Ax Handle Saturday

A group of about 200 white men used baseball bats and ax handles to attack black people who were in sit-in protests opposing racial segregation.

Because of its high visibility and patronage, Hemming Park and surrounding stores were the site of numerous civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s.

Black sit-ins began on August 13, 1960, when students asked for service at the segregated lunch counter at W. T. Grant, Woolworths, Morrison's Cafeteria, and other eateries.

[3][4] On August 27, 1960, a group of approximately 200 white men, some of whom were thought to have Ku Klux Klan affiliations, gathered in Hemming Park armed with baseball bats and ax handles.

The mayor alleged most rioters were not Jacksonville residents and refused to convene a committee requested by the NAACP to address racial discrimination.

In 2002, a commemorative plaque was installed in Hemming Park , since renamed James Weldon Johnson Park. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]