Willy Cooper Sr. and Lisa Lewis at the Pinehurst and San Sebastián cemeteries | Kaia Wright, Jacksonville Today

A historical display stands at the future site of the Florida Museum of Black History in West Augustine. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, right, listens to Toni Bingham, center, and Marlena Smalls, right sing during a rememberance of Florida's Emancipation Day on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

A mural by a local artist celebrating Lincolnville's history was recently unveiled. | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today

Shelton Chappell, left; Jacqueline Williams and Alonzo Chappell are among the surviving children of Johnnie Mae Chappell. Racists murdered their mother March 23, 1964, nine days after Jacqueline turned 13. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Members of the Lift Every Voice and Sing Children’s Choir as well as The Ritz Voices are captured moments before they sing Lift Every Voice and Sing as part of a 125th anniversary celebration for the song inside The Bethel Church on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Battle of Olustee drawing circa 1864 | State Archives of Florida

The title of the song written by James Weldon Johnson and his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, stand tall on one end of the park honoring the men at their birthplace in Jacksonville's historic LaVilla community. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today

Graves at Mount Herman Cemetery in Jacksonville. | WUFT

The Mathews Bridge as seen from Talleyrand on Sept. 9, 2024. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

The Beatles speak on Sept. 11, 1964, at Jacksonville's George Washington Hotel, where they did not book rooms in protest of the hotel's segregation policy. They had also refused to perform at the Gator Bowl until they were assured that the audience would not be segregated by race at the concert. | Vern Barchard, via Florida State Archives

Christina McNair will serve as one of the educators for the James Weldon Johnson ASALH chapter's Freedom School. McNair is a retired science teacher and educator who has lived in Jacksonville for nearly 50 years. | Will Brown, Jacaksonville Today

A. Philip Randolph, one of the chairmen for the March On Washington, stands in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial after a parade through the streets of the capital, Aug. 28, 1963.

The Rev. Derek Barber King preaches from inside the pulpit at St. Paul AME Church in St. Augustine on the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement. He is joined in the pulpit by St. Paul AME pastor the Rev. Alesia Ford-Burse, left; the Rev. Cerita Battles, and Beverly Troutman. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

The St. Johns Cultural Council recognized Purcell Conway and Shed Dawson for their participation in the St. Augustine Beach wade-ins in June 1964. Their efforts to integrate a whites-only beach was part of a series of demonstrations during Freedom Summer. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

St. Johns County leaders have identified a West Augustine site, near the former location of Florida Memorial College, as a potential home for a Florida Museum of Black History. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Edward Waters University has been located in Jacksonville's New Town neighborhood since 1904. The university has called Jacksonville home since 1982. | Ben Brown, Special to Jacksonville Today

Old Town Trolley Tours of St. Augustine will add a trolley stop in front of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in February 2024. The move was part of a communitywide effort to embrace St. Augustine's Black history. | Old Town Trolley Tours of St. Augustine

Beyonce performs in Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 4, 2016. | AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File