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Reverend Alexander Wright was a prominent Civil Rights Activist. He was involved in the integration of many Florida locations, among them Gainesville High Schoo.

Biographical Information
Reverend Thomas Alexander Wright was born in Mansfield, Georgia on March 26th, 1920. He was the fourth child out of seven in his family. His father, Albert Wright, was a Baptist preacher and in 1924, moved his family to Boynton Beach, Florida. Thomas Wright had a good relationship with his father and his influence had an impact on Wright’s upbringing. In terms of his father’s career however, Wright recalled that the fact that his father was also a pastor, did not have much influence on him. He was more inspired by his father’s decency. His father was a “devout” and Wright knew how much of a dedicated father and husband he was to his family and town. He recalled that, “at any store in Boynton it was understood that if you were one of Albert Wright’s children you got what you wanted”. This made Wright desire to also be like his father in terms of his quality character.

Growing up, Thomas Wright went into the public-school system in Palm Beach County. However, his education straggled a bit during his high school years. His father died when he was 11, so he desired to get a job to support his family. Instead of attending school every day, he worked. Wright recalled a time in high school that, looking back, inspired his future career as a preacher. He was offered a spot in an orator contest, and though his principal knew he did not attend class very much, he said to him, “you are the one that I think would be good in the contest”. After winning second place, Wright remembered that everyone thought he should have gotten first because of how good of a speaker he was. This lead to Wright considering himself to be a good public speaker. This reflects his future career as a preacher and later being involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

Wright was drafted in the army after high school, so his college education was put on hold. After travelling around the world fighting during WWII, Wright made his way back to Boynton Beach and enrolled in Florida Memorial College. He was able to obtain this from the GI Bill. However, just before finishing his time at Florida Memorial, he was offered a scholarship at Howard School of Religion. This was where Wright’s passion for religion and preaching came into play. He then worked as an assistant pastor in Baltimore. While there, he had a job offering to take over as a preacher. However, he desired to start fresh and new and build a church from the ground up. That is how he found himself in St. Augustine.

Getting Involved in the Civil Rights Movement
While being a pastor at St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church in St. Augustine, Wright was heavily involved in Civil Rights. He was inspired to promote, “equal education” in St. Augustine. He led group discussions about Civil Rights along with fellow pastorates. This group work Wright participated in at church was what made him desire to get involved in the movement. He did not have any hesitations to continue to get involved because he knew change was needed in the area.

Organizations and Struggles in the Movement
By the 1960’s, Wright spent most of his time participating in the Movement. At this point, he was head of the St. Augustine Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP had numerous political chapters across the globe to educate whites about the evils of racism and fought to pass laws to alleviate inequality. With his involvement in the NAACP, Wright led his first civil rights protest, a sit-in at a Woolworth’s store and then later participated in many other demonstrations.

Wright’s involvement in the movement in St. Augustine was known to many whites and blacks in the community. This caused quite a disruption in Wright and his family’s life. His wife was hired as a teacher but soon got fired in both St. Augustine and then again in Bunnel in Flager, because of her husband’s activism. When white supremacists found out he was head of the NAACP chapter, he received many threats. LeVon Wright Bracy, daughter of Thomas A. Wright, recalled that her family, “got terrible letters from the Ku Klux Klan” and they eventually burned a cross in front of her house. This was the driving force that made the Wright family move out of St. Augustine overnight as fast as they could. They eventually moved to Gainesville.

In Gainesville, Wright was warned about the presence of Klansmen. In fact, “the mayor and police chief were acknowledged Klan members” Wright recalled that Gainesville did not have a strong Civil Rights movement, but some Freedom Riders were present. He had a desire to increase activism in this city, but his wife begged him not to get involved in the NAACP chapter for her own career and for the family’s safety. So, Wright avoided getting involved until 1962. In 1962, Judge Mickle, a student in at the University of Florida (UF), came up to Wright at a church banquet and said, “I might suggest that stuff that you had going on in St. Augustine, we need to do some of the same stuff here”. At first, Wright was hesitant because he remembered his wife’s wishes. However, Wright soon met Dr. Paul Horne and Marshall Jones, both professors at UF, and together they organized sit-ins, picketing and “the whole works”. Wright was then elected president of the Gainesville chapter of the NAACP.

During his 17-year presidency of the NAACP in Gainesville, Wright accomplished many goals. He “threatened to file suite to integrate Alachua General Hospita l”. He then described that he worked as a “violation member”, on the committee and tried to negotiate to get restaurants and hotels to integrate and pressured the “city fathers” to clean and pave many of the streets in the all black neighborhoods. The group also pressured to integrate Alachua community as a whole, like health and recreational facilities.

When the Brown V. Board of Education was made in 1954, Wright’s passion for Civil Rights strengthened. While waiting for a bus to go home after work, a woman summoned him up to her room and said to him, “Mr. Wright, this is a new day for you, a new day for America”. Wright soon began to have interest in educational equality. This continued years later in the 1960’s when, “not an iota of change occurred in Alachua County’s strictly separated schools”. The books at black schools were clearly not in as good condition as the white school’s books. In addition, segregation was still prevalent. Wright saw this as his inspiration to try to continue his work he was doing for the community. This was what pushed him to attempt to integrate Gainesville High School.

Integration of Gainesville High School
The attempt to integrate Gainesville High School required a law suit by the local NAACP chapter. Wright needed many black students to participate in the trial and be plaintiffs. However, it was quite difficult to get other black parents to willingly send their kids into a tough situation. Eventually, Wright’s daughter, LeVon Bracy, was willing to be a plaintiff and was joined by 2 other students to integrate Gainesville High School.

On July 9th, 1964, the Alachua school board voted to allow the three black students to attempt to integrate Gainesville High School. LeVon Wright, Joel Buchanan and Sandra Williams were the first three black students chosen by Wright. However, the local government did not willingly integrate the school without a fight. Thomas Wright was against the school board in the court case, Wright v. Board in 1965. The case was originally filed in Pensacola but was assigned to the Gainesville division and to Judge G. Harrold Carswell. After a long battle, Wright won his case and the three students planned to integrate at the end of the 1960’s.

The three students did not take the regular school bus but rather were driven to school by Thomas Wright everyday. Wright recalled that the FBI were in close contact with him throughout the first year. During that first year, transitions were rough for the students. LeVon Wright Bracy, Thomas Wright’s daughter and integrator, recalled that her year at Gainesville High School, “was one of the worst years of [her] life”. She encountered dangerous classmates who wanted to make it known that she was not welcomed in the school.

However, Thomas Wright and his church congregation were very inspiring and uplifted the black spirit during this difficult time. With the fervor and encouragement from Rev. Wright, other black students eventually integrated as well. Cynthia Cook eventually followed in the three black students’ footsteps, and attended Gainesville High School. She was, “influenced by experiences the Rev. Wright shared with the congregation about his children… in the white schools. Being a preacher, Wright was heavily involved in encouraging others to integrate and was quite successful. Eventually, dozens of other students integrated Gainesville High School.

Impact of the Movement on Thomas A. Wright
Overall, Reverend Thomas A. Wright’s involvement in the movement shaped his beliefs about social change. Throughout his 18 years as president of the NAACP, he encountered many dangers. Not only did he have attacks on his family, but also on himself. After the vote of integrating the 3 students, two white men came up to Wright and threatened him. Wright recalled that he, “did wonder if they were really going to grab [him]”. He also felt something might happen to him when he travelled alone without the FBI. However, he knew the current situations in St. Augustine and Gainesville and was motivated to make a change. He knew what he was doing outweighed the possible dangers he faced. His strong desire to make an impact for the community was greater than his fear of getting killed. He pushed through these difficult times with help from his church community and God. These experiences made him realize that social change could be possible with the help from his community members, like his congregation, and the spirit of God.

After the integration of Gainesville High School, Wright took on other challenges. He believed in economic empowerment and that shaped his future goals. Wright had a great influence on the construction of the Alavec Shopping Center in Gainesville. Wright desired to bring his spiritual influence on the shopping center. It was home to many integrated churches. Also, LeVon Wright Bracy, Thomas Wright’s daughter, said her father had a, “strong desire to see the lower class rise up to live “middle class” lives”. This made Wright focus on creating a day care center in a lower income area of Gainesville. With his passion for economic empowerment, Wright was also passionate about equal housing. Wright built the Gardenia Garden Apartments in 1968 in Gainesville. They were the first Federal Housing Administration Rent Supplemental Housing project in Gainesville.