On Thursday, the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg is honoring a group of Black Police officers from the 1960s.
The men became known as the "Courageous 12" for helping to fully integrate the city's police department.
Historian Rodney Kite-Powell of theTampa Bay History Center said during the Civil Rights Era, St. Petersburg was one of the most segregated cities in the South.
It was known for its green benches in public spaces, and at one point, there were about 3,000 such benches.
However, just as Black people were relegated to sit at the back of buses and use separate drinking fountains and public toilets, they weren't allow to rest on those green benches.
That’s just one reason why it would have been a daunting prospect for most of the 15 Black officers at the time to sue St. Petersburg to allow them to exercise their full authority as members of city’s police department.
“They couldn't arrest a white person. They couldn't ticket a white speeder. They literally had to only patrol the Black sections of St. Petersburg," Kite-Powell said. "And so, 12 out of the 15 challenged that and they actually sued the city of St. Petersburg, putting certainly their jobs, if not their own personal safety on the line.”
Kite-Powell says the 1960s were not too far removed from the racial lynchings that took place in Florida in the early 20th century, so there’s a reason this group of officers became known as the "Courageous 12."
The group’s lone survivor, Leon Jackson, will attend the observance Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Center for Health Equity, 2333 34th Street South in St. Petersburg.
He will be joined by St. Pete’s first Black Police Chief, Goliath Davis, and its current Police Chief, Anthony Holloway.
“I think when you say 'Courageous 12,' I look at it as what they did, by me putting on this uniform. I can patrol anywhere I want to in the city, I can be anything I want to be in his organization. So that's what they've done for me. That's how they've made me proud,” Holloway said.
Kite-Powell added that the "Courageous 12" paved the way for a group of fellow police officers in the city of Tampa to break down racial barriers. They became known as the Fearless Four.
