Civil Rights Oral History
Barbara Edna Vickers
Monday, Feb. 15th @ 7:00 PM and Wednesday, Feb. 24th @ 10:00 AM
Ms. Barbara Edna VIckers is from St. Augustine, Florida where she grew up in a segregated environment. She became active at the very beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and participated in numerous demonstrations including “Kneel Ins” where the African American Community attempted to attend worship services at segregated white churches. She was present when Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King came to town to participate in these efforts as well. She provides descriptions of the physical danger they encountered from the Klu Klug Klan, her life living in the South during this era and the struggles of the freedom fighters. She went on to spearhead the creation of a statue commemorating the “Foot Soldiers” who filled the ranks of protestors during this time period which was to be placed in the center of the City of St. Augustine.
Rev. Harry Blake
Monday, Feb. 15th @ 10:30 PM and Tuesday, Feb. 16th @ 7:30 PM
Rev. Harry Blake describes his background growing up on a plantation where he father was a share cropper and he as a young boy used a mule to till the land. The role of the share cropper he explains was more like indentured servitude than an in independent worker in the South where the right to work elsewhere had to be purchased. He is an animated story teller who describes his experiences working for Dr. Martin Luther King during the height of the Civil Rights Movement where one of his tasks was coaching African American’s in the South on how to pass the high hurdles that were placed in front of them to register to vote. He was jailed on a number of occasions and there was an attempt to assassinate him for his affiliation with Dr. King and his civil rights activities. He also describes the accomplishments he has worked with his Church and the local politician’s in helping provide low income and senior citizen housing, education and day care in a poor neighborhood he describes as the “hood.”