St. Augustine has a rich African-American history and it needs to be celebrated in a National Park Service museum, for the use, benefit, enjoyment, and inspiration of all the people.
Ray Charles learned to read and write music here in St. Augustine.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Andrew Young led local African-Americans to help put "the final nail in the coffin" of Jim Crow Segregation here.
Slaves were bought and sold here in the oldest public market in America.
The first free African-American settlement in America was founded here in the 1700s during the first Spanish period.
Lincolnville was founded by freed slaves in 1866.
Current City of St. Augustine and private historic tourism efforts are ethnocentric, even racist.
We need a St. Augustine National Historical Park, Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway for the use, benefit, enjoyment, and inspiration of all the people, including a museum that will honor African-Americans, Indians and all who have contributed to the 11,000 years of human history here.
What do you reckon?
http://www.nps.gov/protect/policy_section.htm
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