Last year Dr. Michael Butler gave us a well-received presentation on Everyday Life in the Jim Crow South.  We are pleased to welcome him back for a reading and discussion on his new book, Beyond Integration: The Black Freedom Struggle in Escambia County, Florida, 1960-1980. Dr. Butler is an Associate Professor of History at Flagler College and this is his second book.

The 1960s civil rights movement has been properly memorialized as an era of tremendous social progress in America. Yet the integration of public accommodations and passage of federal laws started a much longer process toward racial equality and justice that still persists. In his book, Dr. Michael Butler examines the accomplishments, contradictions, and limitations of the continuing black freedom struggle in one southern community. The racial unrest that surfaced during the 1970s regarding the use of Confederate images at an area high school and the deaths of African American men at the hands of white law enforcement officers demonstrates that the local movement did not end, but evolved to confront blatant reminders that blacks remained second class citizens in Northwest Florida. The power that white civic leaders possessed over issues that affected racial minorities beyond the age of integration – and the African American powerlessness to alter the status quo – resulted in economic, political, and educational discrepancies that continued into the twenty first century. Beyond Integration examines one county’s civil rights movement from a variety of angles, which inspires reconsideration of its legacy on the state of contemporary race relations.

This program is free and open to the public. Doors open at noon and the program will begin at 12:30. Patrons are welcome to bring their lunch. Light refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Main Library St. Augustine. For additional information, please call the Main Library at 904.827.6940.