Mary E. Peabody

[3] One clause in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that is owed almost entirely to the activists in St. Augustine, including Peabody, was the outlawing of job discrimination against women as well as against black Americans.

[5] During the 1960s, major civil rights protests were being organized by some of the most famous activists in history, namely Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On a Sunday of the last week of March, Mary and the others traveled to St. Augustine, Florida, and were greeted upon arrival by Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.)

Mary decided it was time to make a grander statement, and follow the lead of a fellow volunteer, Esther Burgess, a Black woman.

She and others marched back to the motel dining room at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge - a site that she was previously removed from - and was arrested and charged with trespassing.

During the hearing process, United States district court Judge Bryan Simpson delayed the ruling, which prompted Peabody to decide on staying a second night in jail, despite her bail being set.

[citation needed] Peabody's most notable news appearance occurred during a sit-in located in St. Augustine, Florida, where she was arrested and photographed behind bars.

After getting the attention of several newspapers, Peabody recalled in her personal accounts of the journey that papers were immediately jumping on the opportunity to interview the volunteers.

[6] In her personal recount, she mentions a woman named Phyllis Ryan, who helped the group of volunteers navigate the public attention and was readily available to those who wanted to be interviewed to ask for money to support the cause.

Many photographs were taken due to the sensationalism of a prominent white elderly woman being arrested for supporting the civil rights movement.

The arrest was major news, grasping national attention and placing pressure on congress to pass a civil rights act.

Headlines all over America discussed the arrest and Peabody's contribution as a white individual to the very controversial (at the time) civil rights movement.