Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)
Wilhelmina Jakes And Carrie Patterson: Initiators of The Tallahassee Bus Boycott
Photographed by Mark Hilton, December 6, 2014
1. Wilhelmina Jakes And Carrie Patterson: Initiators of The Tallahassee Bus Boycott Marker
Inscription.
Wilhelmina Jakes And Carrie Patterson: Initiators of The Tallahassee Bus Boycott. . On May 26, 1956, two Florida A&M University (FAMU) students, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson boarded a crowded Tallahassee city bus and sat in the only seats available, in the front next to a white female passenger. The bus driver ordered them to the back of the bus, but they refused. Outraged, the driver pulled the bus over and called the police. The two students were arrested and charged with “placing themselves in a position to incite a riot.” The next night a cross was burned on their lawn. In response, FAMU students, led by SGA President Brodes Hartley, held a mass meeting and voted to stop riding city buses. This sparked the ten-month-long Tallahassee Bus Boycott, the second major successful economic protest of the Civil Rights Movement. Other citizens embraced the boycott. Local religious leaders and community members founded the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) and elected Rev. C.K. Steele, pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, as president. The ICC expanded the boycott, which ended in March 1957. Months of defiant walking, carpooling and legal battles and the fortitude of Jakes, Patterson and other FAMU Freedom Fighters, helped sustain Americas promise of equal rights and justice for all citizens. ,
A Florida Heritage Site.
On May 26, 1956, two Florida A&M University (FAMU) students, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson boarded a crowded Tallahassee city bus and sat in the only seats available, in the front next to a white female passenger. The bus driver ordered them to the back of the bus, but they refused. Outraged, the driver pulled the bus over and called the police. The two students were arrested and charged with “placing themselves in a position to incite a riot.” The next night a cross was burned on their lawn. In response, FAMU students, led by SGA President Brodes Hartley, held a mass meeting and voted to stop riding city buses. This sparked the ten-month-long Tallahassee Bus Boycott, the second major successful economic protest of the Civil Rights Movement. Other citizens embraced the boycott. Local religious leaders and community members founded the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) and elected Rev. C.K. Steele, pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, as president. The ICC expanded the boycott, which ended in March 1957. Months of defiant walking, carpooling and legal battles and the fortitude of Jakes, Patterson and other FAMU Freedom Fighters, helped sustain Americas promise of equal rights and justice for all citizens.
A Florida Heritage Site
Erected
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2007 by Florida A&M University and the Florida Department of State,. (Marker Number F-614.)
Location. 30° 25.535′ N, 84° 17.142′ W. Marker is in Tallahassee, Florida, in Leon County. It is on South Martin Luther King Boulevard 0.1 miles south of West Palmer Avenue, on the right when traveling south. Located along the street near the Student Union Offices. This area is normally for official vehicles only. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1764 South Martin Luther King Boulevard, Tallahassee FL 32307, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Florida. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Deep South. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
3. Looking north on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Credits. This page was last revised on May 4, 2018. It was originally submitted on December 9, 2014, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 1,594 times since then and 39 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on December 9, 2014, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.
