Pensacola Council of Ministers
The Pensacola Council of Ministers was located on the corner of West Jackson in De Villiers, at 508 West Jackson Street in Pensacola, Florida.
As the Civil Rights Movement intensified in Pensacola, this group of Christian ministers came together to form the Pensacola Council of Ministers. Among its actions, the group implemented a "selective buying campaign against downtown stores on Palafox Street " that did not treat blacks as the equals of whites. The Pensacola Council of Ministers gave the black community in Pensacola a way to peacefully demonstrate and generally helped to restore the that community's pride, which had been broken down by the Jim Crow Laws in Pensacola.
A letter dated October 21, 1963, details how Martin Luther King was invited to visit the Pensacola Council of Ministers but declined due to scheduling. Dr. King stated that he would keep the invite in an active file but did not make it to Pensacola before he his assassination in 1968.
Although, no physical structure exists to attest to the importance of this organization, its contributions to social justice of Pensacola in the 1960's cannot be overlooked.
Researched and written by Jessica Donahue, HIS 3003 Methods and Materials, University of West Florida, fall 2012
