Hundreds of students from northern colleges recruited by the SCLC participated in demonstrations and sit-ins during Easter week of 1964. Most were jailed. “Some were made to stand in a cramped outdoor overflow pen in the late spring heat, while others were put into a concrete sweatbox overnight.”
It was the spring of 1964. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were preparing to launch a campaign to end racial discrimination in St. Augustine, Fla. King hoped that the “demonstrations there would lead to local desegregation and that media attention would garner national support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was then stalled in a congressional filibuster,” according to Stanford University’s King Encyclopedia.
A sit-in protest at a local Woolworth’s lunch counter that ended in the arrest and imprisonment of 16 Black protestors and seven juveniles sparked the pickets. Four of the arrested, JoeAnn Anderson, Audrey Nell Edwards, Willie Carl Singleton, and Samuel White were sent to reform school for six months. No effort was made to release them until their case was publicized by Jackie Robinson, the NAACP, and the Pittsburgh Courier. They were later dubbed “the St. Augustine Four.”
It was Robert B. Hayling, advisor to the Youth Council of the city’s branch of the NAACP, who led these demonstrations. Protesters were met with violence as the Ku Klux Klan responded to their presence. Hayling and three other NAACP members were severely beaten at a 1963 Klan rally. They were arrested and convicted of assaulting their attackers.
The NAACP asked for Hayling’s resignation, but not before reaching out to the SCLC for support.
Hundreds of students from northern colleges recruited by the SCLC participated in demonstrations and sit-ins during Easter week of 1964. Most were jailed. “Some were made to stand in a cramped outdoor overflow pen in the late spring heat, while others were put into a concrete sweatbox overnight.”
When King visited St. Augustine that May, the house the SCLC rented for him was “sprayed by gunfire.” The day after the Senate voted to end the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act, King, Ralph Abernathy, and several others were arrested when they requested service at a segregated restaurant. Meanwhile, despite the violence, the SCLC continued to lead marches.
On June 18, a Grand Jury pressured King and the SCLC to leave St. Augustine for one month. The so-called goal was to “diffuse the situation, claiming that they had disrupted racial harmony in the city.”
King responded that the request was “an immoral one, as it asked the Negro community to give all, and the white community to give nothing . . . St. Augustine never had peaceful race relations.”
As the Senate debated the Civil Rights Act, SCLC lawyers began to win court victories in St. Augustine. The SCLC was encouraged to bring cases against the Klan. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, into law.
Blacks in St. Augustine continued to face violence, intimidation, and threats, as healing took its time.
Help young readers understand the struggle for equality and a time when American laws were unfair to Blacks. Share with them Shadae Mallory’s “The History of the Civil Rights Movement: A History Book for New Readers.” Purchase at https://www.multiculturalbookstore.com
Sources: https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement
https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Keeping-the-Faith/Civil-Rights-Movement/
https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/civil-rights-movement
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The community listening sessions are being conducted across the state by the Reparations Task Force’s seven “anchor organizations.” The seven, Afrikan Black Coalition, Black Equity Collective, Black Equity Initiative, California Black Power Network, Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, Othering and Belonging Institute (University of California Berkeley) and Repaired Nations began conducting community gatherings in March.
Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media
A series of community Listening Sessions are being held statewide to help the nine members of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans better understand how laws and policies that contribute to perpetuating the effects of slavery have negatively impacted Black Californians.
The most recent three gatherings authorized by the Task Force took place last month.
An online community session was conducted featuring panelists Friday Jones, Los Angeles Reparations Commission Vice Chair; Jan Williams, Downtown Crenshaw Board member; and University of California at Berkeley professor Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis.
“What (Reparations) must do is bring about this sense of recognition,” said Lewis, who is a member of the California Reparations Task Force.
“One of the things that the [Task Force] has accomplished so far over the past year is to bring about a sense of recognition for the Black American community in California and the country overall,” Lewis told the online audience.
The virtual webinar and Community Listening session was hosted by the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC), the American Redress Coalition of California (ARCC), and Community Health Councils (CHC).
CJEC is a state-wide coalition of organizations, associations, and community members that support reparations for Black Californians who are descendants of enslaved Black American men and women. CHC is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit committed to practices advancing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to achieve sustainable policy and systemic change.
A sanctioned in-person community listening session was held in the city of Vallejo. It was hosted by CJEC with the support of the state’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA).
The event was held at Black-owned LaDells Shoes in downtown Vallejo. Personal testimony of adversity and success rooted in the Black experience in and around Vallejo were shared during this session. Struggles with employment, decent housing, racism in public schools, homelessness, police brutality, and the challenges of maintaining a business were covered.
“In May we had our first community conversation about reparations [in Oakland, Calif.] and it was an overall history of reparations in the United States,” said Dr. Kerby Lynch, who recently received a doctorate in geography from the University of California Berkeley. “This session is about what reparations look like for Vallejo. We are here to listen to one another’s stories and record these testimonies.”
Vallejo is one of the cities in the state with a modest population of Black people who are fighting for recognition during the reparations proceeding. It does have an abundance of Black history to be shared.
Home of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo is 32 miles north of San Francisco. The 2020 United States Census says the East Bay Area city had a population of 22,416 Black people (18.48%) out of a total of 121,275. Statewide Blacks are 5.4% of the population.
The third listening session hosted by CJEC was held in Sacramento. Task Force member and Bay Area attorney Don T. Tamaki participated virtually in the session that was held in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood.
At the Sacramento listening session, the community testified about how to build small businesses, Black people’s “Great Migration” from the deep south to the west coast, how the Freedman’s Bureau model can be used to determine reparations, and Black pioneer’s presence during the Gold Rush.
The community listening sessions are being conducted across the state by the Reparations Task Force’s seven “anchor organizations.”
The seven, Afrikan Black Coalition, Black Equity Collective, Black Equity Initiative, California Black Power Network, Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, Othering and Belonging Institute (University of California Berkeley) and Repaired Nations began conducting community gatherings in March.
The listening sessions are designed to ensure certain communities around the state have the opportunity to provide their thoughts and concerns about the work the task force is doing.
On June 1, 2022, the Task Force issued a 483-page interim report to the California legislature. The report surveys the ongoing and compounding harms experienced by African Americans as a result of slavery and its lingering effects on American society today.
“It’s a sweeping indictment,” Tamaki said of the report during the Sacramento community listening session. “It connects the harms of the past and follows the consequences that we face today. There have to be legislative remedies.”
The interim report also includes a set of preliminary recommendations for policies that the California Legislature could adopt to remedy those harms. A final report will be issued before July 1, 2023.
The Task Force in-person meetings will reconvene in Los Angeles at the Paradise Baptist Church on Friday, Sept. 23, at 9:00 a.m. and Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. The church is located at 5100 S. Broadway.
For updates and additional information visit Reparations Task Force Meetings.
“Some of these stories we know about, such as Wanda Johnson’s tragic loss of her son Oscar Grant, others we’ve yet to learn. During this Forum, these champions for change will teach faith-based and nonprofit leaders serving underrepresented communities of color how to push forward, despite facing difficult and even hostile environments in a time that many people deny that this is our reality,” says Carmen Bogan, the Program’s Director.
Faith-based organization leaders often discuss their visions today, but not the struggles that brought them to now. On Sept. 27, 2022, OCCUR and San Francisco Foundation FAITHS will present a special Zoom Leadership Forum and AMBOF Year-End Celebration “The Journey to the Vision.” Guest speakers include Fred Blackwell, CEO, San Francisco Foundation; Wanda Johnson, Founder, the Oscar Grant Foundation; Dee Johnson, Executive Director, the Lend a Hand Foundation; and Dr. Nadine Scott, Founder, Ariel Outreach Mission. Like so many leaders working in the trenches daily to make life better for us all, these extraordinary individuals have, somewhere along the line, confronted a moment that made the difference in how they emerged into who they are today.
“Some of these stories we know about, such as Wanda Johnson’s tragic loss of her son Oscar Grant, others we’ve yet to learn. During this Forum, these champions for change will teach faith-based and nonprofit leaders serving underrepresented communities of color how to push forward, despite facing difficult and even hostile environments in a time that many people deny that this is our reality,” says Carmen Bogan, the Program’s Director. Participants will learn how to turn tragedy into purpose, build powerhouse organizations from little or nothing, reinvent their organization or themselves, honor and build legacy in their work, stabilize their funding once and for all, and find their base of community support and action.
The journey to the vision can lead to change, transformation, and triumph. Join us for the celebration!
Date/Time: September 27, 2022, 9am-11am PST
How to Attend: Please RSVP on our website, amodelbuiltonfaith.org
Questions: Email info@occurnow.org, or call (510) 839-2440
“We’ve got to prioritize preventing low-income families from becoming homeless, or being priced out of San Francisco, just as much as supporting people who are experiencing homelessness,” said MHC President Doug Shoemaker. “This development gives us the unique opportunity to do both at once.”
San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed announced the groundbreaking of a new 100% affordable housing development on 7th and Brannan Streets in the South of Market neighborhood. The 221 new homes located at 600 7th Street will provide permanent supportive housing for families and individuals who have experienced homelessness, and low-income families. Prior to construction beginning when the site was still an empty lot, it was home to one of San Francisco’s first COVID-19 testing sites that opened in April 2020 and served as a critical resource early during the City’s pandemic response.
The new homes at 7th and Brannan support the City’s need to add thousands more units of housing per year and builds on Mayor Breed’s Homelessness Recovery Plan, which included the largest expansion of permanent supportive housing in 20 years. Additional amenities at 7th and Brannan will include two courtyards, community rooms, bike storage, maintenance rooms, and laundry facilities.
“Projects like this are key to the City’s work to provide permanent housing and care needed to truly transform the lives of people experiencing homelessness,” said Mayor London Breed. “7th and Brannan is just one example of what we are doing to improve this neighborhood. With eight affordable housing projects currently under construction in District 6 alone, and another eight slated to break ground over the next three years, we are making a difference for San Franciscans. We need to do more to build projects like this across our entire city if we are going to meet our housing goals.”
“The 7th and Brannan development is a perfect example of what we need to do as a city to ensure residents aren’t priced out of San Francisco during this housing crisis,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “To reach our housing goal of 82,000 additional units by 2030, the City needs to push for more affordable housing, not just within District 6, but across all neighborhoods, and I look forward to working with my colleagues at the Board of Supervisors to see this through.”
Residents at 7th and Brannan will also have access to multiple transit options. The development site is across the street from a MUNI bus stop, a 10-minute walk to the San Francisco Caltrain and a 20-minute walk to the Civic Center BART stations. The development will also include more than 5,000 square feet of community-serving commercial space facing Brannan Street.
The project developer, Mercy Housing California (MHC), is committed to working with the City to create permanently affordable family rental housing which includes units serving households who have experienced homelessness, as well as ground-floor commercial use serving San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. MHC owns 160 rental properties across 36 California counties, serving low and very-low-income working families, seniors, people who have experienced homelessness, people living with HIV/AIDS, and people with disabilities.
“We’ve got to prioritize preventing low-income families from becoming homeless, or being priced out of San Francisco, just as much as supporting people who are experiencing homelessness,” said MHC President Doug Shoemaker. “This development gives us the unique opportunity to do both at once.”
The new development at 7th and Brannan is funded by a mix of federal tax credits, as well as substantial support from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development for the development of permanent supportive housing for people in need of mental health services and are experiencing homelessness, chronic homelessness, or at risk of chronic homelessness.
7th and Brannan will be managed by Mercy Housing Management Group, with supportive housing services provided by Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco. The property was designed by Santos Prescott + Associates and the construction is a joint venture between Suffolk Construction and local firm Guzman Construction Group. The building is expected to welcome its first residents in summer 2024.
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Onesimus. It is a name we don’t hear when we look at the history of vaccinations, but in the United States we owe a debt of gratitude to an African Slave named, Onesimus. In this video, voiced by writer and political activist, Baratunde Thurston, learn how Onesimus shared a traditional African inoculation technique that saved countless live from Smallpox and become the foundation for vaccine as we know them today, including the COVID Vaccine.