Artists at the Master Craftsman Studio at Florida State University recently unveiled their tribute to veterans of the civil rights movement in Tallahassee. Sixteen terrazzo panels have been embedded in the sidewalk along Jefferson Street in front of the former McCrory’s Store where lunchcounter sit-ins took place in the early 1960s. The project has been named the Tallahassee-Leon County Civil Rights Heritage Walk.
The panels, which weight between 800 and 2,000 pounds, honor 58 activists who were the local foot soldiers of the civil rights movement. The panel shown here honors the participants in the 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott.
Long overdue, but greatly appreciated. As a professor teaching the history of the modern civil rights struggle, the Tallahassee project substantiates the important role played at grassroots levels outside the notice of many throughout the country.