“Civil Rights In Florida” W / Robert Redd

Struggling For Equality In The Sunshine State

While Montgomery, Little Rock and Selma may have been center stage in America’s struggle for civil rights, the Sunshine State also played a pivotal role. Daytona Beach rightly touts the part it played in bringing equality to baseball, but the key contributions that African Americans in Tallahassee and St. Augustine made to the movement in the 1960s are often overlooked.

South Florida activist Roxcy O’Neal Bolton led the fight to quash the practice of bestowing only women’s names to hurricanes. She accomplished her goal in 1969, the same year as Florida’s shockingly late ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage. Join author Robert Redd for a journey through Florida’s civil rights heritage.