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

A photograph of Harriet Beecher Stowe and her family in front of their Mandarin Road cottage. | Mandarin Community Club

An Emancipation Proclamation parade proceeds through St. Augustine circa 1922. | St. Augustine Historical Society

Fort Mose State Park is the site of the first free African community in what is now the United States. | 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

This is part of the Jacksonville Main Library’s African American History Collection. | Dan Scanlan, WJCT News 89.9

Jacksonville civil rights icon Lloyd Pearson reflected on his 102 years during a December 6, 2023 conversation with Jacksonville Today.