The Real Rosewood

Courtesy of Palm Beach Post
by Kara Kam

TALLAHASSEE — When Gov. Charlie Crist met with Florida National Guard troops in his office Tuesday, he discovered he and an Air Force communications specialist in the group had a common interest.

As a state senator, Crist chaired a subcommittee charged with approving $2 million to pay the descendents of the nine survivors of the 1923 racial massacre in Rosewood that resulted in the destruction of the North Florida black community and the deaths of at least eight of its residen

David Johnson, one of the guardsmen who met with Crist and Florida National Guard Adjutant Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett, is the grandson of one of the Rosewood survivors.

The office meeting preceded a tour that Burnett gave Crist of National Guard equipment parked in the Capitol courtyard for National Guard Day. During the tour, Crist told the guardsmen he was seeking federal money to improve the Florida Guard’s equipment as he had promised in an earlier meeting.

Before the tour, Crist learned that Johnson’s grandmother was 3 years old when Rosewood was burned to the ground by a white mob after a white woman reported she was raped by a black man.

After more than seven decades, the families of the survivors received compensation that Crist said, borrowing a term used by civil rights leaders, was “justice delayed.”

The conversation prompted Crist to suggest to Johnson that they call his grandmother, launching a campaign-like scene in which the Air Force reservist, clad in camouflage fatigues, and Crist, wearing khaki trousers and a light blue button-down shirt, huddled over a telephone dialing Johnson’s grandmother, Daisy.

Despite three attempts, the 80-year-old Leesburg woman’s phone rang busy.

Crist then called Johnson’s father, only to get Larkin Johnson’s voice mail. Crist left a message for the landscaper.

“Hey Larkin, this is Charlie Crist talking,” Crist said on speaker phone. “It’s about 12:30 on Tuesday. I’m here with your son, David, and we just wanted to talk to you about the Rosewood case. He was telling me that you shared the fact with him that it included your family and we just had a nice conversation about justice. If you get a chance, I’d love to visit with you,” Crist said before providing his personal cellphone number. “Thank you, sir. You have a great son.”

Courtesy of the Gainesville Sun
by Cleveland Tinker
Special to the Guardian

As alumni of Gainesville’s Lincoln High School talk about their school days, one word comes up over and over — family.

This weekend alumni will gather for the 7th Biennial Grand Reunion that draws members from many classes. The big event of the weekend is Saturday’s Hall of Fame Banquet where four new members will be inducted.

Reunion chairman Albert White, a member of the Class of 1963 and a hall of fame member, says the individual classes still hold their own reunions, but the idea for the Grand Reunion grew out of an effort to honor Jesse Heard, Lincoln’s legendary football coach whose career touched many different classes over the years.

Lincoln was Gainesville’s all-black high school that operated from 1923 to 1970, when the integration of public schools closed its doors in mid-year. It started in the brick building now known as the A. Quinn Jones Center at 1108 NW 7th Ave., serving first through 12th grades. In 1956 a new state-of-the-art building became the home of the Big Red Fighting Terriers. Today’s it’s Lincoln Middle School. Lincoln was, and continues to be, a source of community pride. And while the school didn’t graduate a class with more than 100 students until its final decade, White says the Grand Reunion should draw 500 to 600 people this weekend.

“The nostalgia, the reliving of the good times at Lincoln, seeing faces I haven’t seen in years,” is what White says is a big part of the attraction for him.

Lizzie R. Jenkins, a 1957 Lincoln grad, will be one of the four people inducted into the hall of fame Saturday. She went on to a 33-year career in teaching and has written books about Rosewood, the black history of the town of Archer and is wrapping up a book on the black history of Alachua County.

Jenkins says what she remembers most is the family atmosphere nurtured by the faculty and staff. She says long before there was ever a government free-lunch program, “those lunchroom workers and the principal made sure every child ate.”

Inductee Doris Edwards was a member of the class of 1965. She’s now retired from 37 years at the University of Florida where she was a program assistant in the Office of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Today she’s busy in a variety of community projects and heads up the Lincoln Estates Neighborhood Association. She calls her years at Lincoln a rewarding, character-building experience.

“The family atmosphere, how the teachers touched the lives of the children in a way that has carried over from the past and into the present,” is what Edwards recalls. “They were like parents to us. There was personal nurturing from the teachers at that time.”

Alphonso Johnson was one of those teachers, and he’ll be entering the hall of fame Saturday. Johnson, who lives in Williston, taught science for 10 years at Lincoln and later served as an assistant principal at Sidney Lanier School and Hawthorne and Newberry high schools. He’s now retired and active in AARP and with the Jerusalem Baptist Association.

“I loved that school, it was like a big family,” Johnson says. “It permeated out into the community with the cooperation you got from parents.”

The fourth inductee is neither a Lincoln grad nor a former teacher, but White says with Rosa. B. Williams’ long service to the community, she just had to be included. Williams says she is honored and remembers the impact the school made.

“It was just like a whole family to everybody, we had the football team, we had the band,” Williams says. “They were proud of that school.”

Former Lincoln Principal John Dukes Jr., who died in March, will also be honored with a lifetime achievement award. Dukes, who entered the school’s hall of fame in 2001, also served as principal at Eastside High School and as an assistant superintendent for student services for Alachua County. His widow, Bernice Dukes, says he would be touched by the honor.

“He was very devoted to Lincoln. That’s where he attended, that’s where he graduated and that’s where he got his first job,” Bernice Dukes says. “I’m sure he’d feel good accepting an award from the students he taught and was principal, also, to many of them.”

Gary Kirkland can be reached at 338-3104 or kirklag@gvillesun.com.