The protest began with meetings and strategy sessions led by veterans of the Civil Rights Movement as well as local students. In May, hundreds of students met on campus to hear speakers and many of these students decided to risk arrest in order to protest segregation&nbsp;in Tallahassee.&nbsp;&nbsp;

By August,&nbsp;some of the protesters faced physical assault for their participation in civil rights activism. Some were arrested and jailed for almost a week. The corner of&nbsp;Jefferson St. and Monroe St. features&nbsp;a commemorative sidewalk that includes the names of many of the participants in this and other protests against segregation in the city from 1960 to 1963.&nbsp;

A man holds a sign outside of the theatre during the protest.

Hundreds, including many students, participated in the protest. 

Students on the northeast corner of Monroe and College lined up on their way to police wagons that took them to jail on May 30, 1963. 

In the summer of 1963, hundreds of students from Florida A&M protested segregation at several downtown theaters, including the State Theatre which was located here on Monroe Street. Hundreds of students met on campus and marched down Monroe Street protesting the theater. After nine days of protest, dozens of students were arrested on May 30, 1963. The protests continued throughout the summer. 

Florida A&M Theater Protest, May 1963

Explore the sites in Tallahassee that civil rights activist and arts advocate Clifton Van Brunt Lewis helped support in mid-century Florida and beyond. Clifton and her husband worked in interracial committees, offered their home as meeting space, and supplied exhibition space and financial backing to citizens of Tallahassee, both black and white. Clifton worked tirelessly to create equal spaces for all and made many appeals to city and county officials to improve conditions across the state.
 
Visit the museum exhibition website at CliftonInTheCapital.omeka.net to learn more.

Tallahassee was chosen as the territorial capital in 1824 and the first territorial government met in log cabins. A capitol building was constructed in 1826 but was never completely finished and torn down in 1839 for the construction of the present structure, which was completed in 1845, just prior to Florida’s entry into the Union as the 27th state. Additions to the Historic Capitol were made several times throughout the years. Architect Frank Millburn, who added the classical style dome, made the first expansion in 1902. The 1923 additions by Henry Klutho included two new wings and a marble interior. Finally, large wings for the House and Senate chambers were added to the north and south ends of the building in 1936 and 1947, respectively.Threatened with demolition in the late 1970s when the new capitol was built, it was saved through citizens’ action and restored to its 1902 appearance. Architectural highlights include the elaborate art glass dome, red and white striped awnings, and a representation of the Florida State Seal over the entry columns. The restoration of The Old Capitol (1978—1982) was conducted under the supervision of the Department of General Services in conjunction with the Department of State. This intensive project of historical and archaeological investigation makes Florida’s former capitol one of the most thoroughly documented restoration projects in the nation.

Restored to its 1902 appearance, the Historic Capitol stands as an icon at the center of Florida’s Capitol complex; restored areas include the 1902 Governor’s office and chambers of the House of Representatives, Senate, and Supreme Court. Together with exhibit panels, photographs, and interactive multimedia, the museum offers a journey though the colorful history of representative government in Florida. More than 250 artifacts in 21 rooms invite visitors to trace the evolution of Florida government from territorial days to the present.

Florida Historic Capitol Museum

On May 26, 1956, college students Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson were arrested after sitting in the "white section" of a city bus. The women were charged with "placing themselves in a position to start a riot," and were bailed out by the Texas A&amp;M Dean of Students later the same day. Their act of resistance enraged the local Ku Klux Klan, who later burned a cross on the women's' lawn. Following news of the cross-burning, students of A&amp;M called for a student protest of city busses and for students to encourage wider community participation in a bus boycott. The Black community demanded employment of Black bus drivers and the end of racial segregation on city busses. After three months of protest, the demand for Black employment was met and a new policy of assigned seating (supposedly non-segregated) was implemented for city busses. The assigned seating mandate was ultimately unsuccessful and eventually gave way to a truly integrated bus system. In 1960, in response to the North Carolina Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins, a group of eight Texas A&amp;M and local high school students staged a similar sit-in at the Tallahassee Woolworth counter, staying for about 2.5 hours on February 16, 1960; no one was arrested. The following week, February 20, eleven students returned to Woolworth for a second sit-in but were met by both the mayor of Tallahassee and the police force. The students were arrested after refusing to leave. Larger demonstrations were held on March 5 and March 12, now joined by white students from Florida State University. This resulted in mass arrests, which sparked further protests. Officially, Texas A&amp;M and local civil rights groups did not support the sit-ins and protests, though they continued until December 1960. Both the bus boycott and lunch counter sit-ins are memorialized in the Tallahassee-Leon County Civil Rights Heritage Walk, along with fifty-eight individuals who were active in the movement, including Patricia Stephen Due who spent 49 days in jail following a lunch counter sit-in, and Rev. Dr. Charles Kenzie (C.K.) Steele who was instrumental in the bus boycotts.

The Tallahassee-Leon County Civil Rights Heritage Walk, located along Jefferson Street, serves as a memorial for 58 civil rights activists. This location was the site of lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960s, which are also depicted in the Heritage Walk. The walk also memorializes the Tallahassee Bus Boycott-- the second-largest bus boycott in the US. The sidewalk is made of terrazzo panels that feature bronze footsteps bearing the names of important individuals associated with the Civil Rights Movement in Tallahassee. 

Tallahassee-Leon County Civil Rights Heritage Walk

The May Oak was the central backdrop for a longtime Tallahassee festival known as May Day. The live oak, now a stump in Lewis Park, in downtown, Tallahassee, was where a court of Leon County High School students would congregate after a King and Queen were chosen and coronated. The tradition began in the 1800s and continued until the 1970s. May Day was discontinued after Leon High School was integrated. The tree later collapsed from age. Springtime Tallahassee succeeded the festival after the oak fell.

A plaque at the stump reads: TALLAHASSEE'S MAY OAK

LEWIS PARK

The Tallahassee May Day Festival, one of the oldest annual celebrations in Florida, was held under the stately May Oak from 1844 to 1974. The historic landmark collapsed on August 9, 1986.

May Oak at Lewis Park

Founded in 1963 by four community leaders --Mary Metzke, Clifton Lewis, June Strauss, and Nanette Fisher--their goal was to establish a fine art gallery and a space for art education activities for Tallahassee and the Big Bend region. LeMoyne is currently located in the restored 1854 Antebellum Meginniss-Munroe home. Originally, it was in the Deeb House in the Park Avenue Historic District. In addition to offering gallery space to local artists and traveling exhibits, a sculpture garden is open to the rear, and a ceramics studio is in the basement. An education center is in a separate building. LeMoyne also has its own permanent collection including works by George Milton, Karl Zerbe, and Nancy Reid Gunn.


LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts

<h2>The Protests</h2> These protests occurred four years after the Tallahassee Bus Boycott, which took place in 1956. The Florida boycott happened shortly after the more famous Montgomery Bus Boycott that was initiated by Black women and men responding to the arrest of Rosa Parks. The Tallahassee boycott was also influential in challenging segregation and demonstrates a tradition of activism in this part of Florida. Another protest occurred in Florida in 1959 when two Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University students, Patricia and Priscilla Stephens, joined a CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) workshop at Miami University. The students led several projects leading up to the 1960 sit-ins in Tallahassee. On February 1, 1960, four African American students began a sit-in against segregation at a Woolworth lunch counter in North Carolina. This local protest would lead to many other protests and launch a movement of direct action that would become one of the most influential events in the civil rights movement. The Greensboro sit-in led to many other protests, including the actions of eight Florida A&amp;M high school students who also launched a sit-in at their local Woolworth counter on February 13, 1960. The children in this incident were not arrested and left after two and a half hours. On Saturday, February 20, a larger group of eleven students returned to the local Woolworth counter in Tallahassee. The young people in this incident faced organized resistance as their plans were known and the mayor of Tallahassee and a police squad were waiting outside for the students. The mayor asked the students to leave, and when they refused, the students were arrested. The students were able to return home thanks to Reverend Daniel B. Speed who posted their bail. The group of students were charged with "disturbing the peace by riotous conduct" and "unlawful assembly" along with five other charges that were dropped by the time they got to trial. All of the students were charged and could either pay a fine of 300 dollars or serve sixty service days. All of the students but three chose to serve the sixty days. On March 5, more Florida A&amp;M students conducted a sit-in. This was followed by a fourth sit-in on March 12th that also included white students from Florida State University. Around 240 students of both races were arrested during these events. Later in the day on March 12th, about 1,000 Florida A&amp;M students in groups of 75 carried posters and headed downtown, these students asked for the release of the students that had been arrested. The local White Citizen's Council sent a group of armed white men to harass the students. The students chose to turn back at that moment but not before six additional students were arrested. In different parts of Tallahassee, students were gathering around in response to the arrests. During these protests the police used tear-gas on the students causing several to develop burns and be sent to the hospital. During these protests, the police only arrested African American participants.The governor then ordered students to be confined to the campus. CORE decided to continue the sit-ins until December of 1960, they were generally alone and not supported. In 1961, the sit-ins had come to a standstill and the CORE chapter struggled due to the lack of support from outside organizations but continued to hold protests against segregation until the 1964 Civil Rights Act made segregation illegal. <h2>Broader Context for the Protests</h2>In the Florida newspapers it was reported that there were students that sat at a local lunch counter which served whites only to protest segregation. With those students’ actions began a student activism throughout the city that would send a message throughout the country. Furthermore, many new outlets reported on the peaceful protest however, eleven of the students were arrested and placed in jail. Wayne Santoro wrote an article that was published in Social Forces about a study which investigates the effect of segregationist murders, detailing his view on the Black protest and Black voting-rights policies. The author of the article explains more about his opinion on white violence is responsive to Black protest. He further details how the violence stimulated government response to the protests. He argues, the segregationist violence seemed to help the movement and win the southern suffrage only with help of the audience. This movement caught a lot of attention all over the country. The Woolworth sit-in started a civil rights movement when four Black freshman students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat down and ordered coffee in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960 and stayed until closing time. This act spawned a wave of activism in nearly every southern state. Inspired by these protests, on February 20, 1960 several Florida A&amp;M students waged a sit-in to protest segregation in 1960. The sit-in took place in an old brown building located on the corner of Monroe street and was connected to the Hilton hotel, and College Park is right next to the building and on the other side is the Museum of Florida History. The building was occupied by Woolworth at the time and the lunch counter is where the African American students started the sit-in. The building is still there today and is 60 years old now. An African American poet names Paul Dunbar wrote short stories and poetry about negotiating the difficulties of segregation. He furthermore explains, his daily struggle and how he tries to be the man of the race in the face he can be. This is another source where the poet explains his daily struggle in his life because of his race, it relates to the segregation sit-in because African Americans are fighting for the civil right movement and stop being mistreated due to the color of their skin.  Another source, Michael Dennis is a professor at the University of Fl who detailed the life of Luther P Jackson, who was an instrumental leader of the voices for racial justice. This professor explained how he was a man who believed education was the core for social change. But was also aware of racial inferiority infected African American socially and in the education system. Therefore, the professor discussed how Luther P Jackson understood that the Blacks had to change their minds before they could change the world. This professor was giving his input on how the African Americans should handle a situation when dealing with the segregation protest where people can avoid getting arrested by trying to get their voices heard.  We have seen many actions thus far, however the Florida A&amp;M college student sit-in was just one example that lead the way for others to share their thoughts and expressions of the injustice that Black people experience. This bravery prompted others that experienced segregation to voice their concerns and protests and many have been speaking out ever since.

On February 13, 1960, Florida A&M students and other members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) held the first of what would turn into a year-long campaign of sit-ins to protest discrimination at department store lunch counters throughout downtown Tallahassee. After a week of similar protests, police began arresting the students in significant numbers. Despite the arrests, by March the FAMU students were joined by white students from Florida State. After 250 students were arrested, another 1000 joined a protest march that ended when police fired tear gas at the students. Although a white mob threatened the young people with guns and other weapons, the police only arrested Black men and women as the spring protests continued into summer. By 1961, the tactics of the police and white city officials derailed the movement. Students continued to boycott the stores, but integration would not come to Tallahassee until Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 


On May 26, 1956, there were two female students from Florida A&M University who were named Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson. These ladies paid to board a bus that was just about filled to capacity. Shortly after they were asked to stand by the bus driver because they were sitting next to a white women. After this the Florida A&M student body engaged in social activism. Then on February 20, 1960, the students conducted a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter. There were thirteen students and eleven of them got arrested. With this movement inspired a lot of others to join and give thanks to those students who protested. 

Florida A&M Students Wage Sit-Ins to Protest Segregation, 1960

Lichgate on High Road is a small park that is the original site of the cottage home of Florida State University English professor and Shakespeare expert, Laura Jepsen. Jepsen built her home after searching for the perfect site for over two years. The property includes a towering live oak tree with branches dipping low to the ground. The cottage was based on old English-style cottages and was constructed of materials collected from old homes in Vermont, with some wood panels dating over 250 years old. 

Jepsen worked at FSU from 1946 to 1978, and lived in the house until her death in 1995. The Laura Jepsen Institute operates the grounds and its facilities are available for rent for private weddings and celebrations. The park includes a flower garden, a volunteer-run vegetable garden, a stone labyrinth, and a few structures such as the old dog house. 

Clifton Van Brunt Lewis, a local civic activist, worked to helped preserve the park in the late 1990s. 

Lichgate Tree Park

<div>In 1950, Clifton Van Brunt and George Lewis II met Frank Lloyd Wright while visiting Lakeland, FL, as Wright oversaw the opening of one of his buildings at Florida Southern College. Clifton asked him to design a house for her and her family, stating that they "had many children and not much money." Wright sympathized with the Lewises and told Clifton to "find her ground" for their new home. In 1952, they presented Wright with a five-acre piece of land near Lake Jackson, in Tallahassee, Florida.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>Wright's design was completed in 1954, and the Lewises with their four children moved into the home. George Lewis worked at his family's bank while Clifton kept herself busy raising her children and being active in the local civil rights movement. In addition to her activism, she helped found many of Tallahassee's beloved cultural institutions, such as LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts, the Tallahassee Junior Museum (now Tallahassee Museum), and helped to save the Lichgate Tree and Laura Jepsen cottage. In the 1960s, Clifton rented the Randall-Lewis House to many local artists, writers, and designers, many of whom worked as professors at FSU. Clifton protested against public pool segregation, gave office space to Tallahassee CORE founder Patricia Stephens (later Due) for voter registration, and she offered an integrated gallery space at the Lewis State Bank in the lobby, known then as the Little Gallery.</div>

Designed in a hemicycle (i.e., a semi-circle) shape, this unique-looking home was created by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and constructed in 1954. The house is one of only two homes designed by Wright in this shape, as designated by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Spring House Institute, which was founded in 1996, is currently working to raise funding to purchase the home to begin its preservation and restoration for use as a public meeting space for artists, activists, and enthusiasts, just as it was used historically.

Clifton in the Capital: Tallahassee Civic Activist

Florida A&M Theater Protest, May 1963

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources