A Florida community cultural center has unveiled an exhibit in honor of a man whose legendary arrest rocked its small town.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed on June 11, 1964 in St. Augustine, Fla. after organizing a demonstration in support of the Civil Rights Act. The incident galvanized national attention on civil rights.
“This development is merely the first step in a long journey to freedom and justice in St. Augustine,” King said in a later speech.
Less than a month later, both chambers of Congress passed a bill to outlaw discrimination and segregation in public accommodations, became law.
Now the Excelsior Center, a center that preserves the cultural heritage of Lincolnville, a predominately African-American community in St. Augustine, displays for a new exhibit, King’s fingerprints taken during the momentous arrest.
“It brings back so many of the memories of the times we went through and I just sat there watching that and actually praying that it never happens again,” Everett Haney, the St. John’s county deputy who arrested King told Black news Web site TheGrio.com.
The center, which houses a museum and library, was the site of the area’s only “colored” school between 1901 and 1968, according to its Web site.
After renovations, the location was used as a state office building and most recently was given to the nonprofit Friends of Excelsior as a cultural center to memorialize the community, which had produced scores of professional Black teachers, doctors, and administrators.
Along with King’s fingerprints, Excelsior’s exhibits display memorabilia from many of the school’s notable graduates.
The block where Excelsior is located, once called Central Avenue, has been renamed Martin Luther King Avenue.