ACCORD Freedom Trail

This was the home of Rev. Roscoe Halyard and his wife Flora, both active participants in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Rev. Halyard, who was associated with Zion Baptist Church and worked as a carpenter, made trips to both Tallahassee and Washington to talk with government officials about the racial situation in St. Augustine.

He was one of the group that convinced the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to come to St. Augustine in the Spring of 1964, and made the trip to Jacksonville to pick up Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the airport.

The Halyards also provided lodging for people who came from around the country to support the civil rights efforts here. One of them was the famous author Sarah Patton Boyle (1906-1994) who wrote the Desegregated Heart (1962) and other books. A Virginian, and a cousin of General George S. Patton, was praised by Dr. King in his celebrated "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" for having written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms."

Boyle was arrested, for the first time in her life, when attempting, as part of a racially integrated group, to be served at the segregated Monson Motel restaurant on the bayfront. She spent several days in the St. Johns County Jail, and later published an article called "Song of a Jailbird." She wote: "I regard my arrest as an honorary degree in the struggle to implement the principles in which I so deeply believe."

This Historical Marker presented this 2nd Day of July, 2008 by:Northrop Grumman

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Show me all markers in:  St Augustine, FL  |  St Johns County  |  32084  |  Florida  |  United States of America

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