Remember, Recognize, Honor
A Year-Long Celebration of the Passage of the
Civil Rights Act 60 Years Ago
Posted February 14, 2024
St. Augustine Quakers and The United Church UCC-DOC are working together to present a year of events remembering and celebrating the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, while also honoring those who put their lives on the line to bring about this important change.
St. Augustine was central to the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Led by Dr. Robert Hayling, residents organized nonviolent protests against segregation and racial discrimination that brought the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Andrew Young to our city. Other St. Augustine residents responded with violence, and the news media across the nation and around the world covered the events here, embarrassing then-President Lyndon Johnson. To avoid further negative publicity, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, 1964, ending legally-enforced segregation and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Please Join Us! Upcoming events in our year-long series include the following:
- Civil Rights bus tour with Civil Rights historian David Nolan, on Saturday, February 24,, 2024. Bus is full, with a waiting list.
- Candlelight reading of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Thursday, March 28, 2024, 6:00 PM, at The United Church, 5880 U.S. 1 South, St. Augustine. All are welcome!
- Ceremonial reading of “Why We Went,” a letter written by the 16 rabbis who answered Dr. King’s call to join him in St. Augustine for the protests – written jointly from their cell in the St. Augustine Jail. Presented in June 2024 by the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society, in the courtyard of the Hilton Bayfront, the site of the former Monson Motor Lodge, where so many of the 1964 protests took place.
- ACCORD Freedom Trail Luncheon, on July 2, 2024, honoring the St. Augustine heroes who took part in the protests, and celebrating the passage of the Civil Rights Act on that date in 1964.
- Honoring Fannie Lou Hamer, a program on Thursday, August 22, 2024, the 60th Anniversary of Mrs. Hamer’s world-changing testimony before the Democratic National Committee, televised nationally. At The United Church, 5880 U.S. 1 South, St. Augustine.
. . . and more. For more information and updates, keep your eye on this website, or email Richelle at rogle415@gmail.com.