The month of June invites us to consider the pivotal role that the nation's oldest city, St. Augustine, Florida, would play in the Civil Rights movement. Only days before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be passed, the push to desegregate public accommodations grew more intense in St. Augustine, as peaceful protesters led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to that city to engage in restaurant sit-ins and beach swim-ins, in an effort to urge the desegregation of those accommodations.
Famed civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent a lot of time in Florida, especially in 1964 leading up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act.