Dr. King was in St. Augustine at a segregated restaurant when he learned that the Southern segregationists' Senate filibuster was overridden.
This afternoon, January 18, 2016 hundreds marched to the Plaza de la Constitucion a/k/a "Slave Market Square" from St. Paul A.M.E. Church -- where the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the late Dr. Robert S. Hayling, D.D.S., and Ambassador Andrew Young spoke in 1964, helping lead demonstrations against Jim Crow segregation and racism, the rabid responses to which helped lead to adoption of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Walking in the footsteps of the St. Augustine movement, to a Slave Market Square that has two civil rights monuments (to Ambassador Andrew Young and to the civil rights foot soldiers, we passed the same homes and made the same turn, at the corner of MLK (formerly Central Avenue) and King Street.
I had the large vintage plastic sign from the 2009 Obama Inauguration celebration in the slave market square, bearing the words: "Rosa Sat. Martin Marched. Obama Ran. So We Could All Fly."
Instead of 500 Ku Klux Klansmen throwing bricks, there were friendly neighbors. Local ministers spoke, a choir sang, and Mayor Nancy Shaver spoke, eloquently and briefly.
Though the ambient air temperature was less than 60 degrees F., "Many are chilled, but few are frozen," as my late mother said. Or as FDR said of a 1944 cold campaign stop at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, which my mother attended, "I felt the crowd and it warmed me."
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Jim Crow attitudes still afflict St. Augustine and St. Johns County, called "the most lawless" community in America by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1964. One week later came the largest mass arrest of rabbis in America. It all helped empower LBJ to break the Senate filibuster and enact the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy in St. Johns County Jail
(Dr. King said "it was the nicest jail I've ever been in.")
(Dr. King in police car after illegal arrest in St. Augustine -- St. Johns County Sheriff's website and 1995 yearbook falsely claim that Dr. King was arrested here by "federal agents," that Sheriff Lawrence O. Davis "held the town together" and that Davis was "exonerated" by Florida State Senate (he was removed by 44-2 vote in 1970).
By David Nolan (St. Augustine's noted civil rights historian)
St. Augustine was the only place in Florida where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested during the civil rights movement.
It happened on June 11, 1964 on the steps of the Monson Motor Lodge restaurant on the Bayfront.
Here is the conversation that took place between Dr. King and James Brock, the manager of the Monson:
KING: I and my friends have come to lunch.
BROCK: We can’t serve you. We are not integrated.
KING: We’ll wait around. We feel you should serve us.
BROCK: You are on private property. We reserve the right to refuse service. I ask you on behalf of myself, my wife, and my children to leave.
KING: We are sorry you have that attitude. You are doing a disservice to the nation.
BROCK: You can’t push this thing. We are a small business. We are caught in the middle of something. We find ourselves between two armed camps. If we integrate now it would hurt our business.
KING: We will stand here and hope that in the process that our conscious efforts will make this a better land.
BROCK: We will integrate under one of two conditions: by federal court order, or if a responsible group of citizens ask us to open to all customers.
KING: We are glad to know that you would do it under those conditions.
DR. RALPH ABERNATHY: Does your invitation to serve tourists include Negroes?
BROCK: Negroes can only be served in the service area of the restaurant. Maids and chauffeurs of white visitors have been served that way in the past.
KING: Can’t you see how this humiliates us?
BROCK: Will you please take your nonviolent army somewhere else? I must remind you that I have already had 85 people arrested before at my place.
[At this point Police Chief Virgil Stuart arrived]
BROCK to STUART: I’m glad you are here. I have asked Dr. King to leave twice, but he has refused.
STUART to KING’S party: You are all under arrest.
Dr. King in St. Augustine, responding to passage of 1964 Civil Rights Act
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Walking in King's steps: St. Augustine celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Participants march past Flagler College in St. Augustine during the city's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations on Monday. Marchers sang as they traveled from the St. Paul AME Church on Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue to the Plaza de la Constitución.
By SHELDON GARDNER
sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com
St. Augustine Record
January 19, 2015
While singing and clapping, participants honored the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as they walked along the St. Augustine road that bears his name.
“I very much could have walked in his steps,” said Eugene Kitchell, who walked toward the Plaza de la Constitucion from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, along a path that was once actually walked by King.
Kitchell and his daughter held up a sign encouraging people to “Be kind to one another.” The sign is a way to promote one of King’s goals, he said.
“[It’s] what he lived and died for ... for us to be kind to one another,” Kitchell said.
The procession began about noon on Monday outside of St. Paul AME Church on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, a church where King spoke during the civil rights movement. As people walked to the Plaza de la Constitución, they sang “This Little Light of Mine” and “We Shall Overcome.” In the Plaza, groups gathered for presentations in honor of King. Close to 200 people attended.
Randi Hagen, of St. Augustine, held a framed image of King outside of the church. She said she keeps the picture in her home.
“He was quite an important leader in our country,” Hagen said.
While the procession is held in honor of King annually on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, people also spoke of another civil rights leader, Dr. Robert Hayling. Hayling was a leader of the local movement and worked with King and others to bring about change. Hayling died in December.
“I am humbled and honored to be standing here, and unlike many of the cities across the country that are honoring Martin Luther King Jr. today, Martin Luther King Jr. came here and worked for civil rights,” St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver said as she stood in the Plaza de la Constitucion gazebo. “And this happened because of Dr. Robert Hayling, the dentist from St. Augustine. Dr. Hayling passed away four weeks ago, and he’s often rightly called the father of the Civil Rights Act.”
Shaver asked for a moment of silence “to remember the grace, the gentleness and the strength of Dr. Hayling, who worked tirelessly for civil rights long after the passage of the act itself.”
The event included a reading from King’s “I have a dream” speech, and a speech from St. Paul AME youth pastor the Rev. Arthur Williams.
“The true meaning of today was that Dr. King was not just a doctor of peace or love or joy, but he was a doctor that represented Jesus Christ,” Williams said.
Williams encouraged people to live in unity and be a positive example to children — and to take action, and vote, while they remember the accomplishments of past leaders.
“So today, my brothers and sisters, let us not forget, let’s not just celebrate these great men and women who died and sacrificed their lives so that we can be free,” Williams said. “ There’s still a fight going on. ... We need to wake up and make a change in our communities,” he said.
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