The Fort Walton Beach Florida and Okaloosa County Civil Rights Movement!
Historical and Contemporary Prospective
The Civil Rights Movement is a core part of the black experiences of Fort Walton Beach Florida. We honor the principals, interested citizens and students who were active in the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement!
Nat Harris, his children and other activists led the first Civil Rights March in Fort Walton Beach. He was instrumental in the integration of the Okaloosa County Public Schools and helped organize the first NAACP branches in Okaloosa County and in several Florida communities! He started and was president of the branch in Fort Walton Beach. Nat participated in the first march in Washington, D.C. in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Oct. 20,2000 the first Nathaniel H. Harris Award was presented by the NAACP. That year, he was honored by the NAACP with the Linda Baptist Miller Lifetime Achievement Award.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) / 59K4 Okaloosa County Youth is a Civil Rights, social action, advocacy branch in FT Walton Beach, FL, which was founded in 1961.
Charlie H. Hill excelled as a student, teacher, principal and civil right activist during the most segregated years in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. In 1973, he became the first black person to be elected to the Fort Walton Beach City Council. In between his 31 service years with the Okaloosa County Public Schools as teacher, principal and attendance coordinator he served as the Civilian equal opportunity officer at Eglin Air Force Base!
Donald McGriff was the first FWB African American High School student to graduate Carver-Hill High School with honors and attended college! In 1955, Donald enrolled at Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated in the 1960 graduating class with a Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy! He was also the first FWB African American Student to graduate from college and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
In the early 70’s and after 15 years as a project engineer with the US Department of Defense in the state of New Jersey, Donald wanted to return home to Fort Walton Beach and applied to transfer to a project engineer job opening at Eglin Air Force Base but his application for the transfer was denied. After a review of his transfer application, Charlie Hill the Civilian equal opportunity officer at Eglin Air Force Base found that black job applicates at Eglin Air Force Base were being flagged and rejected. With that information, Donald filed a NAACP class action suit on behalf of himself, James Tanner and ten others in the state of New Jersey. Later the case was expanded by the NAACP to include other rejected Eglin Air Force Base black job applicates and was settled by Eglin Air Force Base with money settlement payout to over 200 rejected black job applicates in the millions!
Currently 82 years old, Donald and his second wife Betty lives in Pearland TX and he is now retired.
Willie H. Bankston was one of Fort Walton Beach’s leading Civil Rights Activist during the 1960’s. He was also an active member of Gregg Chapel AME Church. He was honored by the Okaloosa NAACP Branch for his Civil Rights and Community Activist work.
College Student Civil Rights Activist
During the 1960’s, The late Willie L Armstrong, Harvey Wilmer, Jeanette Harris and brothers John Ralph and Marion James Rufus Kent, Ph.D. were active College Student Civil Rights Activists.
While Willie, Harvey and John were attending college at Florida A&M University, Tallahassee witnessed several sit-ins in the early 1960s at prominent businesses that maintained “whites only” lunch counters. The first sit-in in Florida’s capital city took place on February 13, 1960. On February 20, students from Florida A&M University and others from around the country held a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Tallahassee. When they refused to leave, 11 were arrested and charged with “disturbing the peace by engaging in riotous conduct and assembly to the disturbance of the public tranquility.” They were active participants of several sit-ins and civil rights marches.
After graduation from Florida A&M University in the 1960’s, Willie L Armstrong paved the way for African American in hotel management with Sheraton! After a very successful professional career in hotel management and real estate, he retired and was living in VA when he passed on Thursday, June 23, 2022 at the age of 79. The Video Tribute to the late Willie L. Armstrong.
Jeanette Harris was an active participant of the 1963 Medgar Evers Protest March in Fort Walton Beach. In 1962, Jeanette was a student in the last FWB graduating class of Carver-Hill High School, the last operating segregated school for African Americans in Crestview Florida that opened in 1954. She was the first African American Ministers Wives and Widows queen for the state of GA.
Jeanette was the first African American teller at Valley National Bank, Mesa AZ, First National Bank Fort Walton Beach, Florida and The Citizen State Bank Warner Robins, GA. Also, she was nominated as top 10 outstanding women in Warner Robins, GA.
John Ralph Kent moved to Cincinnati OH after graduation from Florida A&M University with a BS Degree in Business Administration where he took a marketing position with the R. J. Reynolds Tabacco Company. In the late 1960’s he filed and won a Cincinnati NAACP Class Action Suit that paved the way for the promotion of African American to management positions. He was promoted and relocated a Chicago area market. John currently lives with his wife Marsha in Devenport FL.
While a student attending Central State University, Wilberforce, OH in Green County OH, Marion James Rufus Kent, Ph.D. was an active member of the NAACP Club, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and student civil rights activist. After graduation in 1963, he took an Elementary Teacher position with the Cincinnati Public Schools and severed as chairman of the Economic Development Commitee of the Cincinnati OH NAACP Branch that paved the way for African American businesses in Cincinnati Ohio. Marion was honored by the Ohio Department of Education for Outstanding Leadership as Director of the Cincinnati Career Opportunities Program (COP) in 1975 and was name City of Cincinnati Public Employee of the year by the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission in 1996. He is now retired and living in Fort Walton Beach after a very successful professional work career with the Cincinnati Public Schools and City of Cincinnati. He retired from the City of Cincinnati as Employment and Training Supervisor in 2001.
Harvey Wilmer was the first African American worker to be employed at the first McDonald’s built in Fort Walton Beach, FL. At the time of his employment African American were not allowed to purchase food at the front window of McDonald’s and was served at the back door. The Ft Walton Beach Civil Rights marches of the 1960’s lead to the serving of African American at the front window.
In the 1960’s, He was a college student civil right activist at Florida A&M University and participated in Civil Rights marches. He graduated from Florida A&M University with a BS Degree in Accounting. Harvey currently lives with his wife in Kingsport TN.
Contemporary Okaloosa County Civil Rights Activists
Lewis Jennings, “Fired Up and Ready to Vote“
Sabu Williams came to Okaloosa County as a young Airman stationed at Englin Air Force Base. Shortly after his arrival he became aware of those African American citizens of Okaloosa County who paved the way for others in Okaloosa County! Sabu became one of Okaloosa County’s contemporary civil right activists and is currently the Vice President of the Okaloosa County NAACP Branch!
Raymond Nelson, “Progress in Okaloosa County is a matter of perspective“!
The Okaloosa County NAACP Branch is the contemporary civil rights activist organization in Okaloosa County FL. The NAACP’s mission is the complete eradication of racial hatred and racial discrimination of all forms in Okaloosa County and the total inclusion of people of African descent as well as other minorities, in realizing their full potential in this great county. The NACCP advocates for justice in all aspects of American life whether it be excellence in education, the development of economic opportunities, seeking fairness in our criminal justice system, helping to provide access to affordable healthcare, or ensuring the complete participation in the political process that affects all our lives.
As part of the Okaloosa County Branch NAACP’s 65th anniversary celebration a Legacy Walk of Fame at Chester Pruitt Park was unveiled that memorializes those who paved the way for freedom and equality in Okaloosa County.
Recent Civil Rights and Civic Activist activities:
- Baker Community Speaks out at NAACP Town Hall, 2019
- Fired Up and Ready to Vote, 2020
- NAACP Calls out Chambers for Favoring Trump, 2020
- Okaloosa NAACP raises concerns over taser death involving Crestview Police Department, 2021
- NAACP and Family of Calvin Wilks expressing Anger of his death, 2021
- NAACP Okaloosa Black Leadership Conference, 2021
Julian Bond was one of the original leaders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. The activist group made significant contributions to the 1960s civil rights movement, leading seat-ins and taking part in Freedom Rides to desegregate buses. During his long career, Bond was one of eight African American men to be elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, integrating the office for the first time since Reconstruction. However, other members protested his seat in a case that went to Supreme Court. Bond served in the Georgia General Assembly for 20 years, to include for terms in the House and six in the Senate.
Bond died from complications of vascular disease on August 15, 2015, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Roots of Civil Rights Movement in Florida
Florida has a long Civil Right History!
Florida’s First NAACP Chapter and President
The Legacy of Harry T Moore, President of Florida’s first NAACP Chapter in Mims Florida.
He was a Civil Rights Activist. An African-American educator in Florida during the days of segregation, in 1934 he started the Brevard County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1937, Moore filed the first lawsuit in the Deep South to equalize black and white teacher salaries, backed by NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall in New York City, New York. The case was eventually lost in court, but it spawned many other federal lawsuits in Florida that eventually led to equal salaries for teachers of all races. In 1941 he organized the Florida State Conference of the NAACP and eventually took on the causes of lynchings and police brutality of African Americans. In 1944 Moore organized the Progressive Voters League and soon over 116,000 black voters were registered in the Florida Democratic Party. On Christmas Day 1951, Moore was killed when a bomb planted under his house in Mims, Florida exploded. Moore died en route to a hospital in Orlando, the only one in the area at the time that accepted blacks. His wife, Harriette died nine days later of her injuries. The crime remains unsolved. Harry T. Moore was the first NAACP official killed in the Civil Rights struggle, and he and Harriette are the only husband and wife to give their lives to the movement.