Miscellaneous Historical Civil Rights Sites in St. Augustine, Florida

 

February 4, 2020

Artifact 1: Frederick Douglass Marker

At this spot on St. George Street, once stood the Genovar Opera House.  Here, Frederick Douglass spoke about the civil rights struggles facing black men and women after the Emancipation Proclamation.  When he arrived here, he was warmly welcomed by the Mayor of St. Augustine and the Governor of Florida.  An escaped slave himself, Douglass was a catalyst for change in America and encouraged his friend, Abraham Lincoln, to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.  Sadly, the opera house was burned to the ground in the great fire of 1914.

Exterior Photo: View of St. George Street

Artifact 2: The Monson Motor Lodge

This Hilton Hotel was built where the Monson Motor Lodge once stood.  Where a new pool glistens in the Florida sunlight, a different pool saw a famous incident in St. Augustine civil rights history.  In that pool, on June 18, 1964, several brave protestors demonstrated against segregation.  They refused to leave the "whites-only" swimming pool, causing one white man to jump in and attempt to clear them out.  The motel manager--James Brock--tried to take control of the situation by pouring chemicals into the pool.  All of the protestors were arrested, but their arrests were not in vain.  Their courage pushed America toward the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This drab marker memorializes the Monson Motor Lodge event.  It reads:

"The Monson Motel formerly located on this site was the focal point of demonstrations led by Dr. Robert B. Hayling and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that resulted in the passage of the Landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964."

Hilton Hotel Exterior

Photos in Conversation with these sites:

This is an old photograph of the Great Fire of 1914.

(image source link: https://www.visitstaugustine.com/history/old-st-augustine/tragic-fire.php )

Another photo of the Monson Motor Lodge incident.  A man jumps in to clear protestors from the pool.  Unlike the pool that stands there today, we can see the original pool was easily accessible to the public.  The new pool has a concrete wall separating it from the street, whereas the old one had a small chain rail.

(image source link: https://www.vintag.es/2014/08/motel-manager-pouring-acid-into-pool-to.html  )

Creative Component

I took this photograph of a splash in the fountain behind St. Augustine's Governor's House.  I was captivated by the famous phrase which made headlines the day of the Monson Motor Lodge Demonstration: "The Splash Heard 'Round the World."  I feel this phrase captures how momentous this event--and others like it in St. Augustine--was to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.  Including this phrase on the Monson Motor Lodge Pool marker would have had a greater impact on the reader than the passive language of the current signage.

ENG 202 Connection:

"...why couldn't I just turn these two kids away, turn off my conscience, and be a coward, safe and comfortable?"

-Octavia Butler, Kindred (p. 106)

In this passage, Dana struggles between choosing between passivity and action.  Two slave children on the plantation ask her to teach them to read.  She knows that teaching them could be dangerous and possibly fatal for her; it would anger both the slaves and the slave masters if they found out.  But she cannot "turn off [her] conscience."  Protestors at the Monson Motor Lodge also had to choose whether to stay silent or act.  The black demonstrators chose to take physical action so that their voices would be heard.  The white observers and fellow demonstrators had to choose how they would respond to the situation.  Some would stay safe and silent, watching the protest from the poolside.  Some would act in aggression and opposition--the motel owner would pour chemicals into the pool with the protestors.  Still others would choose to have courage, to listen to their consciences, and jump right in the pool with them.