Duval County

“He did a lot for us” Dr. King’s legacy lives on in Jacksonville & St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. —

Across the country, and in Downtown Jacksonville, people from different communities all came together for the same season: to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But the history of Dr. King lives and breathes, every day, in the St. Augustine.

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Action News Jax Courtney Cole spoke to the Regina Gayle Phillips, the Executive Director of the Lincolnville Museum.

It’s the home of Civil Rights history and more than 450 years of Black History and Culture in St. Augustine.

Phillips explained how his impact in the Ancient City helped lead  to Civil Rights Act of 1964.

People of all ages and ethnicities gathered with friends and family, to find a good spot in Downtown Jacksonville, to watch the 40th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade.

The attendees Action News Jax Courtney Cole spoke to were all feeling good about coming out to celebrate and honor the life of the Civil Rights icon.

“We do it for the kids, and come to support Martin Luther King and everything he did for us,” said Napoleon Priest.

Priest told Cole he, his wife, and their grandkids have been coming out to watch the parade for years now.

“Honestly, from my heart, I think unity, and justice, is out here today personally. Today is the day,” said Jeremy Ortiz.

Ortiz told Cole his job doesn’t usually give them the day off for the  MLK holiday, but this year they did – so he took advantage of it and brought his family with him, too.

He told Action News Jax the parade is a fun way to teach the younger generation about what Dr. King and how they can apply some of the same things he stood for—in their own lives.

“I stand for unity, peace. [I’m] against hatred in any type of form,” Ortiz told Cole.

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The impact Dr. King has created lasts long beyond the annual parade, especially in the city of St. Augustine.

“His work that he did while he was here really helped move the nation towards the signing of the Civil Rights Act,” said Regina Gayle Phillips.

Phillips is the Executive Director of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in St. Augustine.

The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center is home to more than 450 years of Black History in St. Augustine.

Phillips told Cole when Dr. King arrived, The Civil Rights Movement was already underway.

“He lent national attention to the movement,” Phillips said.

Some of the most notable moments include, but are not limited to the following:

  • June 11, 1964 : Dr. King was arrested for trying to eat at Monson Motor Lodge Restaurant.
  • July 1, 1964: Dr. King announced a campaign to make sure the Civil Rights Act would actually be implemented.

“We try to do [good] in our own communities. I try to make things right here, and hopefully that can spread out and branch out,” said Ortiz.

Dr. King is best known for trying to achieve equality and human rights for African-Americans – but he was also trying to improve conditions for people with economic disadvantages, too.

“I don’t think that he would be too pleased to know that all of the black businesses they created, their cohesiveness of Saint Augustine, and especially Lincolnville, that those businesses are gone. And it’s almost a void where those businesses were.”

Phillips told Cole, because there was a void, gentrification has taken over what once was a pre-dominantly black community.

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She believes lack of representation in leadership in the City and County, can help explain how this happened.

“We don’t want the history, our local history, to get lost,” Phillips told Cole.

For more information on the Lincolnville Museum, click here.