Explore St Augustine during Black History Month

Explore St Augustine during Black History Month

Strolling the streets of St. Augustine, one’s footsteps follow a trail to freedom forged by many different cultures, including African-Americans, which makes this a great city to explore during Black History Month.

St. Augustine began in 1565 as a Spanish settlement where Europeans and Africans lived alongside the native Timucuan Indians. Later, British, Minorcan and Greeks would become part of the St. Augustine cultural fabric.  Tours, ceremonies, dedications and historic reenactments will commemorate St Augustine’s African-American heritage throughout February.

On Saturday, February 7, as part of the Middle Passage Project, a ceremony and historic marker installation will commemorate the Middle Passage endured by slaves on their journey from Africa to the New World.   An Ancestral Remembrance Ceremony honoring the millions of Africans who perished in the Middle Passage of the transatlantic human trade is set to take place at noon on the north lawn of the Castillo de San Marcos. Following, there will be a 3:00 p.m. marker unveiling at the Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine. www.middlepassageproject.org

On Saturday, February 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fort Mose Historic Sate Park will host the annual Flight to Freedom reenactment. Visitors to the historic site can experience the freedom trail as they encounter a freedom seeker, a Yamasee in search of freedom, a trapper turned bounty hunter, a Franciscan friar and other historic characters as they find their way to Spanish Florida and freedom. Garcia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, located on the north side of St. Augustine, was founded in 1738 and is one of the original sites on the southern route of the Underground Railroad and the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what would become the United States.  The residents of Mose were former slaves from plantations in the Carolinas and Georgia during British rule. By fleeing to Spanish controlled St. Augustine, they found freedom and land of their own at the northern militia outpost for the city.  Visit www.floridastateparks.org/park

Want to experience and learn more about St. Augustine’s African America History? Each Saturday throughout the year, St. Augustine Black Heritage Tours Inc. offers a free historic walking tour at 4:00 p.m. Learn about St. Augustine’s historic role in black history and events leading up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Tours depart from the Tour Saint Augustine office, 4 Granada Street and encompass several blocks over the course of an hour. Space is limited and advance reservations are required. 904-825-0087 Visit www.StAugustineBlackHeritageTours.com

A self-guided audio tour produced by The ACCORD Freedom Trail Project consists of 31 historic markers located at various sites significant to the St. Augustine Civil rights movement. This cell phone audio tour is available by calling 904-335-3002. Learn more at www.accordfreedomtrail.org

Can’t make it to St. Augustine but you’re still interested in the city’s unique African history? Simply go online to the Civil Rights Library of St. Augustine. The Library preserves, and makes available to the public, historical material documenting St. Augustine’s local race relations during the 1960s. In a collaboration between Flagler College faculty and students, the Andrew Young Foundation, and members of the community, the library features collected oral histories, interviews, documents, and photographs. Begun in 2012, the project continues to collect and interpret these materials. Visit the Library online at www.civilrightslibrary.com

Black History Month originally began as Black History Week in 1926; a week-long observance during the second week in February. This week was selected because it is the birthday week of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Douglass, an advocate for the African-American community and friend of Lincoln, had a main role in the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Douglass visited St. Augustine for one day and spoke about the continued struggles of African-Americans. A marker on St. George Street honors his visit to St. Augustine.