The Summer of Schools & Pools: 50 Years Ago in Orlando Civil Rights

Fifty years ago in Orlando, it was the “summer of schools and pools.” Doug Head and West Orlando News have published an important and timely series of articles focusing on the momentous local changes and events in the civil rights struggle, 50 years ago in Orlando. Be sure to catch each part of the series and learn about an important slice of Orlando’s history:

Part 1: “Fifty years ago the United States and the South were very different places. Segregation was alive and well in Orlando. We ought to remember some of the history as this Summer progresses, for it was in 1963 that Orlando had its own struggle with civil rights and integration. Here are some facts from fifty years ago to start the story…”

Part 2: “Fifty years ago this month, America’s Civil Rights movement was lurching toward the climactic August March on Washington with some remarkable events…”

Part 3: “Orlando crept up on integration while keeping the structure of power intact. Fifty years ago, on Monday the First of July, 1963, the Orlando Sentinel Pink Pages (a “Negro Edition” Supplement to the paper) reported that there was lots of fun to be had in City Recreation programs in Black Playgrounds…”

Part 4: “On July 10, 1963, fifty years ago, the modest success of Orlando’s insiders to avoid a public confrontation over Black access to public restaurants and hotels for was celebrated by the Orlando Sentinel. “Orlando has proceeded without incident or demonstration to work out a pattern of integration acceptable to all.” The Mayor went on vacation. But the Sentinel filled up with demands for lists of the Restaurants who had agreed to take Negros so that White citizens could boycott them; the “Mayor has committed political suicide,” said one…”

Part 5: “As the early weeks in the month of July, 1963 had demonstrated, Orlando’s elite did not quite have a handle on the issues involved in “Mixing” the races. But they can – perhaps – be credited with keeping a lid on events. For speaking out in favor of change beneficial to Orlando’s Black Community, progressive leader George Stuart Sr., got hate calls and had to change his phone number. And Black “leaders” did not get any kinder treatment, because they had counseled “patience” in which young blacks were not interested…”

Part 6: “In early August 1963, Orlando, and the nation, were caught up in a strange vortex of conflicting and swirling currents of change. It’s hard to over-estimate the overlapping impact of changes in race relations, the public fear of Communism, Supreme Court cases banning public prayer in schools, and the impending March on Washington, scheduled for the 28th of August. The likes of it had never been seen. All of these currents were manifest in the strange silence that settled over Orlando in early August as the City closed all its pools and recreational facilities to prevent racial clash for the last weeks of the summer…”