collections, which provide the only links to the past. One source now being
tapped is the extensive Eartha White collection housed at the University of North
Florida's Library and at the Clara White Mission. Racism and discrimination
blinded the recorders of the past to the importance of saving critically significant
Black sources.

Knowing the rampant racism and the difficulty African-Americans faced
simply to survive, one can understand why Blacks did not save some of the
written links to the past. The Florida Tattler, described as a gossip newspaper,
galvanized hundreds of eager readers' attention with reports about the latest
happenings in the African-American community. Despite contacting Porcher
Taylor, Jr., the son of the original publisher, it proved difficult to secure many
copies of this paper. In talking to those who read the Tattler, it is evident that it
provided a sensationalized view of important events in the Black community.

Unfortunately, the Florida Star office suffered a devastating fire in late 1993.
Although the University of Florida had microfilmed scattered editions of the
paper, some of the stories contained on its pages are gone forever. What the fire
did not destroy was locked in the head of the formidable Eric Simpson, the
newspaper's editor and founder, who died in early 1994, taking with him a
plethora of stories and anecdotes about the Black community during the
awakening of the 1950s and the restlessness and defiance of the 1960s.

Despite these losses, many knowledgeable African-Americans remain in
Jacksonville. Their memories have been tapped to bring to life the politicking, the
problems, and the triumphs of Jacksonville's Black community. This work
follows the political battles that raged in Jacksonville from the end of the White
Primary to the elections of African-Americans to local office and the establishment
of a consolidated city-county government. It is the story of a people within a
people. It provides a close examination of the relationship between Blacks and
Whites in a large metropolitan Southern city.

Jacksonville provides an important study in urban racial relationships in a
region where Whites often viewed them as anathema. For decades African-
Americans lived in the city and managed to form alliances with some in the White
community. Blacks have a heritage that includes such names as Judge Joseph Lee,
a Black Republican leader who wielded influence in local affairs. They also could
boast of Eartha M. M. White, who established a reputation as the spokesperson
for African-American causes in Jacksonville. "Lift Every Voice and Sing,"
considered the African-American National Anthem, was written by James Weldon Johnson
and his brother Rosamond Johnson, both Jacksonville natives. A. Philip
Randolph, forerunner of Martin Luther King, Jr., and a preeminent Black labor
leader in his own right, traced his roots to Jacksonville.

The city offered enterprising young African-Americans opportunities to
develop their own identities. It gave them the chance to blossom into productive
members of society. Contacts made within the community and its emphasis on
education provided Jacksonville's Black residents with advantages not available to
people of color in many Southern cities.

The most important difference, between Jacksonville and other Black urban
populations in the South is the quality of the African-American leadership. Those
who waged the 1945-70 struggle to gain political and social rights were
undoubtedly part of a Black cultural elite in the South. The list of prominent,
modern African-American leaders is impressive: Earl Johnson, Elcee Lucas,

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