570 Christopher Street

The Halyards

Both of the Halyards contributed to the St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement (1951-1968) as leaders in their community. Rev. Halyard was a leader at Zion Baptist Church involved in the earliest stirrings of the efforts here.

Rev. Halyard joined a delegation in the early 1960s as an aide to Dr. Robert B. Hayling and future Vice Mayor Henry Twine. These representatives met with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Their goal was to persuade the SCLC to protest in St. Augustine and provide more exposure to the movement.

In the spring of 1964, SCLC officials began working in St. Augustine.

Rev. Halyard continued to organize. He and other leaders traveled to Orlando, Tallahassee, and Washington D.C. to speak on behalf of the African American communities of St. Augustine.

Sarah Patton Boyle (1906-1994)

In 1964, the SCLC and local St. Augustine activists called concerned Americans to join the demonstrations here. Fom rabbis to college students, dozens heeded the call.

At the age of 44, Sarah Patton Boyle joined the St. Augustine demonstrations and stayed here at 570 Christopher Street with the Halyards.

It was 1964 — two years after Boyle had published The Desegregated Heart, her powerful memoir analyzing race relations and spirituality in the American South.

As a member of high society in segregated Virginia with parents who served the Confederacy and General George S. Patton as a cousin, Boyle's stance against racism was poignant.

Just a year before her stay in St. Augustine, Boyle was recognized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his infamous "Letter from the Birmingham Jail."

Arrested in St. Augustine

The summer of 1964 saw consistent demonstrations all throughout the city; from beaches and hotels, to churches and lunch counters.

During one such protest, Sarah Patton Boyle participated in a protest at the Monson Motor Lodge, walking in with an integrated group of people that attempted to be served at the hotel's restaurant.

That day, Boyle was arrested for the first time here in the "Ancient City" and held at the St. Johns Countyn Jail.

According to the Freedom Trail marker on the site, she later wrote an article describing her experience titled "Song of a Jailbird," saying:

"I regard my arrest as an honorary degree in the struggle to implement the principles in which I so deeply believe." - Sarah Patton Boyle

Resources

Tap the blue underlined text to view the following online resources.

Online Resources

"David Nolan: our losses ..." 2020 article from The St. Augustine Record, by David Nolan.

"60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act: Writer and Activist Sarah Patton Boyle's Brand of Courage," 2024 article from Nasty Women Writers, by Maria Dintino.

Further Reading

The Desegregated Heart, by Sarah Patton Boyle, 1962.

The Dark Before Dawn: From Civil Wrongs to Civil Light, by Gerald Eubanks, 2012.

St. Augustine, Florida, 1963-1964: Mass Protest and Racial Violence, edited by David Garrow, 1989.