherine E. Strong Catherine Strong Splash Park 1500 S.W. 6th St., Delray Beach, FL 33444 In 1953, Catherine E. Strong (1911-1963) was elected to the Delray Beach City Council. Strong received 902 votes during the primary: the most votes ever received by a single candidate in Delray’s municipal elections. In the general election, she won 1,188 votes. As Strong received the most votes, the council selected her as mayor. The Miami Herald reported her win under the headline, “A Woman Wields the Mayor’s Gavel,” and stated, “Thus Mrs. Strong has been given an opportunity to demonstrate in her community a fact which is winning increasing acceptance – that qualified women can do a good job in responsible posts of government.” In 1956, Strong became heavily involved in a major civil rights moment in Delray Beach: the desegregation of Delray’s municipal beach. Strong was named in a federal lawsuit filed by NAACP attorney Francisco A. Rodriguez, Jr. against Mayor W.J. Snow and the Delray Beach City Commission. According to the suit, Delray Beach’s Black residents, “solely because of their race and ancestry” were denied access to the beach and pool. This refusal violated the Equal Protection of Laws guaranteed by both the federal and state constitutions. On May 16, 1956, during a hearing for the federal suit against the city, Strong testified there were no ordinances banning people of color from the municipal beach and pool. Federal Judge Emmett C. Choate dismissed the case. For many, this signified a victory: an expressed, official policy that the beach was open to everyone. When Delray’s Black citizens exercised their right to access the beach, however, a group of angry White citizens attacked the group and threatened violence. Residents threatened commissioners and a group of young men burned a large cross in front of the Ace High Club, located on West Atlantic Avenue. Civic leadership passed several “emergency ordinances” to curb racial violence, but these laws often disproportionally harmed Delray’s Black community. This included an outright ban of African-Americans on the beach and municipal pool, police searches, and roadblocks. Catherine Strong was the only commissioner to vote against the ordinances, pushing back against her fellow leaders each time. When the commission voted to exclude the entire Black district from Delray Beach’s city limits, Strong emphatically voted no and did not sign the resolution. “I don’t think this is going to solve the problem,” she stated. “The public hasn’t had a chance to express itself on this exclusion and I don’t care for this manner of cramming it through.” Strong wrote a letter to Governor LeRoy Collins, asking him to veto the resolution. – Delray Beach Historical Society PALM BEACH

Honorable Joseph Woodrow Hatchett Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building 111 N. Adams St., Tallahassee, FL 32301 Born in Clearwater, Pinellas County, Florida, Justice Joseph Woodrow Hatchett (1932-2021) graduated from Florida A&M University, and earned his law degree from Howard University. Upon passing the Florida Bar Exam in 1959, he opened a law practice and became of-counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He filed numerous anti-discrimination lawsuits against local governments and challenged legal segregation in public accomodations. He was once chased down U.S. Highway 1 by the Ku Klux Klan after posting bail for a client, but managed to escape the group. He was soon appointed as the First Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, and in 1971, was appointed a United States Magistrate. Justice Hatchett was appointed to the Supreme Court of Florida by Gov. Reubin O’D. Askew in 1975, making him the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in Florida’s history. The following year, Justice Hatchett ran for this seat in his own right against a better known and funded White candidate and won the election decisively. He became the first African-American to win a statewide election in Florida. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. With this, Judge Hatchett became the first African-American to serve on a federal appellate court in the Deep South. In 1981, he was reassigned by operation of law to the 11th Circuit, where he remained until his retirment in 1999. His federal judicial service also included leading the circuit as chief judge for three years. In 2021, the National Association for the Preservation of African-American History & Culture, Inc. successfully requested that the federal courthouse in downtown Tallahassee be named in Judge Hatchett’s honor. – Delaitre J. Hollinger PINELLAS Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building Hatchett Headshot: Rashad Green | Courthouse Image courtesy of the Tallahassee Democrat

Honorable C. Bette Wimbish C. Bette Wimbish Highway, (Interstate 375), North Bay Drive, St. Petersburg, FL On April 1, 1969, C. Bette Wimbish (1924-2009) made history when she was elected as the first African-American to serve on the St. Petersburg City Council. Wimbish was a pioneering force in Florida’s legal and political landscape, breaking barriers as the first African-American elected to modern office in the Tampa Bay area, the first Black female lawyer in Pinellas County, and the first Black vice mayor of St. Petersburg. She fought tirelessly for civil rights, joining her husband, Dr. Ralph Wimbish, in efforts to desegregate hotels, schools, beaches, and other public spaces. Together, they housed Freedom Riders in 1961 and supported Black baseball players barred from segregated hotels. After being denied entry to Stetson University due to segregation, she earned her law degree from Florida A&M University and transformed her late husband’s medical office into a law practice. In 1973, Governor Reubin O’D. Askew appointed her deputy secretary of commerce, making her one of the highest-ranking women in Florida government. She later served as local counsel for the Florida Department of Social Services, ensuring underserved communities had access to legal support. Beyond her legal and political work, Wimbish’s impact extended to mentorship, advocacy, and community service. She was a member of the NAACP, the National Bar Association, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, among other organizations. Her dedication to justice and equality inspired future generations, including former Senator Arthenia Joyner, whom she mentored. Honored with a stretch of highway in her name, Wimbish’s legacy as a fearless advocate for civil rights and equality endures. – St. Petersburg Museum of History PINELLAS Governor Reubin O’D. Askew and Deputy Commerce Secretary C. Bette Wimbish Courtesy of Ralph Wimbish

Honorable Richard W. Ervin, Jr. In 1948, Richard W. Ervin, Jr. (1905-2004) was elected Attorney General of Florida. During these years of public service Attorney General Ervin helped activate the roadside beautification program by the Road Department, served as legal counsel for the Overseas Highway Bridge District, drafted the law creating the Department of Public Safety, and later served as its attorney. As Attorney General, Ervin specialized in drafting complex legislative acts, and assisted in drafting and securing passage of the law giving counties shares of the state gasoline tax; thus, relieving them of staggering road bond indebtedness. Labeled by state legislators as a “wild man,” and branded by his supreme court colleagues as a “dissenter,” Ervin could be described by many as an unabashed liberal. He is credited with guiding the state from segregation (based on the brief he wrote to the United States Supreme Court's request from each state's Attorney General on how to rule regarding Brown v. Board of Education) and desegregating its schools. His administration of the Office of the Attorney General from 1948 until 1964 was distinguished by the publication of the first original revision of Florida Statutes since 1941, and by his drive to rid the State of Florida of organized bookmaking and illegal gambling activities. Because of his efforts in this field, Attorney General Ervin has achieved national and state acclaim and was selected by the Junior Chamber of Commerce as Florida’s Outstanding Government Official in 1950. He was also a prominent member of the National Association of Attorneys General. Richard William Ervin, Jr. served as Attorney General until his appointment as a member of the Supreme Court of Florida in 1964 by Governor Farris Bryant. Subsequently elected statewide to the position as the 55th Justice since Statehood, Justice Ervin served until he neared the mandatory retirement age of 70 on January 7, 1975. As a Justice of the Florida Supreme Court and Chief Justice from 1969 to 1971, he considered his years on the Supreme Court the most satisfying of his 40 years of public service. The Justice said of his contributions that he tried to blow the chaff of judicial procedures so that the odds wouldn’t be so great against the average citizen. He felt that the law should try within reason to help people whose incomes were below the federal poverty threshold, women, African-Americans and the disadvantaged. – Delaitre J. Hollinger / Including Excerpts from the Richard William Ervin Papers, Florida State University Special Collection PUTNAM

Dr. Robert Bagner Hayling Dr. Robert B. Hayling Freedom Park 698-592 Riberia St., St. Augustine, FL 32084 Robert B. Hayling (1929-2015) graduated from Florida A&M University (B.S., Biology, 1951) and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force before earning his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN. In 1960, Dr. Hayling set up his dental practice in St. Augustine. By 1963 Dr. Hayling was Advisor to the NAACP Youth Council in St. Augustine. The group was more strident in its demands for desegregation than much of the adult population. In early 1963, Dr. Hayling threatened public demonstrations against segregated facilities urging Vice President Lyndon Johnson not to attend the city’s 400th anniversary celebrations if they were segregated as planned. Although Johnson’s insistence led officials to integrate the celebrations, city officials ignored their additional promise to set up a bi-racial committee to address the concerns of the Black population. Continued protests led by Hayling in St. Augustine were uniformly met with resistance by White residents, city officials, and police. During the summer/fall of 1963, Black residents faced violence at the hands of white segregationists. In September 1963, Hayling and three others were beaten and nearly killed at a Ku Klux Klan rally. The NAACP distanced itself from Hayling’s “militancy,” and after months of escalation and grand jury findings that blamed racial tensions on him and other activists, he resigned from the NAACP and turned to SCLC for support. SCLC organized a high profile desegregation campaign for Easter week 1964. SCLC’s first step was to train the community in the techniques of nonviolent direct action. Dr. Hayling’s approach to dealing with White violence had been very provocative, and SCLC recruited White northern college students to spend their spring vacations in St. Augustine and began a series of night marches, pickets and sit-ins. Hundreds were arrested, including Hayling, King, and Mary Peabody ─ the elderly mother of the sitting Governor of Massachusetts, which brought national media attention to St. Augustine. Over the next several months, Dr. Hayling and SCLC officials led demonstrations and sought redress in3 the courts. When a June 18, 1964 grand jury suggested that SCLC withdraw for a 30-day cooling-off period, Hayling and King released a joint statement declaring, “There will be neither peace nor tranquility in this community until the righteous demands of the Negro are fully met.” After Florida’s Governor Farris Bryant declared his intention, on June 30, 1964, to set up a biracial ST. JOHNS commission to address race relations in St. Augustine, SCLC left the city the next day, and President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2nd. – Delaitre J. Hollinger

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Bethune–Cookman University 640 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Blvd., Daytona Beach, FL 32114 Bethune-Cookman University’s founder, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), is one of America’s most inspirational daughters. Educator. National civil rights pioneer and activist. Champion of African-American women’s rights and advancement. Advisor to Presidents of the United States. The first in her family not to be born into slavery, she became one of the most influential women of her generation. Dr. Bethune famously started the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training Institute for Negro Girls on October 3, 1904 with $1.50, vision, an entrepreneurial mindset, resilience and faith in God. She created “pencils” from charred wood, ink from elderberries, and mattresses from moss-stuffed corn sacks. Her first students were five little girls and her five-year-old son, Albert Jr. In less than two years, the school grew to 250 students. Recognizing the health disparities and lack of medical treatment available to African-Americans in Daytona Beach, she also founded the Mary McLeod Hospital and Training School for Nurses, which at the time was the only school of its kind that served African-American women on the east coast. Daytona Normal would continue to increase in popularity, and merged with the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, Florida in 1923 and became Bethune-Cookman College. Tireless, talented and committed to service, Dr. Bethune held leadership positions in several prominent organizations even while also leading her school. In 1935, she founded the National Council of Negro Women, which would become a highly influential organization with a clear civil rights agenda. She was appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the National Youth Administration in 1936. By 1939 she was the organization’s Director of Negro Affairs, which oversaw the training of tens of thousands of black youth. She was the only female member of President Roosevelt’s influential “Black Cabinet.” She leveraged her close friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to lobby for integrating the Civilian Pilot Training Program and to bring the Program to the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities, which led to graduating some of the first black pilots in the country. She was one of the founders of the United Negro College Fund. Her civil rights work helped integrate the Red Cross. She was the only woman of color at the founding conference of the United Nations. Appointed by President Harry S. Truman, she led the US delegation to Liberia for the inauguration of President William V.S. Tubman in 1949. In 1951, she served on President Truman’s Committee of Twelve for National Defense. – Bethune-Cookman University VOLUSIA

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