1 CIVIL RIGHTS IN FLORIDABy Christopher Orozco and Christopher Haynes

2 JIM CROW LAWS: WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR PRE-1960S AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN FLORIDAThe Jim Crow laws were a series of racial caste laws in the Southern United States that restricted the rights of African-Americans. When people think “Jim Crow Laws” they immediately think of segregation, but it also included unjust voting laws. For example: Some laws required taxes on polls; and since many African-Americans were poor they couldn’t pay the taxes, so they couldn’t vote. Other laws required written exams to be passed; since many African-Americans couldn’t read, write, and had little education they couldn’t vote.

3 JIM CROW LAWS: WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR PRE-1960S AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN FLORIDA PT. 2In addition to written laws there were unwritten rules called “Jim Crow Etiquette”. Generalizations of the etiquette follow: A black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white woman, because he risked being accused of rape. Blacks and whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be placed between them. Under no circumstance was a black male to offer to light the cigarette of a white female -- that gesture implied intimacy. Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing, because it offended whites. Jim Crow etiquette prescribed that blacks were introduced to whites, never whites to blacks. For example: "Mr. Peters (the white person), this is Charlie (the black person), that I spoke to you about."

4 JIM CROW LAWS: WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR PRE-1960S AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN FLORIDA PT. 3Generalizations continued: Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to blacks, for example, Mr., Mrs., Miss., Sir, or Ma'am. Instead, blacks were called by their first names. Blacks had to use courtesy titles when referring to whites, and were not allowed to call them by their first names. If a black person rode in a car driven by a white person, the black person sat in the back seat, or the back of a truck. White motorists had the right-of-way at all intersections.

5 THE FOUNDING OF BETHUNE-COOKMANThe earliest example of Civil Rights activism in Florida is often considered to be the founding of the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in 1904 This was one of the first schools in the area to provide education to underprivileged African- American girls As the Mary McLeod Bethune gains more popularity throughout the Civil Rights community, more and more donors supported her school. In 1925 the school completed its final evolution, merging with Cookman Institute to form Daytona-Cookman Collegiate Institute This school educated many would be citizens that helped spark the Civil Rights movement

6 FLORIDA’S ROLE IN RACISM: OCOEEBetween 1900 and 1930 Florida had more lynchings per capita than Alabama or Mississippi, the largest Civil Rights battlegrounds. Despite this Florida isn’t known for its Civil Rights Movement Modern-day Orange and Lake County (represent) were the strongest KKK strongholds On the day of the 1920 election in Ocoee a well off African-American named Julius “July” Perry tried to vote, since he was able to pay the tax. The KKK and local police force had issues with this and continually threatened him. Perry wouldn’t heed their demands; so that day a mob surrounded his house, forcibly removed him and lynched him as an example. The African-American community was in uproar over this and in response to this outroar the same mob that lynched July Perry drove all of the African-Americans out of Ocoee. It would take 60 years for the racial demographics to return to the same as before that fateful election day.

7 FLORIDA’S ROLE IN RACISM PT. 2: ROSEWOODThe 1923 massacre and burning of Rosewood was sparked by the allegations that a white woman, Fanny Taylor, was raped by a recently escaped convict, Jesse Hunter, who was hiding in Rosewood. White men began a manhunt for Hunter and his suspected accomplices: Aaron Carrier and Sam Carter. Carrier was captured by the mob while Carter was lynched. After capturing Carrier, the mob suspected his cousin Sylvester of harboring Jesse Hunter. As the mob approached Sylvester’s home his mother came out onto the porch, the mob immediately shot and killed her. Sylvester defended his home from the mob, killing two and injuring four before being killed himself. White men in other towns were outraged at Sylvester’s murder of two white men and joined in, burning the town of Rosewood to the ground. The remaining survivors fled to the swamps near Rosewood and later relocated to Gainesville and parts of North Florida. The official death count was six people, but it is speculated that it was much higher. The government of Florida never prosecuted anyone for the massacre, but did compensate nine survivors in a 1994 bill.

8 FLORIDA’S ROLE IN RACISM PT. 3: GROVELAND FOURTwo black soldiers, Sammy Shepherd and Walter Irvin, returned to their hometown of Groveland after serving in World War II. Tensions immediately rose when Lake County’s Sheriff Willis McCall requested that they not wear their army uniforms and be forced to work in the orange groves; to which the two men refused. Very soon after McCall’s demand a young woman claimed that Shepherd, Irvin, and two other black men (Charles Greenlee and Ernest Thomas) raped her. Within hours of the report Shephard, Irvin, and Greenlee were arrested while Thomas tried to escape Lake County. Thomas was caught by a posse led by McCall 200 miles north of Lake County and shot on sight. When McCall wouldn’t hand the three men over to a mob for their own brand of justice, the mob proceeded to shoot and set afire black homes in Groveland. The NAACP appealed to the governor of Florida and he was persuaded to send in the National Guard, whom eventually restored order. During the trial the accuser recalled the event in suspiciously perfect memory. The FBI believes that the rape accusation was false and that the woman accused the men to hide the fact that her husband was abusing her.

9 FLORIDA’S ROLE IN RACISM PT. 3: GROVELAND FOURLeft: Shepherd Center: Irvin Right: Greenlee

10 FLORIDA’S ROLE IN RACISM PT. 3: GROVELAND FOURIrvin and Shepherd were sentenced to death (a very harsh sentence for a rape case), and Greenlee was sentenced to life in prison due to being underage. In Umatilla, McCall was driving Irvin and Shepherd to a prison when he had tire trouble. According to McCall, when he pulled his patrol car over Shepherd (who was handcuffed to Irvin) asked to relieve himself and once outside of the car Shepherd rushed McCall; leading McCall to shoot them both, Shepherd fatally. Irvin claimed that McCall pulled the car over on a dirt road and pushed them to the ground and shot them both in the chest. Irvin survived by playing dead. The FBI’s investigation backed up Irvin’s claim, but McCall’s version of events were used in Irvin’s appeal trial. In the second trial Irvin was represented by future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, but still lost the case. Florida governor Charley Johns scheduled Irvin to be executed, but due to his loss in his reelection bid; the new governor changed Irvin’s sentence to life in prison. The U.S. attorney general denounced the new Florida governor for Irvin’s sentence, eventually leading to his release about 15 years later in 1968. In 1970, while visiting Lake County, Irvin was found slumped over dead in his car; it was determined to be from natural causes. However, Thurgood Marshall believed he met Lake County’s “justice”.

11 FLORIDA’S ROLE IN RACISM PT. 3: GROVELAND FOUR

12 FLORIDA’S ROLE IN RACISM PT. 4: HARRY T. MOOREIn the 1940’s Harry T. Moore was the most important leader in Florida’s Civil Rights movement. One of his most notable feats is helping the NAACP try to find the truth about the Groveland Four incident. He found that the Groveland Four were innocent of every charge that Sheriff McCall brought against them, but his findings didn’t help the innocent men much. The white community in Central Florida designated Moore as a target due to his involvement in the Groveland Four case. On Christmas Day in 1951 Moore was killed by a bomb planted beneath his bed. Moore’s death left a power vacuum in Florida’s black community that never filled.

13 VIRGIL HAWKINS V. BOARD OF CONTROL OF FLORIDAHawkins, the director of public relations for Bethune Cookman College, applied for admission to the University of Florida College of Law. He was academically eligible and had the life experience that UF was looking for. Despite his credentials, he was rejected to the UF College of Law solely based on his African- American race. Hawkins appealed under the Equal Protection Clause to the Florida Supreme Court but didn’t win the case. The Court compromised and made a law school for black students at Florida A&M University. After the landmark National Supreme Court case in Brown v. The Board of Education II, Hawkins withdrew his application to UF in exchange for a Florida Supreme Court order desegregating UF.

14 VIRGIL HAWKINS V. BOARD OF CONTROL OF FLORIDA PT. 2Soon after Hawkins’ proposal, George Starke was admitted to the UF College of Law as UF’s first African-American student. For the first few weeks Starke received police protection on campus; but Starke failed to graduate, withdrawing after three semesters. After Starke’s example other public schools in Florida finally began to integrate. W. George Allen was the first African-American to graduate from the University of Florida College of Law.

15 TALLAHASSEE BUS BOYCOTTSOn May 26, 1956 two female students from FAMU, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, sat down in the “whites only” section of a segregated bus in Tallahassee. When they refused to move, the police arrested them on counts of “placing themselves in a position to incite a riot.” In response FAMU students organized a campus-wide boycott of city buses The movement found a leader in Reverend C.K. Steele, who founded the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) due to a negative stigma surrounding the NAACP. The ICC devised a car pool system in order to transport protestors around the city when needed.

16 TALLAHASSEE BUS BOYCOTTS PT. 2The ICC’s leaders were soon arrested for the car pool system on charges of “operating an illegal for-hire operation without a franchise.” In response to the attack on the car pool system Reverend Steele stated: “I would rather walk in dignity than ride in humiliation.” The Florida state legislature created the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, also known as the Johns Committee. The only purpose of the Johns Committee was to falsely link the ICC and NAACP to Communist movements. This is regarded as the Florida manifestation of McCarthyism, albeit with a much more racist edge than in the Northern and Western United States.

17 TALLAHASSEE BUS BOYCOTTS PT. 3After the US Supreme Court case Browder v. Gayle which deemed the segregation of Montgomery, Alabama buses illegal; the ICC took another shot at desegregating the Tallahassee buses. While the police did not confront them this time, segregationists took matters into their own hands by arming themselves and stopping the ICC members themselves. On January 7, 1957 the city of Tallahassee officially desegregated the public transportation and the violent segregationist mobs died down soon after.

18 TALLAHASSEE BUS BOYCOTTS PT. 4The most famous of the protestors were known as the Tallahassee Ten After riding segregated buses from Washington D.C. to Tallahassee, the Tallahassee Ten decided to fly home. Before getting on the flight they tested whether they'd be served at a segregated airport restaurant; needless to say, they weren’t. All ten of them, and three of their acquaintances, were arrested for unlawful assembly. They fought uphill legal battles for years until they reached a compromise with the courts. In 1964, after serving their mandatory couple day prison sentences, the Tallahassee Ten ate triumphantly in the same airport restaurant.

19 ST. AUGUSTINE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTUnlike the Tallahassee Boycotts, the St. Augustine movement was led by a major player in Civil Rights: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Their goals were: The formation of a biracial committee in St. Augustine’s city government to address the discrimination of the city The ending of segregation in public institutions The hiring of Black city workers, firemen, and policemen The dropping of charges against nonviolent protestors taking part in the St. Augustine campaing for civil rights With the city celebrating its 400th anniversary later in 1964, the local Civil Rights leaders had an opportune time to make a statement

20 ST. AUGUSTINE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT PT. 2In May Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in St. Augustine and was eventually arrested at the Monson Motor Lodge, the site now occupied by the Hilton Inn. The most famous incident that occurred at the lodge was a photo of the Monson’s manager pouring acid onto civil rights protestors who had entered the “Whites Only” swimming pool. This photo is often credited for having helped convince undecided congress members to vote in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In June, 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called for nonviolent allies to gather in St. Augustine and demonstrate against racial discrimination.

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22 ST. AUGUSTINE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT PT. 3Many activists organized their protests at the Old Slave Market in downtown St. Augustine. Klan members tried to intercept these protests with violence; but federal judge Bryan Simpson order St. Augustine police to allow and protect the peaceful protests. Despite the order, following Jackie Robinson’s visit to St. Augustine police committed a number of violent acts against activists trying to use whites-only beaches and pools. Things got so bad that an African-American school, Florida Memorial University, had to shut down. This university would later reopen; but in Miami, away from the violence.

23 WHY WASN’T FLORIDA BIG IN CIVIL RIGHTS?Despite the numerous examples presented in the prior slides, Florida wasn’t very big in the Civil Rights movement. So what caused this difference?

24 WHY WASN’T FLORIDA BIG IN CIVIL RIGHTS?The Black Community Leaders of the 1900s were characterized as being very docile and content with their roles, unlike similar leaders in the South. The biggest Civil Rights leader in Florida, Harry T. Moore was assasinated in 1951, leaving black Floridians without a leader. This lack of strong leadership certainly led to a weak Civil Rights movement. Florida governor LeRoy Collins split from other Southern governors in 1960 by saying that segregation was “morally unfair and wrong” This caused there to be no good-evil conflict between the good African-Americans and the evil government. Alabama is a perfect example of this conflict with politicians such as Bull Connor and Governor George Wallace. MLK didn’t see enough of this contrast to justify a large-scale Civil Rights movement in Florida. Another reason for the small Civil Rights movement is due to Florida’s large tourism industry. Both blacks and whites felt that Florida’s economy would suffer greatly if Northern tourists were to see great amounts of hate crimes and Civil Rights protests. Therefore, segregation wasn’t made as noticeable as in other Southern states.

25 WHY WASN’T FLORIDA BIG IN CIVIL RIGHTS?The tourist destinations on the coast tended to be less racist, while the further you went into Florida the worse the racism became. The worst examples of racism occurring in Lake and Orange County.

26 SOURCES Bethune-Cookman Jim Crow Laws: Jim Crow Laws: Racist Florida https://medium.com/florida-history/ocoee-on-fire-the-1920-election-day-massacre-38adbda9666e#.mv65na3k9 https://buildnationblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/groveland-four-case/

27 SOURCES Hawkins v. Board of Control of Florida Tallahassee Bus Boycotthttps://www.law.ufl.edu/areas-of-study/experiential-learning/clinics/about-the-clinics/virgil-d-hawkins-story Tallahassee Bus Boycott https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/267338

28 SOURCES St. Augustine Civil Rightshttps://www.visitstaugustine.com/history/modern-st-augustine.php#Discovery2 https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/f1.htm https://thenewtropic.com/miami-black-history-florida-memorial-university-in-the-civil-rights-movement/