This monument, made granite, bronze, and coquina, stretches over 25 ft of sidewalk in the Plaza de la Constitución.

Andrew Young Crossing

Commemorates the night of June 9, 1964.

The SCLC joins the St. Augustine Movement

After the scarring events in Birmingham in the summer of 1963, some of the SCLC staff were hesitant to stage more protests in St. Augustine, where bigotry against African Americans was on the rise. Reverend Andrew Young (32 years old) was one of those wary staff members. He believed that bringing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and their "nonviolent army" to St. Augustine would distract the SCLC from the ultimate goal of passing a civil rights bill through Congress.

But in February of 1964, the SCLC answered the call of Dr. Robert B. Hayling, the leader of the St. Augustine Movement. Dr. Hayling had sent several letters updating both the SCLC and the federal government about the rising racist violence in St. Augustine. In Spring of 1964, Dr. King sent SCLC representative Hosea Williams to St. Augustine. By May 1964, Williams was urging Dr. King to launch a major campaign in St. Augustine. Rev. Young came to investigate.

That Hot Night in the Plaza

On June 9, 1964, Young arrived at Shiloh Baptist Church in the West Augustine Neighborhood. He had just pulled into town.

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:

"I decided to do what I always do in confrontations; I walked over to Manucy and his people and was intending to talk to them, to at least try to diffuse the situation. ... as I was talking to one man, looking to my left, another guy slipped up behind me and slugged me in the jaw. Then someone hit me in the head from the rear with a blackjack ... when I fell to the ground, I instinctively tried to curl up as we had been taught to do, and then someone kicked and stomped me while I was on the ground. ... Willie Bolden rushed over and dragged me away from my attackers, back into the middle of our group."

After this attack, the activists re-grouped and finished their march around the Plaza, with Young taking the front of the line. During another attempt to make peace, Young was attacked again, getting kicked in the leg and hit in the back of the head. A few reporters for news stations like CBS were also injured that night. The violence stopped when "the long-absent Sheriff L.O. Davis appeared and pushed the white onlookers back on to the sidewalk."

The group made it back to Shiloh Baptist Church safely that night, but Andrew Young's mind had been changed:

"That night, I became Hosea's strongest advocate for a major campaign in St. Augustine. ... I saw firsthand the courage of St. Augustine's Black citizens ... it wouldn't be right to abandon those people to the Klan and the Sheriff. It dawned on me ... that the country should be reminded why we needed the rapid passage of the civil rights bill. Birmingham was a year in the past, and Americans have short memories."

Life After St. Augustine

Following the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Andrew Young remained politically active. He continued his work for the SCLC until 1970, two years after the assassination of Dr. King.

He was elected to Congress in 1972, representing Georgia. Five years later, in 1977, Young was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations by President Jimmy Carter. He was also the mayor of Atlanta (where he is still affectionately called "Andy") from 1981 to 1990. In each of these positions, Young's policy was grounded in justice and civil rights.

Making a Monument

Crafted of bronze, granite, and coquina concrete, the Andrew Young Crossing Monument has a backstory of its own. It was commissioned by the St. Augustine City Commission, with Jeremy Marquis (now CEO of Marquis Latimer + Halback, Inc.) as the designer.

Marquis collaborated with Andrew Young to create this monument. In order to capture Young's stride for the bronze footprints, the young architect applied ink to Young's shoes and had him walk across a section of plotter paper.

Meaning of the Monument

Marquis defines the three main themes of Andrew Young Crossing as "1) the evolution and struggle for civil rights, 2) the active nature of the movement, and 3) the ongoing work and steps still needing to be taken." Indeed, after the final word — JUSTICE — there are three more bronze footsteps "for visitors to consider steps they can take as well."

The materials used to make the Andrew Young Crossing monument were also specifically chosen to portray a message of resilience. Marquis says, "The permanence of [granite and bronze] reflect the strength of the movement and the timeless elements in the cause."

Monument Text

The Andrew Young Crossing Monument is a 25-foot stretch of coquina concrete that depicts eleven bronze footprints walking through five granite bands, each topped with a bronze word that characterizes the civil rights movement. Walking northeast through the monument, it reads:

In granite: ANDREW JACKSON YOUNG JR. - UN Ambassador - Senior Aide to Martin Luther King, Jr., Southern Christian Leadership Conference - Pastor - United States Congressman, Georgia - American Andrew Young Crossing / Commemorating the June 9, 1964, march for Civil Rights to the Plaza and the courageous leadership of Andrew Young and the people of St. Augustine.
In granite: "This is your story, as much, if not more, than it is my story." - Andrew Jackson Young, Jr.
In bronze: FREEDOM
In granite: "St. Augustine was probably the most rigorous test that non-violence had. And we passed it. If we had not passed it, we could have lost the Civil Rights Act." -Andrew Jackson Young, Jr.
In bronze: NON-VIOLENCE
In granite: "This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us ... to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country." -President Lyndon B. Johnson
In bronze: EQUALITY
In granite: "We have allowed the idea of nonviolence to work through us ... and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
In bronze: JUSTICE