A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Rick Scott admitted two Jacksonville civil rights legends, Earl M. Johnson and Rutledge Pearson, to the Civil Rights Hall of Fame on Monday.
Johnson was the first African-American member of the Jacksonville Bar Association, and during Consolidation, was secretary on the Local Government Study Commission. As a lawyer, Johnson was instrumental in the desegregation of schools, parks, water fountains, and hospitals, extending equality in public accommodations.
Johnson was instrumental in a landmark case regarding school desegregation in the early 1960s by representing the plaintiff along with Thurgood Marshall. True progress was slow in coming, with official desegregation happening in 1970 as civil unrest both threatened and real became part of the process.
Pearson, meanwhile, died too young. At 38, he had a car accident on his way to Memphis, where he was going to help laundry workers in their quest for redress.
From the release: “Pearson first became involved in the civil rights movement as a baseball player when Jacksonville park officials chose to close the park rather than allow organized baseball to become integrated. In 1961, he was elected President of the Jacksonville Branch of the NAACP and later elected President of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP.”
A teacher until 1964, Pearson worked as an organizer in the final few years of his life.
In his volume I”t Was Never About a Hotdog and a Coke,” Rodney Hurst described Pearson’s effect upon him as a teacher.
“As we talked about American history and as he gave us his insights, he would tell us ‘Freedom is not free, and if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.’ He would encourage us to join the Youth Council NAACP, which we did,” Hurst said.
