User:ErinLCrawford/sandbox

SYNOPSIS

Early Life
Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. was born in 1944. He was raised mostly in Jacksonville, Florida. He traveled back and forth between Jacksonville, Florida, and Aiken, South Carolina often during his lifetime. He was raised by his mother, Janelle “Jan” Saunders Wilson, and his grandmother, Lizzie Foreman Williams. Mr. Hurst also has a sister who is named Joan. Further into his family tree is his grandmother’s father. Jim Foreman, a white landowner in the south, fathered Ms. Williams as a result of taking Lila Twiggs, a black woman as his mistress. He lived in the region of LaVilla and Ashley Street which is considered the “Harlem of the South.” At one point in Jacksonville, Hurst’s family moved to Magnolia Gardens in Jacksonville which is the first Black subdivision in the city. In general, the area he grew up in was highly racialized which was evident in the way the school system treated the segregated schools. All black schools received little to no funding, and as they built new, all white schools, they began naming them after Confederate Civil War generals.

Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. was exceptional in school. In 1949, at age five, Hurst was enrolled in West Jacksonville Elementary, a segregated Black elementary school as a first grader. Hurst had a natural aptitude for intelligence as he also memorized all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments from his time worshipping at West Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. Although he was thriving in Jacksonville, Hurst and his grandmother moved to Aiken for second grade until he was encouraged to skip a grade. He then returned home to West Jacksonville as a third grader. Hurst continued his success in school as he entered seventh grade in 1954 putting him at age ten. Due to his family moving homes, he transferred from James Weldon Johnson Junior High School to Isaiah Blocker Junior High School. In ninth grade, Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. ran for the ninth-grade class president and won the election. When Hurst was 18, he joined the United States Air Force and served the United States honorably

Both Hurst’s mother and his grandmother showed him what it was like to be politically active at a young age. During the Jim Crow era there were strict rules about bus etiquette and where a person of color was supposed to sit on the bus. Hurst’s grandmother was able to pass as a white individual, so she was able to sit in the front of the bus, but she did not leave her grandson to do so. Often the white people in Aiken would refer to his grandmother as “half-white” while the blacks who lived in Aiken would refer to her as “high yellow.” On one occasion, Hurst cited that his grandmother was invited by the bus driver to the front, but Ms. Foreman Williams declined most adamantly to show up the bus driver. She was a grass-roots version of a freedom rider. Furthermore, Hurst’s mother showed him different ways to combat racism as well. For instance, there were times when his mother would hold him up to use “WHITE” water fountains and mocked anyone who told her to use the “colored” fountains.

Movement Involvement
Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. had multiple people in his life which led to him making the impact on civil rights that he made during his life. First, Mrs. Flossie Hammond of Aiken Grade School who was Hurst’s second grade teacher. Her guidance encouraged Hurst to open his mind to a constant flow of learning and made him believe in himself. She was the person who sparked his love for knowledge and instilled in him a confidence that he was able to reproduce time and time again. Hurst also cites the following teachers as people who promoted his love for education and instilled confidence in him as well throughout the years: Mrs. Norma H. Bland, Mr. Talbert Jackson, Mrs. Camilla Thompson, Mrs. Adeline Cobb, Ms. Margaret Kinsey, Ms. Caldonia Simpson, Mr. Alvert Mackey, Miss Coatsie Jones, Mr. Richard T. Hadley, Mrs. Thelma Argrett, Mrs. Vera Wiles, and Mrs. Emma Moran. These teachers promoted worldly citizenship as a personal challenge while in school.

The person who encouraged Hurst the most to join the movement was Rutledge Pearson. Rutledge Pearson was an American History and Civics teacher at Isaiah Blocker Junior High School. He taught his class in a way which exemplified peaceful demonstration as he rebuked the approved Duval County textbooks and taught true American history. He was an active recruiter for the Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was able to both recruit for the cause and actively lead the students in their endeavors at the Youth Council. It was cited that Pearson often drove all over Jacksonville taking the kids in the Youth Council home every Wednesday after meetings.

As a personal inspiration, Hurst cites Thurgood Marshal as someone whom he looked up to on multiple occasions. First and foremost, for founding the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 1940. During the time Hurst joined the Youth Council, Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court. More currently, Hurst critiques the inevitable replacement of Marshall with Clarence Thomas.

Hurst joined the movement when he was eleven years old. He was hesitant because of the obvious bodily risk that group members took each time they met or demonstrated. One of the main mantras that Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. had through his life is “freedom does not come free” and he felt that it was more important to fight the good fight and risk bodily harm than it was to sit back and do nothing. Another important mantra that Hurst lives by is that somebody always has to fight. Pearson instilled in him the motivation to keep fighting and to never grow too weary to keep fighting.

Youth Council of the NAACP
Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. joined the Youth Council of the NAACP when he was eleven years old. He attended the first meeting at the historic Masonic Temple Building at 410 Broad Street During that time, there were older members of the council who held leadership positions. By the time he was fifteen he was elected to be president of the Youth Council. He served beside Vice President Alton Yates, Secretary Marjorie Meeks, and Treasurer Henry Gardner. It was this year that the Youth Council began setting in motion peaceful demonstrations. The Youth Council would congregate in various churches to plan demonstrations for the future. Among those who allowed the Youth Council are Right Reverend Sharman L. Green, Reverend Robert H. Wilson, Reverend Wilbert Miller, Reverend Charles Dailey, Reverend Richard L. Wilson, Reverend A. J. Hughes, Reverend B. L. Wynn, and Reverend John B. F. Franklin who were critical to the progress of this branch of the NAACP. Other crucial members of the NAACP at the time were Earl M. Johnson and Leander Shaw who provided legal support and advice for the Youth Council on a constant basis.

The Youth Council of the NAACP engaged in demonstrations that resonated with the nation. These included sit-ins at restaurants, kneel-ins at churches, wade-ins at swimming pools, and lay-ins at hotels. One event that put the Youth Council on the map is Ax Handle Saturday on August 27, 1960. In the weeks leading up to August 27, the Youth Council began a series of sit-ins at the Woolworth’s white lunch counter. In 1960, Woolworth, much like a J C Penney represented a department store which would allow black customers to purchase items from certain areas but banned them from others. There was a “colored” lunch counter in the far corner without windows while the “white” lunch counter was towards the front. Blacks sitting at a white lunch counter was confrontational during this time. Ax Handle Saturday is a travesty in history that occurred as backlash to the demonstrations that the Youth Council were making.

On the morning of August 25, 1960, Rutledge Pearson received a phone call that something bad would happen to their only white member, Richard Charles Parker, if he demonstrated that day. While some threatening behavior prevailed that day, it was nothing compared to the coming Saturday. “Ax Handle Saturday” as it is deemed to the public was a day in which over 200 white people in the city of Jacksonville went on a frenzy attacking any black person—demonstrator or bystander—with baseball bats or ax handles. White people who attempted to aid the black people being attacked were subsequently attacked as well. This is a day in history with one of the highest concentrations of racialized violence in the state of Florida.

After this struggle, the Youth Council had to step back and reevaluate their tactics and their commitments. This event finally got the attention of the media not only in Jacksonville as the group had wanted, but on a national scale. It was not the event itself that caught the eye of the public, but the mass meeting that occurred on August 28th which united the black community and leaked into the nightly news specials. This led to famous civil rights activists reaching out to extend their help. For example, Ruby Hurley a vibrant civil rights activist herself flew in from Atlanta the morning after the incident. Hurley was noteworthy in the civil rights activism community since 1939 and was there to aid in the press conference. This incident even got attention from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While it was not necessarily the right attention, as he thought it was the Youth Council who engaged in the violence, he still extended his help if needed. This event led to national attention and created opportunities for Hurst to go on speaking at various events about civil rights demonstrations and to recall Ax Handle Saturday.

While the Youth Council found great success in the days and years after Ax Handle Saturday, there was never a truly accurate account of the sit ins leading up to it. Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. wrote his book—It was never about a hot dog and a Coke! —to make the account clear. One of the major misconceptions is that Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was the organization that designed and implemented the sit ins which led to the historic day. Hurst clears the air in his book by saying that SNCC had no part in the demonstrations that took place in Jacksonville in August of 1960. It was entirely the work of the NAACP Youth Council and local leaders.

Into Adulthood
Personally, he was married to his wife Ann for most of her life and would have celebrated their fiftieth anniversary on December 10, 2016. Together, they have two sons Rodney (Vandlyn) and Todd. As well as two sons, they have two granddaughters Marquiette and Jasmine. In his adulthood Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. still values the impact of religion as he worships at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church an Bethel Baptist Institutional Church.

Rodney L. Hurst Sr. used the leadership skills from the Youth Council presidency and applied them in everything he has done since Ax Handle Saturday. First, he used his public speaking and motivational skills to travel around the country and educate and inspire others. He attended meetings where he was a speaker along with popular civil rights activists like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reverend Jesse Jackson. He also used his platform to continue pushing political curriculum. He continued his speaking appearances when he was the featured speaker at the City of Jacksonville’s 23rd Annual Martin Luther King Breakfast in 2010. He was also the key-note speaker at the 2013 Induction Ceremony of the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame.

Hurst served two four-year terms on the Jacksonville City Council and made numerous public appearances for his civil rights activism. He was the first Black co-host a television talk show in Jacksonville on PBS Channel WJCT. Similarly, he was the first black to serve as the Executive Director of the State of Florida’s Construction Industry Licensing Board. He was also one of thirteen original national recipients of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Television Fellowships.

He is still active in Jacksonville and national politics to this day. For example, in the city of Jacksonville, he led an unveiling of a mural that represents he and his organizations struggles throughout his younger days. The mural contains the same picture that is featured on the cover of his book—It was never about a hot dog and a Coke! He brought in other activists who led the Youth Council with him like Alton Yates to help the community unveil this mural, too. He was featured on a podcast where he was questioned about his political views given the current political climate.

His answers reflected the idea that the minority groups who ended up contributing to the shift in ideology, specifically the 2016 election, are beginning to realize why there was such strong opposition committed by African Americans. He does posit that there is always work to be done and he works tirelessly to manufacture change in our society. His mantra, as stated before, is to work hard and allow yourself to be tired but never to grow weary.