JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s been 60 years since violence broke out in Downtown Jacksonville during a civil rights sit-in protest, and many citizens are only learning about it now.
Monique Clark, an 18-year-old who grew up in Jacksonville, said she never learned of the event until her boss told her about it and brought her to the Commemoration on Thursday.
“Not knowing history that seems so important to our community, especially seeing how many people are here today and just seeing the impact it has, and not knowing about it, it’s frustrating for me,” Clark said.
She wasn’t the only one who didn’t know much of the history of the day.
Ken and Nidhi Every also showed up to the event because of recent events in Wisconsin and the Black Lives Matter movement throughout the summer. Ken Every said he only learned about Ax Handle Saturday through a local magazine earlier this week.
“It does say a lot about our society just looking at what happens in the world in general and how lacking of knowledge of historical events that is prevalent in society today and what a big problem that is. Because without that understanding of historic context in each our societies and our communities, we have no understanding or basis to deal with the decision that need to be made today,” Nidhi Every said.
One of the speakers, Hope McMath, the founder and director of Yellow House, and a Jacksonville native and graduate of Terry Parker High School, recognized that she wasn’t taught of these local civil rights movements growing up.
“But Ax Handle Saturday was not part of the history that I learned. So when did that begin for me? Did it begin when the Ritz Museum finally opened? Did it begin when I started to become obsessed with the work of Augustus Savage 23 years ago? Or maybe when I first read James Weldon Johnson’s autobiography? All of that’s true, but I think some of my deepest learning began when I became friends with Rodney Hurst,” McMath said.
Rodney Hurst, the president of the Youth Council during the sit-in demonstrations in 1960, was 16 years old at the time. He wrote a book detailing his experience of Ax Handle Saturday and was the main presenter in Thursday’s commemoration.
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He believes that the the lack of awareness was due the lack of coverage the event received when it initially happened.
“All news about the sit-ins were blacked out by the local press and the two television stations,” Hurst said.
The only film that was taken at the event is now stored at UCLA and can be seen in the film commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Ax Handle Saturday.
The Florida Times-Union recently published an editorial apologizing for their lack of coverage saying they “committed an act of journalistic malpractice so egregious that it deserves a formal apology.” In fact, they noted they didn’t properly cover the event until 2002 when a historical marker was put in, what was then, Hemming Park.
When the Republican National Convention was scheduled to come to Jacksonville this week, many more people became aware of the anniversary.
“I think it’s good that people are more aware of the historical racial injustices that are happening, especially in Jacksonville because they were trying to bring the Republican National Convention here,” Hakeem Furious, a local poet, said. “You see that people are being dived in to whats true American history. This is part of America and should not be overlooked and told differently.”
However, there is hope that the wide-spread awareness of the event will bring more education to what happened in 1960.
Vice President Joe Biden released a statement earlier Thursday morning about Ax Handle Saturday saying this event left a lasting mark on Jacksonville and is a testament to the progress that has been made and is a reminder for standing up for what’s right.
Council member Sam Newby spoke at the Commemoration about how his mother, who passed away three weeks ago, told him that when she moved back in Jacksonville she wasn’t allowed to go inside City Hall.
“My mom said she couldn’t go into that office, she couldn’t go into that building. But now her son has an office in that building,” Newby said.
For Clark, Newby’s words gives her hope that things can change even more in 60 years when she is 78.
Cox Media Group
