End of an Era

End of an Era. 9th Avenue South Corridor . 22nd Street South Corridor. , As the heart and soul of St. Petersburg's African-American community during the segregation era, 22nd Street S. became the nerve center of the city's civil rights movement., Segregation and Recreation , During this era, even such simple activities as swimming carried restrictions for African Americans. Virtually all public beaches were off limits. The exception was a spit of land at the end of the Atlantic Coast Line railroad tracks that ran along 1st Avenue S. It was called the South Mole, and it was as much an industrial storage area as it was a recreational beach. Blacks had no public swimming pools until 1954, when the Jennie Hall Pool, named for the white woman who donated $25,000 for its construction, opened in Wildwood Heights., Sanitation Strike , The 1968 sanitation strike was led by cigar-chomping, hymn-singing Joe Savage. Starting from the Jordan Park Community Center (now the Carter G. Woodson Museum), striking workers marched on City Hall more than 40 times during the 116-day walkout. Helmeted officers confronted the marchers. City officials fired the workers, and the police arrested Savage. A.D. King, the brother of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., joined the marchers. So did former Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Ralph Abernathy. Four days of violence shook the neighborhood as the strike stretched into August. When the walkout ended, the workers had won a small raise. The strike had an impact beyond material results. It was later recognized as a seminal event in St. Petersburg's civil rights movement, largely because it called attention to inequalities. It also energized the community and encouraged further activism for equal rights. Among the sanitation strike marchers was a young attorney, James B. Sanderlin, who marched numerous times with the sanitation workers. Said Joe Savage of Sanderlin: "He was an educated man who was working for uneducated men. He was up high, but he jumped down low right with us uneducated men. He stuck right in there with us. He brought us through, and I thank God for that.”, Attorneys for the Cause , Fred G. Minnis, Sr., one of St. Petersburg's first black lawyers, was sometimes referred to as "the father of law” in the black community. Minnis also earned a reputation for recruiting and helping young people to go to college. He reportedly assisted more than 500 students who enrolled at Howard University and other predominantly black schools. He formed a partnership with attorney Isaiah W. Williams and opened an office on 22nd Street S., In 1962, Fred Minnis persuaded James Sanderlin to come to St. Petersburg to practice civil rights law. For the next three decades, Sanderlin took and won cases that established him as a civil rights hero throughout the Tampa Bay Area. In 1966, he represented 12 black police officers in a suit against their employer, the City of St. Petersburg. Known as the "Courageous 12," the officers asked for the right to patrol white neighborhoods and to be able to arrest white people. The suit was won on appeal. Sanderlin's biggest victory was a suit against the Pinellas County school district that formally ended public school segregation in 1971 through court-ordered busing. Sanderlin eventually became Pinellas County's first black county and circuit judge and later was appointed to the Second District Court of Appeals., Other members of the firm, Frank White and Frank Peterman, also paved the way for equality in the law. White, who started his career as an unsalaried volunteer in the public defender's office, eventually was elected a circuit judge. Frank W. Peterman was the first black person to win a Pinellas primary election for the state legislature in 1968., (captions) , South Mole, African-American beach. Courtesy of the City of St. Petersburg, Marketing Department., Still in use, the Jennie Hall pool is a few blocks west where you are standing. Courtesy of the St. Petersburg Museum of History., Sanitation workers vote to strike. Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times., Workers march toward downtown. Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times., Sanitation workers and their march with a protest in front of City Hall. Photo courtesy the Tampa Bay Times., L-R: Frank Peterman , James E. Sanderlin, Fred G. Minnis, and Isaiah W. Williams. Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times.