Day 10📍 Scavenger Hunt
Celebrating Black History Month by exploring hidden Black history in Florida's Capital City.
February 11, 2025
Good morning!
📍Today’s Clue: She was the first Black woman to serve as Chair, visit the preserve named after the woman who dared.
📍 Day 9: The State Theatre
🕵🏽 Clue: Find the site of the building that is no longer standing. Its former patrons ate popcorn while protesters were outside, peacefully demanding.
Many sites critical to advancing the Civil Rights Movement no longer exist. One of those sites is the State Theatre, which enforced a strict racial discrimination policy: "No colored allowed." Tallahassee college students, affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality, held non-violent protests outside the theater to challenge segregation.
On May 29, 1963, students held a “stand-in” to integrate the State Theatre, occupying the entrance to force white patrons to confront the racist policies of the theater. Police disrupted the peaceful demonstrations, performing hundreds of arrests and teargassing protestors. The theatre didn’t desegregate until the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The State Theatre closed in 1971 and was demolished in 1988. The headquarters of Boulos, a real estate development company, sits in its place.
See you tomorrow,
Shelby