Site #1 – Freedom Trail
Freedom Trail: Saint Augustine, Florida
Site Visit #1: January 21, 2021- Lavinia Lenssen
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Overview of Site:
The first site we visited in Saint Augustine was the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail was launched by The Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations (ACCORD) in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s visit to Saint Augustine, to lead in non-violent direct action against racial discrimination. With the help of local historians and volunteers within the community, thirty-one markers on the trail have been placed for viewing since 2007. The Civil Rights Movement played a role in our local history, in the Nation's oldest city.
According to the official Freedom Trail website, the Civil Rights Movement was significant in our local Saint Augustine history because in the 1960s it was rigidity segregated. Back in the 1500s, Saint Augustine was settled by Spanish colonizers, until the 1860s it was a booming center for the slave trade, and then it became a tourist destination riddled in documented appalling histories. With segregation and discrimination against blacks in the 1960s, Dr. Robert Hayling, a civil rights leader in the community argued that non-violent direct-action should occur in Saint Augustine, Florida, just as it had in Birmingham, Alabama. The KKK was an imminent threat, creating tension and making the action to resist our societal norms more dangerous than ever.
Last week, I took part in the first of eight site visits with my Flagler College Honors Learning Community class to observe and create my own personal reflections regarding the Freedom Trail's historic value. While we did not make it to all thirty-one stops, I would recommend visiting this site to anyone, I think that we caught a glimpse of history before our very eyes. Visiting this site on a clear and sunny day as we did is an educational, energetic, and enriching activity for both locals and tourists alike! Below are some of the sites that we visited.
Source Link:
For further information regarding the movement and site, click:
aThe image above is of Lincolnville Historic District, Saint Augustine's formerly segregated black neighborhood.
Artifact #1:
#1 Freedom Trail Museum (#101)
79 Bridge Street
Caption:
The first place we visited on our trip was the Rudcarlie Building, also known as the ACCORD Civil Rights Museum. While we were unable to view the inside of the property, we were able to see the outside. This museum was built in the 1950s by Dr. Rudolph Gordon and he named the building after his three children. Prior to being a museum, this used to be a medical-dental office. It was considered to be groundbreaking that this former office used to be the first one in Saint Augustine without racially segregated waiting rooms. After Gordon passed by, the office was rented out to Dr. Hayling. The building then became a meeting space for civil rights gatherings in the area. Martin Luther King Jr. was present at several of these meetings held.
Artifact #2:
#2 81 Bridge Street: House Where MLK Slept (#102)
Caption:
During the campaigns MLK lead in Saint Augustine, this was one of the houses he slept at. It was unsafe for him to stay more than one night at a house due to fear of tension, attacks, and violence. This is a historic Victorian-style home in Lincolnville. Lincolnville was named after former President Abraham Lincoln and the community was founded by free slaves after the Civil War. In 1964, this building became a Civil Rights Landmark.
Exterior Image #1:
97 M.L King Avenue (#107) Lincolnville Public Library
Caption:
The Lincolnville Public Library was built in the 1920s by Fredrick E. Martin, a Lincolnville businessman. It evolved in the 50s and 60s to include a pool room and barbershop. It's in the image at the barbershop here on the left where the mugshots of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks can be seen. Reverend Thomas Wright used to teach and train students of non-violent techniques to demonstrate their frustrations with segregation and racial discrimination. Students of his began by sitting at local lunch counters meant for whites.
Exterior Image #2:
#4 160 M.L King Avenue (#111)
Caption:
Home to the main organizer of the Civil Rights Movement in Saint Augustine: Dr. Robert Harding, from a dentist to an outstanding leader for the community. He has been recognized as the "The Father of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Prior to this being Harding's house, this is where Judge L.L Fabsinski grew up. He was a state circuit judge who led a committee to actually attempt to keep Florida's schools segregated. This house was home to two influential people on opposite sides of the Civil Rights Spectrum.
In-Conversation Image #1: An Honored Civil Rights Icon
Image Source Link: For the source link click here!
Brief Statement:
This in-conversation image was taken from an article that was written for a local newspaper in 2009 to honor Dr. Robert Hayling, where he stands in front of his former house. He was Martin Luther King's confidant in Saint Augustine. His contributions to the movement will not go forgotten.
Brief Statement:
The image above displays protestors in Saint Augustine on the very trail that our class walked on, in reference to the site. Dr. Martin Luther King is present in this photo on the right. I selected the image with the purpose of emphasizing the reality behind this dreadful history, where change should have been addressed long, long before the 1960s.
" I intend to protect my life, my property, and that of my family with all the vim, vigor, and vitality at my command." - Dr. Robert Hayling
Passage/Concept ENG202:
Page 116
"I was still afraid to leave the house, walking or driving. Driving, I could easily kill myself, and the car could kill other people if Rufus called me from it at the wrong time. Walking, I can get dizzy and fall while crossing the street. Or I could fall on the sidewalk and attract attention. Someone could come to help me, a cop, anyone. Then I could be guilty of taking someone else back with me and stranding them." - Dana
This quote from Kindred by Octavia Butler reminded me of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and how it was unsafe for him to spend more than one night in a single location during the Civil Rights Movement. This was a result of the fear of tension, violence, or attack. On the other hand, Dana was afraid to leave the house for fear that she would be transported back into the 1800s and not survive the endeavor. If she were driving during the accidental time travel she could potentially kill herself or someone else. On the other hand in MLK's situation, he had to leave the house, he feared staying in one place at a time.
Creative Component:
I had a lot of fun creating this creative component for the first site visit of my digital archive. During the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in St Augustine, many black Americans took part in walking around the town and carrying signs to contribute to the non-violent direct action being taken. Actions speak louder than words, and the words on these posters created for the protest were desires for action to be made. For this visual representation, I found several real-life examples of posters that were carried in Saint Augustine during the movement. I drew these out on paper and gave the illusion that they were stacked on top of each other. I used a yellow highlighter to make these images stand out. In a negative space, I wrote about the Freedom Trail and wrote out parts of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech that stood out to me. Such powerful words on posters needed to have the powerful speech shown in the background. It's mind-boggling to think is that this only happened about 60 years ago.
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