Ax Handle Saturday
In protest of segregation, black youth attempted to sit down on Aug. 27, 1960 at a whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's on Hogan Street in downtown Jacksonville. As they came out of the restaurant, they were accosted by an angry mob wielding ax handles.
Suddenly, all of downtown became a melee, leaving dozens of bystanders wounded - and giving Jacksonville a national reputation for violence. These riots came to be known as Ax Handle Saturday.
This was not the first sit-in that took place in Jacksonville. Middle school, high school and college students of the Jacksonville NAACP Youth Council first went to the Woolworth's on Aug. 13, 1960.
Led by Alton Yates and Rodney Hurst, the youth bought items at the store, sat at the lunch counter and were not served. They were told by management to go to the "colored" lunch counter at the back of the store. They left.
Sit-ins continued throughout mid-August and on the morning of August 27, Rutledge Pearson, the Youth Council's adviser, got a call about some activity in Hemming Park (now Hemming Plaza). The group prayed about it and decided to continue with that day's sit-in.
Some demonstrators went to W.T. Grant's, others went to Woolworth's. As they came out of the stores, they were accosted by white segregationists swinging ax handles and baseball bats. Many blacks who were working and shopping downtown got caught up in the violence. Among them was Nat Glover, then 17, who went on to become Jacksonville's first black sheriff.
The riots were covered by national news outlets, including Life magazine and The New York Times. Different reports had the number of people arrested ranging from 42 to 150. But there was a lack of coverage of the demonstrations in The Times-Union and the Jacksonville Journal, which was decried by the Florida Star, a black newspaper and the Jacksonville Chronicle, a segregationist newspaper.
Related: T-U Columnist Mark Woods talked to journalists at the Times-Union and Jacksonville Journal who weren't allowed to cover the events that unfolded on Ax Handle Saturday.
In November 1960, the lunch counter sit-ins and picketing of downtown businesses resumed. In the spring of 1961, local business leaders and the NAACP reached an agreement and the downtown lunch counters were integrated, beginning with Woolworth's.
In September 1963, Iona Godfrey King enrolled her son, Donal, in first grade at Lackawanna Elementary School. He was one of 13 black students to enter formally white Duval County Schools that year, as part of a judge's order. King's home was firebombed in February 1964. Her family survived and a Ku Klux Klan member pleaded guilty in the bombing.
Picketing for segregation was still continuing at downtown businesses in March 1964 when race riots erupted, lasting for days. Johnnie Mae Chappell, a 35-year-old mother of 10, was killed. Her murder remains unsolved. She was gunned down while searching for her purse along Kings Road in the aftermath of a riot. Authorities said her killers simply wanted to kill a black person.
The 40th anniversary, in 2000, was the first formal citywide commemoration of the day.
James Crooks, a professor emeritus at the University of North Florida who has written extensively about the city's history, recalls that both blacks and whites questioned the commemoration. The Jacksonville Historical Society's decision to participate, he said, passed by a slim margin. "A lot of people didn't want to put it on, they said why are you raising up hurtful memories?"
Although painful, Crooks said, it was a successful effort.
"It was almost like lancing a boil," he said. "You had a sense that, OK, we were now ready to face our history."
The Times-Union and Jacksonville.com compiled the oral histories in video and in print of some of the people who were there for Ax Handle Saturday. Here are their stories:
Clarence Sears, a white man who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan at the behest of the FBI, only to learn his efforts to protect the demonstrators were ignored by law enforcement.
Patricia Henry and her mother, Syteria Williams, who still remember vividly the day they stepped off the bus - and into the melee that would change their lives.
Isaac Carnes, a demonstrator who ultimately left Jacksonville, returning decades later and coming face-to-face with what has and has not changed.
Rodney Hurst, a leader of the NAACP Youth Council who persisted through nearly eight months of demonstrations and negotiations.
Alton Yates, whose Air Force service inspired him to fight to give the equality he experienced in the military to everyone else.
Key players of Ax Handle Saturday
jacksonville.com
there's an excellent timeline at the source.
i never heard one bit about this until the johnnie mae chappell case was reopened 5 years ago. a huge local story regarding the mayo clinic broke this week and it's good to see that this anniversary is getting recognized in the midst of all of that.
Suddenly, all of downtown became a melee, leaving dozens of bystanders wounded - and giving Jacksonville a national reputation for violence. These riots came to be known as Ax Handle Saturday.
This was not the first sit-in that took place in Jacksonville. Middle school, high school and college students of the Jacksonville NAACP Youth Council first went to the Woolworth's on Aug. 13, 1960.
Led by Alton Yates and Rodney Hurst, the youth bought items at the store, sat at the lunch counter and were not served. They were told by management to go to the "colored" lunch counter at the back of the store. They left.
Sit-ins continued throughout mid-August and on the morning of August 27, Rutledge Pearson, the Youth Council's adviser, got a call about some activity in Hemming Park (now Hemming Plaza). The group prayed about it and decided to continue with that day's sit-in.
Some demonstrators went to W.T. Grant's, others went to Woolworth's. As they came out of the stores, they were accosted by white segregationists swinging ax handles and baseball bats. Many blacks who were working and shopping downtown got caught up in the violence. Among them was Nat Glover, then 17, who went on to become Jacksonville's first black sheriff.
The riots were covered by national news outlets, including Life magazine and The New York Times. Different reports had the number of people arrested ranging from 42 to 150. But there was a lack of coverage of the demonstrations in The Times-Union and the Jacksonville Journal, which was decried by the Florida Star, a black newspaper and the Jacksonville Chronicle, a segregationist newspaper.
Related: T-U Columnist Mark Woods talked to journalists at the Times-Union and Jacksonville Journal who weren't allowed to cover the events that unfolded on Ax Handle Saturday.
In November 1960, the lunch counter sit-ins and picketing of downtown businesses resumed. In the spring of 1961, local business leaders and the NAACP reached an agreement and the downtown lunch counters were integrated, beginning with Woolworth's.
In September 1963, Iona Godfrey King enrolled her son, Donal, in first grade at Lackawanna Elementary School. He was one of 13 black students to enter formally white Duval County Schools that year, as part of a judge's order. King's home was firebombed in February 1964. Her family survived and a Ku Klux Klan member pleaded guilty in the bombing.
Picketing for segregation was still continuing at downtown businesses in March 1964 when race riots erupted, lasting for days. Johnnie Mae Chappell, a 35-year-old mother of 10, was killed. Her murder remains unsolved. She was gunned down while searching for her purse along Kings Road in the aftermath of a riot. Authorities said her killers simply wanted to kill a black person.
The 40th anniversary, in 2000, was the first formal citywide commemoration of the day.
James Crooks, a professor emeritus at the University of North Florida who has written extensively about the city's history, recalls that both blacks and whites questioned the commemoration. The Jacksonville Historical Society's decision to participate, he said, passed by a slim margin. "A lot of people didn't want to put it on, they said why are you raising up hurtful memories?"
Although painful, Crooks said, it was a successful effort.
"It was almost like lancing a boil," he said. "You had a sense that, OK, we were now ready to face our history."
The Times-Union and Jacksonville.com compiled the oral histories in video and in print of some of the people who were there for Ax Handle Saturday. Here are their stories:
Clarence Sears, a white man who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan at the behest of the FBI, only to learn his efforts to protect the demonstrators were ignored by law enforcement.
Patricia Henry and her mother, Syteria Williams, who still remember vividly the day they stepped off the bus - and into the melee that would change their lives.
Isaac Carnes, a demonstrator who ultimately left Jacksonville, returning decades later and coming face-to-face with what has and has not changed.
Rodney Hurst, a leader of the NAACP Youth Council who persisted through nearly eight months of demonstrations and negotiations.
Alton Yates, whose Air Force service inspired him to fight to give the equality he experienced in the military to everyone else.
Key players of Ax Handle Saturday
jacksonville.com
there's an excellent timeline at the source.
i never heard one bit about this until the johnnie mae chappell case was reopened 5 years ago. a huge local story regarding the mayo clinic broke this week and it's good to see that this anniversary is getting recognized in the midst of all of that.