Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 5-25-18

FLORIDA SENTINEL
Over 100 Turn Out To Witness Woolworth Marker Unveiling
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2018
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
On Feb. 29, 1960, about 50 students from Blake and Middleton High Schools entered the Woolworth’s in downtown Tampa and sat down at the store’s lunch- eonette counter.
It was a historical act that would lead to the de- segregation of lunch coun- ters throughout the city. And now, there’s a marker to commemorate it.
On Saturday (May 19), more than 100 people gath- ered at the corner of Franklin and Polk Streets for the unveiling of the marker that tells the story of the infamous sit-in on one side and lists the names of most of the student ac- tivists on the other.
Also listed is Clarence Fort, who was president of the Tampa NAACP Youth Council and corralled the students and led the march.
The journey to com- memorate one of Tampa’s most prominent moments of civil rights activism began last year as part of journalist, Tammie Fields’s final project re- quirement for her graduate studies program at the Uni- versity of South Florida – St. Petersburg.
Previous efforts to estab- lish some kind of public ac- knowledgement had fizzled, Mr. Fort said.
This one was successful, thanks to the hard work and determination of Ms. Fields, he said.
“I owe everything to her,” he said of Fields, a former Tampa news re- porter who is now an an- chor at Orlando’s Spectrum News 13. “It’s a lot of hoops we had to jump through, but she did it and she got it done. She was tenacious.”
In her remarks at the ceremony, Middleton High school alum and then stu-
Orlando TV station anchor, Tammie Fields, right, who is responsible for making the marker recognition a reality, is shown with Natalie Fort, granddaughter of Clarence and Yvonne Fort.
dent activist, former State Senator Arthenia Joyner, said Fort was “the right person at the right time to go to Middle- ton and get the student leaders.”
On that day, Atty. Joyner said she and the other students didn’t know what to expect when they sat down at the counter – a place where they could order takeout, but not stay to eat.
They were excited – not afraid – to do something to change the dehumanizing treatment they received at the counter, she said.
“We wanted to be re- spected,” she said. “We were ready to question the establishment and we did.”
Fifty-eight years later, racism and discrimination are prevalent still in society. But the marker can serve as an inspiration to young people today that these ills can be overcome, Atty. Joyner said.
“We cannot allow this to happen again,” she said. “It’s incumbent on each and every one of us to step up.”
The erection of the Woolworth marker – and another not far from it at Julian B. Lane Riverfront
Historian, Fred Hearns, Vivian Heyward and former State Repre- sentative, Ed Narain were in at- tendance.
Charlotte Alonzia Giles.
Stanford and
Members of the Fort family in attendance: Dr. Nathalia Jeffrey-Fort, Natalie Fort, Yvonne Fort, Clarence Fort, Tress Jacobs, Angelita Fort Dupree and Nyla Jacobs. Mayor Bob Buckhorn and County Commis- sioner Les Miller are in the rear.
Evangeline R. Best and Gloria Jean Royster, who spear- headed marker dedication for Fortune Street Bridge, rec- ognizing Mrs. Fortune Taylor.
More than 100 persons witnessed the unveiling of the F. W. Woolworth marker, recognizing the ending of segre- gated lunch counters in Tampa.
Park that honors former slave and businesswoman Fortune Taylor – is the start of making visible the stories of African-American contri- butions to Tampa, said his- torian Fred Hearns.
“This is just the begin- ning,” he said. “We’ve got a lot more work to do.”
Hillsborough County
Commissioner Les Miller concurred, citing the commission’s recent ap- proval of his proposal to reestablish an African American Art Museum in Tampa.
“I’m going to figure out how we can get it done,” he said. (Photographs by Frederick Harris)
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