Lakesha Burton is a 22-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff s Office.
Credit: Florida Times-Union Published: 10:31 PM EDT April 5, 2021 Updated: 10:31 PM EDT April 5, 2021
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Resilience that is what Sheriff s Office Assistant Chief Lakesha Burton says she has had since she was a child.
Now the 22-year department veteran says that resilience will help her as the first Black woman to run for sheriff in Jacksonville. She officially filed after an interview about her life, beliefs and plans if elected next year to succeed Sheriff Mike Williams.
Seated in a coffee shop within walking distance of the Zone 2 substation that the 46-year-old administrator has run for a year, Burton is animated as she speaks of how the sexual abuse of her teen years, then her turnaround in high school that ultimately led her to become a police officer under then-Sheriff Nat Glover.
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Edward Waters College carries over 150 years of influence and history
Florida’s oldest HBCU was founded by AME church in 1866 to educate freedmen
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The oldest historically Black college in the state of Florida is right here in Jacksonville. Edward Waters College was founded in 1866 by members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church to educate freedmen.
The school has had its challenges but continues to provide a space for all students to have access to higher education.
TV personality and now Edward Waters College professor Rahman Johnson is a notable EWC graduate. He received his degree more than 20 years ago, but his roots were planted in the 1920s with his grandmother, who was also an alum.
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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.
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