A History of Civil Rights and Social Change in Pinellas County

Today's social change advocates can learn a great deal from stories about people who have previously stood together to challenge the status quo and fight for equity.

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Your History Matters to Our Future

A History of Civil Rights and Social Change in Pinellas County is an extension of an exhibit installed at the Center for Health Equity entitled Building an Equity Movement. The exhibit shares stories of episodes in Pinellas County’s history when people came together to secure rights, combat injustice, and work to advance equity. The goal of the exhibit is to embrace that heritage and inspire solidarity and resolve among today’s social change makers.

This project was researched and co-curated by local historians Gwendolyn Reese and Jon Wilson, and was supported by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. Far from an exhaustive account of Pinellas County’s history, this overview is an evolving resource that serves as an entry point for education, understanding, and further exploration.

The site is a living collection of Pinellas County's history and endeavors to incorporate the stories and lived histories of those local to Pinellas County.
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Credits

Research & Writing

  • Gwendolyn Reese
  • Jon Wilson

Writer & Producer

  • Karen Chassin

Musical Score

  • Edward Burrows
  • Rick Adams
  • Jake Walker

Post-Production

  • Roundhouse Creative Studio

Photo & Video Research

  • Gwendolyn Reese
  • Mary Anna Murphy
  • Boyzelle Hosey
  • Karen Chassin
  • Roundhouse Creative Studio

Exhibit Design & Fabrication

  • MAM Exhibit Design
  • Phillip Gary Design
  • ADM2 Exhibits and Displays

Director

  • Andrew Lee

Narrator

  • Aaron Goodson

Sources

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum
Al Williams Collection/St. Petersburg Museum of History
Associated Press
Burgert Brothers - John F. Germany Library, Hillsborough County
Chicago Defender
City of St. Petersburg
Collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture shared with the Library of Congress
Contact Press Images - Dan Budnik
Delta Sigma Theta Archives
Dennis Keim Photography
Florida Memory Project
George Bush Presidential Library
Getty Images
Heritage Village Archives
History Channel
Internet Archive
Jordan Dance Hall - Gwen Reese
Library of Congress
Los Angeles Times
Marcia P. Johnson Institute
Mary Anna Murphy
Minson R. Rubin/St. Petersburg Museum of History
National Archives at College Park
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Paul Barco/St. Petersburg Museum of History
Robert K. Nelson, Ladale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connoly, Et Al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, Ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers
Special Collections, USF St. Petersburg Nelson Poynter Memorial Library and the Weekly Challenger
St. Petersburg Museum of History
State Library of New South Wales Collection
Tampa Bay Times
Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
The LGBT Community Center National History Archive. Leonard Fink, 1972
The Seminole Tribune
Theodore Morris
Tullio Saba
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Weekly Challenger