Federal Bureau of Investigation St. Augustine Surveillance Files
Scope and Content
The collection contains photocopies of FBI surveillance records and memoranda arranged chronologically from 1963-1967 with the bulk of the collection covering 1964. Of particular interest are records of a violent Ku Klux Klan rally in September 1963, the attempted murder of local civil rights leader Robert B. Hayling, and the arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Monson's Motor Lodge in June 1964. Sit-ins, beach wade-ins, and night marches are also covered in the reports. According to historian David J. Garrow, FBI activity in St. Augustine differed somewhat from those in other areas of the South because agents were "distinctly hostile to the Klan-friendly, violence-tolerant aura that was manifested by local lawmen, particularly St. John's County Sheriff L.O. Davis" (Garrow 1988, vii). Reports from St. Augustine sometimes reflect this hostility.
The collection also contains a telegram from Robert F. Kennedy pertaining to a particularly violent KKK rally and correspondence from then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The following people are prominently featured in this collection: Farris Bryant (Governor of Florida 1960-1965), L.O. Davis (St. John's County Sheriff), Goldie Eubanks (Reverend and local civil rights leader), Dr. Robert B. Hayling (Local civil rights leader), Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Holstead R. "Hoss" Manucy (Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan), Joseph Shelley (Mayor of St. Augustine 1963-1965), Judge Bryan J. Simpson, and J.B. Stoner (Imperial Wizard of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan).
Dates
- Creation: 1963-1967
Creator
- United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Organization)
Access
The collection is open for research.
Biographical/Historical Note
In 1963 the FBI sent several agents to St. Augustine, Florida, to monitor the rapidly increasing racial tension there. Local civil rights leaders were demonstrating for the desegregation of all of St. Augustine's public facilities and were being met with hostile resistance from local white officials, business owners, and law enforcement officers. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference became involved in an effort to bring national media attention to the injustices in St. Augustine. Citing a hostile racial climate, King and other civil rights leaders compared the situation in St. Augustine to other hotbeds for racial tension in the South like Albany, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama.
St. Augustine became an important battleground for civil rights. The exposure of racial inequality in the oldest city in the United States proved to be an effective way of drawing national attention to segregation in Florida's tourist oriented economy. Demonstrations in St. Augustine took place as debate over the Civil Rights Act raged in Washington, D.C.
For more information on the topic see: David R. Colburn, Racial Change and Community Crisis: St. Augustine, Florida, 1877-1980, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1991. Also: David J. Garrow, Centers of the Southern Struggle: FBI Files on Montgomery, Albany, St. Augustine, Selma, and Memphis, Frederick, Md.: University Publications of America, 1988.
Extent
0.5 Linear feet (1 Box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Photocopies of surveillance records of racial tension in St. Augustine by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Physical Location
University of Florida Smathers Library Building
Acquisition Information
The records were donated to the University of Florida Special Collections Department by history professor Dr. David R. Colburn.
Subject
- King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968. (Person)
- Title
- A Guide to the Federal Bureau of Investigation St. Augustine Surveillance Files, 1963-1967
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by Chris Baker
- Date
- April 2007
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755
special@uflib.ufl.edu