Ax Handle Saturday

{{Infobox civil conflict

| title = Ax Handle Saturday

| partof = Civil Rights Movement

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| place = Hemming Park
Jacksonville, Florida

| date = {{date and age|August 27, 1960}}

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| side1 = White rioters

| side2 = Black protesters

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Ax Handle Saturday, also known as the Jacksonville riot of 1960, was a racially motivated attack in Hemming Park (since renamed James Weldon Johnson Park) in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 27, 1960. A group of about 200 white men used baseball bats and ax handles to attack black people who were in sit-in protests opposing racial segregation.

History

File:1960 Civil Rights Demonstration historical marker, Jacksonville.JPG, since renamed James Weldon Johnson Park.{{Cite web |url=https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/08/11/city-council-to-discuss-renaming-hemming-park-5-others-in-jacksonville/ |title=Council OKs renaming Hemming Park after James Weldon Johnson |author=Corley Peel |author2=Jenese Harris |publisher=News4Jax.com |date=August 11, 2020 |access-date=August 12, 2020}}{{cite web | title=1960 Civil Rights Demonstration | publisher=Historical Marker Database | url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=58011 | access-date=September 24, 2023}}]]

Because of its high visibility and patronage, Hemming Park and surrounding stores were the site of numerous civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s. Black sit-ins began on August 13, 1960, when students asked for service at the segregated lunch counter at W. T. Grant, Woolworths, Morrison's Cafeteria, and other eateries. They were denied service, kicked, spat at, and addressed with racial slurs.Trent, Sydney. "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/08/27/axe-handle-saturday-klan-attack-civil-rights-protesters/ ‘Ax Handle Saturday’: The Klan’s vicious attack on Black protesters in Florida 60 years ago]," The Washington Post, August 27, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2023."[https://myfloridahistory.org/date-in-history/august-27-1960/ax-handle-saturday Ax Handle Saturday Date in History: 27 Aug 1960]," Florida Historical Society. No author or date. Retrieved September 24, 2023.

On August 27, 1960, a group of approximately 200 white men, some of whom were thought to have Ku Klux Klan affiliations, gathered in Hemming Park armed with baseball bats and ax handles.{{Cite web|date=August 27, 2019|title=Ax Handle Saturday: Jacksonville's Ugliest Hour|url=https://thecoastal.com/flashback/ax-handle-saturday-jacksonvilles-ugliest-hour/|access-date=August 23, 2021|website=The Coastal|language=en-US}} They attacked the protesters conducting sit-ins. The violence spread, and the white mob started attacking all black people in sight. Rumors were rampant on both sides that the unrest was spreading around the county. Actually, the violence stayed in relatively the same location, and did not spill over into the mostly white, upper-class Cedar Hills neighborhood, for example. A black street gang called the Boomerangs came to protect the demonstrators.{{cite web|url=http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/082400/enc_3872835.html|title=Discrimination in all its forms must be axed |author=staff|work=jacksonville.com|access-date=October 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122122608/http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/082400/enc_3872835.html|archive-date=November 22, 2008|url-status=dead}} Police had not intervened when the protesters were attacked, but when "blacks started holding their own"{{cite news |url=http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/082500/met_axhandle.html|title=40 years ago this weekend, Jacksonville gave itself a national reputation for violence - Jacksonville.com|first=Alliniece T. | last=Andino|newspaper=Florida Times-Union|access-date=October 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606184333/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/082500/met_axhandle.html|archive-date=June 6, 2012|url-status=dead}} and the Boomerangs and other black residents attempted to stop the beatings, the police arrested them for it.{{cite news|url=http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022199/cel_yates.html|title=Civil rights - Jacksonville.com|author=staff | newspaper=Florida Times-Union |access-date=October 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201165413/http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022199/cel_yates.html|archive-date=December 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.drbronsontours.com/bronsonhistorypageamericancivilrights.html|title=St. Augustine Civil Rights 1960 -1965|first=Gil | last=Wilson|website=drbronsontours.com | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050831032931/http://www.drbronsontours.com/bronsonhistorypageamericancivilrights.html | archive-date=August 31, 2005 }}

Nat Glover, who later worked in Jacksonville law enforcement for 37 years, including eight years as sheriff of Jacksonville, recalled stumbling into the riot. Glover said he ran to the police, expecting them to arrest the thugs, but was told to leave town or risk being killed.Pemberton, John: [http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022298/met_glover.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701062553/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022298/met_glover.html|date=July 1, 2017}} Florida Times-Union, February 22, 1998, "Focus on: Nat Glover"

Several white people had joined the black protesters on that day. Richard Charles Parker, a 25-year-old student attending Florida State University, was among them. White protesters were the object of particular dislike by racists, so when the fracas began, Parker was hustled out of the area for his own protection. The police had been watching him and arrested him as an instigator, charging him with vagrancy, disorderly conduct and inciting a riot. After Parker stated that he was proud to be a member of the NAACP, Judge John Santora sentenced him to 90 days in jail. He was attacked in jail, suffering a broken jaw, after which Santora sentenced him to a road gang.{{cite news | last=Weathersbee | first=Tonyaa | url=http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020408/new_242829215.shtml | newspaper=Florida Times-Union | date=February 4, 2008 | title=The story of a white man who joined the '60s sit-ins | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208230244/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020408/new_242829215.shtml | archive-date=February 8, 2008 | access-date=September 24, 2023}}{{cite news | newspaper=Florida Times-Union | url=https://www.jacksonville.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jacksonville.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fhistory%2F2020%2F08%2F21%2Fjacksonville-civil-rights-demonstrators-took-action-60-years-ago-ax-handle-saturday%2F5620995002%2F | url-access=subscription | title=Ax Handle Saturday: The Segregated Lunch Counters | date=August 21, 2020}}"[https://www.newspapers.com/article/51049489/the-berkshire-eagle/ White Stores Set Ablaze in Uneasy Jacksonville]," The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, MA, Aug. 30, 1960. Republished ("Clipped") by a user of Newspapers.com, May 15, 2020.

=Aftermath=

Local authorities and news media downplayed the violence. Mayor Haydon Burns claimed there was no violence, and Jacksonville's leading newspaper buried the story on page fifteen. It was covered by local Black publications, out-of-town reporters, and in Life magazine. The mayor alleged most rioters were not Jacksonville residents and refused to convene a committee requested by the NAACP to address racial discrimination.Delaney, Bill. "[https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/the-story-behind-ax-handle-saturdays-most-famous-photo-page-2/ The story behind Ax Handle Saturday's most famous photo]," The Jaxson, August 27, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2023."[https://exhibits.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/axhandle/ Freedom Is Not Free : Ax Handle Saturday]," Exhibits at the University of Florida Libraries, 2021. Curator, Antonette Jones. Retrieved September 24, 2023.

Snyder Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church hosted community discussions and negotiations following the incident.{{Cite web|date=June 20, 2019|title=Finding a New Purpose for the Snyder Memorial Church Building|url=https://thecoastal.com/buzz/buildingupjax/finding-new-purpose-for-snyder-memorial-church-building/|access-date=August 23, 2021|website=The Coastal|language=en-US}} Lunch counters in Jacksonville were desegregated in 1961.{{Cite web|last=Soergel|first=Matt|title=WJCT TV-7 offers powerful documentary on Ax Handle Saturday|url=https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2020/06/20/what-happened-on-ax-handle-saturday-aug-27-1960-in-jacksonville/112301630/|access-date=August 23, 2021|website=The Florida Times-Union|language=en}}

References

External links

{{cite news | title=Ax Handle Saturday, 1960: A day of defiance in black and white | url=https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2010/08/22/ax-handle-saturday-1960-day-of-defiance-in-black-and-white/1118606007/ | newspaper=Florida Times-Union | first=Deirdre | last=Conner | date=August 22, 2010 | access-date=September 24, 2023}}
{{cite news | title="Ax Handle Saturday": A dark day in Jacksonville history occurred 56 years ago | url=https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/ax-handle-saturday-a-dark-day-in-jacksonville-history-occurred-56-years-ago/309628839 | location=Jacksonville, Florida | work=First Coast News | first=Destiny | last=Johnson | date=August 27, 2016 | access-date=September 24, 2023}}

Category:1960 in Florida

Category:1960 protests

Category:August 1960 in the United States

Category:20th century in Jacksonville, Florida

Category:Civil rights movement protests

Category:History of African-American civil rights

Category:Racially motivated violence against African Americans in Florida

Category:Riots and civil disorder in Florida

Category:African-American history of Florida

Category:White nationalism in Florida

Category:White American riots in the United States

Category:African-American history in Jacksonville, Florida