At its Jan. 9 work session, Fulton County Board of Education discussed plans for redistricting several south Fulton elementary schools due to the construction of a replacement S.L. Lewis Elementary
Jacksonville’s LaVilla area was once thriving haven filled with Black-owned businesses
Neighborhood later gained a different reputation, but is now focus of revitalization
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville’s LaVilla neighborhood was once its own city, where African Americans flourished and prospered. But when the area became part of Jacksonville in 1887, it struggled to keep its identity.
LaVilla was considered a safe haven for freed Black residents because many Union soldiers remained in the area after the Civil War and literally protected the community.
LaVilla was nearly wiped out in Jacksonville’s great fire of 1901, but from the ashes rose a part of downtown that eventually would become part of the Black renaissance.