Draft:Controversy of school integration in Jacksonville in 1964

1964 Jacksonville Riots
Date	February 16th - March 5th, 1964
Location	Jacksonville, Florida
Lead figures
Rutledge Pearson Mayor of Jacksonville Haydon Burns
Casualties
Arrested	60

The 1964 Riots in Jacksonville, Florida was coming after the onslaught of the 1960 Riots also known as Ax Handle Saturday. These riots were dedicated to the fact that Jacksonville was still trying to fully accept racial integration not just in the schools but in the community as well. These riots were attempting with the help of the NAACP to get city leaders to hear them out and put forth real change.

History

**[Condense this section] These 1964 riots are related to the riots of the 1960s known as "Ax-Handle Saturday" because of the struggle for Jacksonville's white residents to fully accept racial integration of the black community. However, the riots of the 1960s showed sit-in demonstrations at lunch counters where black residents were peaceful when they were to showing that there should be racial integration at lunch counters. Afterwards, was what followed known as the "1964 Riots" which was the ongoing struggle of not just integrating the black community but also the black residents of Jacksonville would have full equality. Additionally, it included racial integration into schools, such as the case that happened on February 16th, 1964. Not to mention, that Rutledge Pearson tried to form a biracial committee that Mayor Haydon Burns would hear on February 26th, 1964 of their complaints within Jacksonville and hopefully would oblige by following through with any complaints they had. This also included another event that happened on March 2nd, 1964 which was a meeting held at a church by the Jacksonville Ministry Alliance where they drafted a letter to Mayor Burns requesting that biracial committee be appointed which Pearsons asked previously on February 26th. All these events overall is showing and going more in-depth about certain points that important to the black community within Jacksonville such as racial integration at schools, integration at lunch counters, appointing a biracial committee so that complaints can be heard from both sides and a solution happened that resolves everyone's concerns within the city of Jacksonville.

In February 1964, "Pearson led the NAACP five-week direct action campaign against businesses and organizations that continued to practice discrimination. The controversy not just say on this event but between Pearson and Mayor Haydon Burns alone was a struggle as they placed Jacksonville in the center of the civil rights struggle. The rationale behind this was due to Pearson leading a boycott during Burn’s second run for the governorship which then threatened to derail his campaign by bringing the mayor’s civil rights record into focus." "Tensions were already rising during this time for African Americans alongside white extremists as well. These white extremists didn't help the situation as they kept up with the threat of violence. The city did start to make radical changes - but not soon enough as blacks would like to. The reason behind this change was because African Americans were frustrated to begin with the city moving ever so slowly to resolve the problem at hand. If the city did try to make any change as mentioned they would have a problem either way." For instance, if any change was made the white community might react, but if it did not, the black community stood ready to erupt.

February 16th, 1964

On "February 16th 1964, at 3:00 a.m. a bomb exploded under the house of Iona Godfrey, an African American civil rights worker. Godfrey’s six-year-old son Donald had integrated the formally all-white Lackawanna Elementary School. Godfrey’s presence upset many white parents, and they protested and threatened violence. The explosion alerted officials to the seriousness of these threats. Luckily, the Godfrey's weren't injured from the blast, but their house suffered damage reportedly that cost $7,500 in extensive damage." Reportedly, this bomb, "ripped a yard wide, 18 inch deep hole in the ground beneath the side of the house, splintering the floors under the dinning room and kitchen." Three forms of justice were taking place after this incident occurred. First, the Jacksonville Police Department was involved, secondly the state and local fire marshals were involved, and lastly was the FBI who launched an investigation.

"According to Godfrey, the previous December she received a bomb threat, from an anonymous female caller who gave no reason for the threat." At the time of this event, she told a reporter that the school that her son attended had white women protesting in front of the school the first few days her son attended. However, Donald did not complain of any ill treatment towards him. Nonetheless, the Godfrey's believed in this situation that the bombing occurred at their house was a signal of the scope, "of white resistance that occurred at this time in addition to the relative calm that followed the 1960 riots."

February 26th, 1964

Pearson "promised that the direct-campaign he wanted and pursued would continue so the city accepted a larger integration overall. What he ultimately, wanted to happen was for Jacksonville to have a biracial committee which would establish a study towards racial problems that Jacksonville faced; and he took it upon himself to get a group of African Americans to come to a city council meeting to voice their complaints. The city council didn't read any of his complaints nor did they read any of the others in his group either." So, he told a reporter, "There were citizens who had come to voice support for their ideas. This tends to indicate the city government is failing to give direction and guidance to the community in the broad area of human relations." In response to this the NAACP increased the pressure on local officials. A political activist within the organization by the name of Joshua Williams recalls that, “Pearson felt the city was ignoring him and his demands. He had decided that no matter what happened he was going to force Burns to respond.” Burns, in this full-on predicament, found "Pearson to be annoying, and particularly his protests. He knew the situation of what was playing out in Jacksonville and Jacksonville’s “crucial position in Florida would mean that any racial strife would attract national coverage. He hoped to settle the issues before the problem got out of hand.”

March 2nd, 1964

On March 2nd, 1964 there was a "meeting held by the Jacksonville Ministerial Alliance which was attended by sixty-two ministers, five of whom were black. All these voters voted unanimously to drafter a letter to Mayor Burns asking him to appoint a biracial committee that Pearson asked earlier to deal with the racial problems in the city." Similarly, this letter came the "same time that a recommendation from the Community Advisory Committee, an organization made up primarily of businesspeople and backed by the powerful Chamber of Commerce, which had been sent to the city council." The "outcome that the Ministerial Alliance hoped for was for Burns to take charge of the council in forging a better race relations in Jacksonville. At the same time, the city council also ignored the recommendation from the Community Advisory Committee as well. These ministers hoped by appealing directly to Burns it would force them to open a line of communication. With that said, it should be emphasized that race relations in this current time was deteriorating rapidly."

March 5th, 1964

After the investigation that the FBI started back on February 16th, 1964, they found the suspect and announced the arrest in the Godfrey bombing. "William Sterling Rosencrans, a thirty-year old laborer from Indiana, had planted the bomb," they said. Rosencrans had a long criminal history that included several burglaries and petty crimes. He became a suspect when his car was found near a cache of dynamite stolen from a local construction company.

"Rosencrans was also in connection to a bombing of two Florida East Coast Railroad trains in St. Augustine who was arrested by police. "The FBI reported that Rosencrans had bombed the Godfrey house to frighten the family into taking six-year-old Donald out of Lackawanna Elementary School. Rosencrans had been under FBI surveillance for some time. He apparently had connections to one out of the five Jacksonville Klan organizations. The Klan boasted a membership of about 1,000."

Aftermath

The FBI widened its investigation to find collaborators, concentrating its attention on Jacksonville's Klan leaders. "On March 15th, 1964 FBI agents ended the investigation by arresting six Klansmen and charging them as accomplices in the Godfrey bombing. The African American press praised the FBI's actions. A Pittsburgh Courier reporter wrote, "Seemingly the arrests marked the first solid cases concerning the numerous bombings which have taken place in the South since post World War II." Bartley, also states several days "after Rosencran's arrest, police arrested fifteen African Americans for picketing. At the same time judges also sentenced ten other black teenagers to five days in prison for violating Florida's anti-sit-in law." These arrests only made NAACP'S beliefs stronger and helped NAACP's resolve as well.

See also

• Ax Handle Saturday
• Donal Godfrey

External links

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