If It Takes All Summer

Martin Luther King, the KKK, and States' Rights in St. Augustine, 1964

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, Civil Rights, History, Americas
Cover of the book If It Takes All Summer by Dan R. Warren, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dan R. Warren ISBN: 9780817380663
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: June 15, 2009
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: Dan R. Warren
ISBN: 9780817380663
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: June 15, 2009
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

This memoir recounts the struggle against segregation in St. Augustine, Florida, in the early and mid-1960s. In the summer of 1964 the nation’s oldest city became the center of the civil rights movement as Martin Luther King Jr., encouraged by President Johnson, a southerner, who made the civil rights bill the center piece of his domestic policy, chose this tourism-driven community as an ideal location to demonstrate the injustice of discrimination and the complicity of southern leaders in its enforcement.

 

St. Augustine was planning an elaborate celebration of its founding, and expected generous federal and state support. But when the kick-off dinner was announced only whites were invited, and local black leaders protested. The affair alerted the national civil rights leadership to the St. Augustine situation as well as fueling local black resentment.

 

Ferment in the city grew, convincing King to bring his influence to the leadership of the local struggle. As King and his allies fought for the right to demonstrate, a locally powerful Ku Klux Klan counter-demonstrated. Conflict ensued between civil rights activists, local and from out-of-town, and segregationists, also home-grown and imported. The escalating violence of the Klan led Florida’s Governor to appoint State Attorney Dan Warren as his personal representative in St. Augustine. Warren’s crack down on the Klan and his innovative use of the Grand Jury to appoint a bi-racial committee against the intransigence of the Mayor and other officials, is a fascinating story of moral courage. This is an insider view of a sympathetic middleman in the difficult position of attempting to bring reason and dialog into a volatile situation.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This memoir recounts the struggle against segregation in St. Augustine, Florida, in the early and mid-1960s. In the summer of 1964 the nation’s oldest city became the center of the civil rights movement as Martin Luther King Jr., encouraged by President Johnson, a southerner, who made the civil rights bill the center piece of his domestic policy, chose this tourism-driven community as an ideal location to demonstrate the injustice of discrimination and the complicity of southern leaders in its enforcement.

 

St. Augustine was planning an elaborate celebration of its founding, and expected generous federal and state support. But when the kick-off dinner was announced only whites were invited, and local black leaders protested. The affair alerted the national civil rights leadership to the St. Augustine situation as well as fueling local black resentment.

 

Ferment in the city grew, convincing King to bring his influence to the leadership of the local struggle. As King and his allies fought for the right to demonstrate, a locally powerful Ku Klux Klan counter-demonstrated. Conflict ensued between civil rights activists, local and from out-of-town, and segregationists, also home-grown and imported. The escalating violence of the Klan led Florida’s Governor to appoint State Attorney Dan Warren as his personal representative in St. Augustine. Warren’s crack down on the Klan and his innovative use of the Grand Jury to appoint a bi-racial committee against the intransigence of the Mayor and other officials, is a fascinating story of moral courage. This is an insider view of a sympathetic middleman in the difficult position of attempting to bring reason and dialog into a volatile situation.

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book Letters from Alabama by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book The Will to Win by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Stubborn Poetries by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book The Inquisitor's Tongue by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Sugar Cane Capitalism and Environmental Transformation by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Harlots, Hussies, and Poor Unfortunate Women by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book The Remembered Gate by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Grass Widow by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Connections after Colonialism by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Hitting A Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Legacy of a False Promise by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book When Good Men Do Nothing by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book These Rugged Days by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Prehistoric Digital Poetry by Dan R. Warren
Cover of the book Blue Studios by Dan R. Warren
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy