Film Showing: "Crossing in St. Augustine"

The Andrew Young Foundation has joined with the southeast branch of the St. Augustine Public Library to offer a free screening of Crossing in St. Augustine, on Sunday, July 21, 2024, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

As the Executive Director of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Young was integral to the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. In 1963 and 1964, he protested alongside local activists in St. Augustine, including Dr. Robert B. Hayling. The cover photo shows Andrew Young, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dr. Robert B. Hayling at a press conference in St. Augustine. The image is courtesy of Frank Murray, photographer.

On June 8, 1964, Andrew Young arrived in St. Augustine. According to Young's 1996 memoir, An Easy Burden, there was a large meeting at Shiloh when he arrived. SCLC representative Hosea Williams called upon him to lead the night's march, and Young agreed. That night, the group was made up of "only a few [people]... mostly women and children and a handful of men." Their destination was the Plaza de la Constitución (the "Plaza"), in the heart of downtown.

They knew a mob of White supremacists would be waiting for them and that violence against the protestors was very likely. "We prayed. A woman started singing 'Be Not Dismayed, What E'er Be the Tide, God Will Take Care of You,' a song that we sang so often in those days. ... Now, I love that song, but it's quite different believing in it in church on Sunday morning than it is when facing an angry mob outside on a Friday night." The group walked from the West King Neighborhood to the Plaza. They encountered Holstead "Hoss" Manucy and his fellow White supremacists at the intersection of King Street and St. George Street...

Young was attacked by white supremacists that evening and has said that the experience and the courage of St. Augustine's Black citizens caused him to realize that the country needed to be reminded about the importance of the passage of the Civil Rights Act. 

Film producer C. B. Hackworth created this documentary, released in 2010, detailing Andrew Young's experience in St. Augustine.

Admission: Free

When: Sunday, July 21, 2024, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Where: The southeast branch of the St. Augustine Public Library, 6700 US 1 South, St. Augustine, Florida 32086

Information about this incident and the Andrew Young Crossing Monument can be found here.