Civil Rights in the Sunshine State Exhibit

Civil Rights in the Sunshine State presents a collection of over 100 photographs, storyboards and artifacts that details the Civil Rights movement as it unfolded in Florida.

Often overlooked by the events in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, Florida played a major role in the nation’s Civil Rights movement. Sit-ins, wade-ins, Freedom Rides, marches, as well as lawsuits that changed how the St. Petersburg police department was run - Floridians experienced it all.

Enter the exhibit through the St. Petersburg African American Heritage Trail, and experience the events that took place in St. Petersburg. The bravery of the Courageous 12, actions of key figures such as Dr. Ralph and C. Bette Wimbish, Rev. Enoch Davis and Joseph Savage, as well as the protests on Spa Beach, Spa Pool and at lunch counters on Central Avenue. Then journey from early Jim Crow to the tragedy of Rosewood to Dr. Martin Luther King's arrest in St. Augustine, detailing the obstacles and struggles faced in Florida’s Civil Rights movement.

Made possible with funding by the Residences 400 Central and the Red Apple Group, Civil Rights in the Sunshine State is on loan from the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee and will run in St. Pete through September 1.