Tag Archives: Jefferson Davis Junior High

New Story: Schools Named for Confederates and the Demise of Manhattan Beach

Posted on April 25, 2021 | Leave a comment

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Joseph Finegan Elementary School, named for a Confederate general, stands where segregated black Manhattan Beach once was. White developers said they wanted “Negroes removed from the oceanfront” and the one business whose family didn’t sell was destroyed in a “mysterious fire.” So, “what’s in a name?” Juliet asked.

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Tagged Agnes Lloyd Cobb, Alfred duPont, American Beach, An American Beach for African Americans, Atlantic Beach, Avondale, Bob Rutter, Camilla Thompson, Chloe Merrick, Davis Street Blues, Deerwood, Dew Drop Alley Stomp, Don Mabry, Donal Godfrey, Eartha White, Ed Ball, Edward Ball, Hanna Park, Harcourt Bull, Henry Flagler, jax psycho geo, jaxpsychogeo, JEB Stuart, Jefferson Davis Junior High, Jefferson Davis Middle School, Jessie Ball duPont, Joseph Davin, Joseph E. Lee, Joseph Finegan, Joseph Finegan Elementary School, Kathryn Abbey Hanna, Ku Klux Klan, Lackawanna Elementary, Mack Wilson, Mack Wilson's Pavilion, Manhattan Beach, Marsha Dean Phelts, Nathan Bedford F, Nathan Bedford Forrest High School, Ponte Vedra, Ponte Vedra Beach, RCBS Corporation, Robert Hayden, Rogers Crawford Swartz and Bull, San Marco, Stockton Whatley Davin, Sugar Underwood, Tim Gilmore

Jefferson Davis Junior High School

Posted on February 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the direction buttons at the top of the page:

My father and I were the only white people on the basketball court. He was 40 years older, at least, than everybody else. I’m writing this story on his 96^th. He died six months ago tomorrow.

Of what beloved Jacksonville architect Taylor Hardwick thought of designing new schools with the names of Confederate leaders, there’s no record. The only black faces in 1960s Jeff Davis yearbooks are those of the custodial staff. And the school principal, Wilber C. Johnson, standing beside a Confederate flag and wearing blackface.

“We will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree. / We will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree. / We will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree, / As we march along!”

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Tagged Alexander Stephens, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Battle of Yellow Tavern, blackface, Bob Gray, Brown v. Board of Education, Confederate Park, Cornerstone Speech, desegregation, Fort Pillow Massacre, Grand Wizard, In Memory of our Women of the Southland, J.D., J.E.B. Stuart, jax psycho geo, Jay Dee, Jeff Davis, Jefferson Davis, Jefferson Davis Junior High, Jefferson Davis Middle School, Jesse Jackson, Kirby Smith, Lost Cause Movement, Martin Luther King, Morrison's Cafeteria, Natham Bedford Forrest, Nathan Bedford Forrest High School, Robert E. Lee, Robert Gray, Sam Wolfson, segregation, Southernaire, Taylor Hardwick, Tim Gilmore, Trinity Baptist Church, Trinity Christian Academy, Wilmer C. Johnson