This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St.

Petersburg, Sarasota.

[music] Coming up, a closer look at Tampa's untold chapter in the civil rights movement, and the high school students who showed up to the peaceful sit-ins that sparked a wave of change towards desegregation.

You'll hear what it was like in their own words, and meet the man behind the camera, capturing the stories of these courageous teens and the community allies, black and white, who helped protect them.

That's next on this special edition of Florida This Week.

[music] Welcome back everybody.

I'm Lissette Campos.

We welcome to our studio.

Civil rights attorney and former State Senator Arthenia Joyner, Fred Hearns, curator of black history at the Tampa Bay History Center.

And Shirley Lowry, educator and the widow of civil rights leader Reverend Lowry.

Also joining us in studio is Mark Leib, a Tampa Bay playwright and creator of the stage play When the Righteous Triumph.

It was based on what happened during the historic sit ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Tampa.

Walk into any diner or restaurant today, and for many of us, it's hard to imagine being turned away simply because of the color of our skin.

And yet, that's exactly what was happening right here in Florida in February of 1960.

WEDU producer and director Danny Bruno set out to tell the real life story of what happened when everyday people in the black community took a stand against that injustice.

How they inspired allies in Tampa's white and Latino neighborhoods and its lessons for all of us today.

My name is Danny Bruno, and I'm the director of WEDU, PBS's new documentary, "Triumph."

This film is about the 1960s sit ins that occurred in Tampa, Florida.

Uh, we felt that it was a story that not too many people had heard of, so we wanted to bring light to this subject matter.

One of the things I found most fascinating about this documentary was that it was multi-layered in the sense that we have the play When the Righteous Triumph, uh, written by Mark Leib.

And we also have the history that that play is based on that we were also including in it.

Both of those things together really helped bring this story to life.

[music] I don't have to serve anyone.

I don't want to.

At this counter, that means colored like you either stand or get nothing.

So many people do not know about what happened on February 29th, 1960, in Tampa, Florida.

Getting to tell this story on stage is so important.

There were basically two different worlds, one black and one white.

If you were African American, you were not allowed in movie theaters, public beaches, private restaurants, you name it.

So the young people decided, we're going to try some new things.

We are going to be treated like human beings when we want to eat and drink.

We felt that we deserved to sit at the lunch counters.

Just our time to step up.

You've got to put up with Dr.

King calls nonviolent resistance.

The nonviolent piece was quite important.

If they hit you, you don't hit back.

We are for justice and righteousness.

That's what we stand for.

Leaders need sacrifice.

Students make sacrifice.

And there's no regret.

If you want to make change, you can't give up.

[music] It's just something I had to do.

And I had to take those chances.

That's what I did.

[music] This story, which is largely unknown, needs to be told.

[music] And that is just a small clip of original documentary triumph.

I'd like to start with you tell us what it was like to grow up as a little girl in this community at that time, and how do you think that those daily experiences shaped you to be the activist that you are today?

Well, we lived in a segregated society, so it was commonplace.

We knew that black people were not looked on as equals, but we also felt that we deserved to be treated like everybody else.

And, uh, having been reared in Ybor City and Central Avenue, I had an opportunity to just get to know people across the spectrum, black, white, Latino, straight, gay.

So as a kid, that was all I knew.

And I lived in that world until something happened and change occurred.

And what was that?

Well, I was, uh.

You talked about witnessing something from your house.

Something that was happening across the street.

The Ku Klux Klan was there?

Yes.

I was born in Lakeland, Florida, and, uh, my father came home one day and said, uh, pull the shades and lock the door to clans coming.

They're going to march, so we did.

But I was either 4 or 5, and I didn't understand what he meant.

But I saw those men in those robes and those hoods, and I was frightened.

And I asked my father, why are they doing this?

And he said, they they're trying to intimidate us, make us afraid.

And they don't like us just because of the color of our skin.

Fred, you you have talked about the history of the black community for so many years.

Give us an idea, a sense of what life was like for African Americans in Florida during that era, and how Jim Crow laws and how the different aspects of segregation were part of everyday life.

Well, as Arthenia said, there were really two worlds, one black and one white, and we lived in the black world.

We had glimpses of the white world.

Occasionally we came in contact with people who were not black like we are.

But for the most part, you know, we went to all black schools.

All of our teachers were black.

All of the people in our neighborhood were black.

We lived in segregated communities, with a few exceptions.

But for the most part, you know, we learned those rules from our parents.

We learned what we could do, what we should not do, where we could go freely, where we where we had to be careful when we were in certain environments, because there were rules that black people had to follow if you wanted to get along in this society.

But, you know, it may sound strange saying this, but living in a segregated world, we became accustomed to certain things and we became comfortable.

And we had a safe zone.

It was called Central Avenue, where every man was a king and every woman was a queen.

And we could walk with our heads held high.

We were welcome everywhere we could sit, wherever we wanted, eat wherever we wanted, use the restroom, wherever we wanted on Central Avenue.

But things changed once you stepped out of that world.

Mark, I'd like to turn to you.

You grew up in the Tampa Bay area.

You attended Plant High School.

Um, what did you.

It seems like your your experience would have been very different from the ones that Arthenia and Fred have just described.

The other side of the coin.

I remember when I was 5 or 6 years old, which would have been around 1960, 1959, that my mother would take me to the Quick Check supermarket on Grand Central Boulevard, which is now Kennedy Boulevard.

And I would see two water fountains.

One said white, one said colored.

I didn't understand it.

It made no sense to me.

Or I would go to a bathroom and there'd be one door that said white, one that said colored.

This was all a confusion to me.

My parents were Kennedy and Johnson liberals.

Civil rights was always supported in our house, but I couldn't comprehend why in the world would there be two water fountains?

When I was in junior high school at Wilson, the first black student in the whole school came.

His name was James Blunt and he was well treated.

I think he I don't think he was mistreated there.

When I was in high school, there was more integration at plan.

This was between 1968 and 71, and even so, I was one of the valedictorians at Victorians at the end of the year of my senior year, and in my speech, I said something about how positive it was that integration was happening in the schools.

Afterwards, a man came over to me and he looked at me kind of harshly, and he said, why do you want to start the Civil War all over again?

Just because I said it's a good thing that we're integrating.

What inspired you to write the stage play When the Righteous Triumph and I will?

I do want to point out that those clips that we saw was from the stage play that was produced by Stageworks Theater.

Beautiful job they've done.

That's right, Stageworks has a lot to do with it.

I found Andrew T. Hughes's book, From Saloons to Steakhouses A History of Tampa.

And to my surprise, there was a chapter called, "The Place At the Table," and it was all about the sit-ins.

I didn't know these sit ins had existed.

I grew up in Tampa not knowing it.

I was fascinated.

The idea for a play immediately came to me, and I thought, this will interest Carla Hartley over at Stageworks, I think went to Carla and we sat down on the courtyard and I said, Carl imagine a lunch counter a black person comes to order a coffee and they're turned away.

Imagine that took place in Tampa because it did.

I want to write a play about it.

I want you to commission it from me.

She thought about it for about three minutes.

She said, I'll do it.

And from there on, the play was written in 21, workshopped at Stageworks in 22, premiered in 23.

We had a good, strong reaction from the audience and then moved to the Straz with the help of Jim Davis, former Congressman Jim Davis.

In 2025.

Shirley, I'd like to turn towards you.

Your husband, the Reverend Lowry, was a civil rights community leader.

He actually taught Dr.

Martin Luther King Junior at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

A lot of people don't realize that connection with the reverend here in Tampa and the great Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr., when he would talk about that time and his philosophy of of activism and nonviolence.

How would he describe it?

Why did he feel that was so important for people to understand, not just do?

Well, Reverend was very passionate about black people, all people having the same rights, whether it was shopping, going to the beach, going to church, fair, housing, education, um, blacks should have the same great books that other schools have.

And that's why he wanted to be a part of the school board.

He wanted to make sure that the education was fair across the board, that everyone had a seat at the table, if we can say, um, being able to experience the education, the shopping, the beach, the movies.

So he was passionate from the beginning.

Even as a young child.

His father was a pastor for over 70 years at his own church.

And so when Reverend came to Tampa, he became the NAACP president in 1957.

So his support as he came in was not just to be the pastor of one of the oldest churches in Tampa, but to also be a help to all people, and especially in the black community.

And one of the things that are so powerful about having all of you here is the fact that you provide context to this moment in history.

You know, anthropologists and sociologists always point to context, you know, placing the moment in history into the context of what was happening in the world at the time.

The first documented lunch counter sit-ins in the U.S.

they took place in Greensboro, North Carolina, in February of 1960, and it was shortly after that sit-in demonstrations began in the city in our city of Tampa.

Arthenia I'd like to to start by asking you, how did you find out about the sit-ins, who organized it, and and how did it come to the attention of the teenagers that were involved?

Well, Clarence Ford, a young barber here in Tampa, uh, who was president of the NAACP Youth Council, went to, uh, talk to two young black men, George Edgecombe, the president of the student body at Middleton, and Shafter Scott, the president of the student body at Blake.

And he said, you know, the world is evolving.

The country now is beginning to see and understand, see and know how segregation has impacted people.

And we are taking a stand against this evil that permeates America.

And consequently, he said, can you all get me 20 students from each school that will be willing to go and sit in at Woolworth's?

So George Edgecombe at Middleton and I was there and I and, uh, he asked me if I would participate.

And he got the other students.

And Shafter did the same thing at Blake.

And we came together and we met at St.

Paul AME church, and that's where Clarence Ford, who was the driving force, in fact, all of this was his idea, brilliant.

He said, you know, and I was a member of the NAACP Youth Council, so I was just excited that now I was going to get an opportunity to stand up and speak out against what it was, what was wrong with Tampa and and this country.

So, of course, some of the students parents said no.

And what about you?

Well, my dad said, I don't think you need to get in that.

My mom said, do it.

Do what your conscience dictates.

We will support you, and Carmen Grignard even said her parents didn't even know.

She just went ahead.

Or they told her no, but she was there.

And so we are convened and we went over the rules and stay, you know, don't make eye contact.

Be prepared in case someone tries to harm you to turn your back, because this is a nonviolent protest.

And so we assembled at St.

Paul A.M.E.

church, and we marched down to Woolworth's.

And the irony of the entire march was that we believed that we would only sit in protesters in America whose policemen protected us in a peaceful protest, and so that distinguished us from others, because this was 29 days after, uh, the initial march in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The initial, yeah.

Fred, what was the role of the NAACP here in 1960, and why was it so important to this?

Well, the NAACP was was the key organization.

Uh, Shirley Lowry mentioned that Reverend Lowry was president of the NAACP.

I want to add, for the state of Florida, not just I mean, he was a national figure.

And throughout the state of Florida, the other person who was always content to kind of stay behind the scenes but make sure things were going the way they should was Robert W. Saunders.

Bob Saunders, who was the field secretary for the NAACP.

At a time when you could lose your life for doing this kind of work, not just be fired, not just be ostracized.

You know, it was it was a dangerous time for people who stepped out and said, segregation must end, and we're going to take a stand and we're putting our bodies on the line, not just talking about it, but actually being involved as activists.

So Bob Saunders, uh, you know, Reverend Alan Lowry, Clarence Ford, they were the leaders, but you had these young people.

I also need to add that there were some students from Booker T Washington Junior High School who Clarence recruited, and they were also part of this.

These young people were extraordinarily brave for what they did.

And there were ripple effects to this, because it seemed like the rest of the nation began watching.

What was it that happened in Tampa Bay and why was it so different?

Um, watching the documentary, there was even a term for it, the Tampa Technique.

Um, Shirley, I'd like to ask you, you know, your your husband was part of the biracial committee that was established by then mayor Julian Blaine, and there were equal numbers of black and white leaders on that.

And why do you why do you feel that that model was so successful?

Well, number one, the group, um, my husband, Julian Lane, Cody Fowler and many others, James Hammond, that were on the group that they trusted each other.

Number one.

Number two, they all agreed that it should be nonviolent.

And I think that is the main key to it being successful.

The lunch counter, it was successful because they all agreed.

They all made decisions on what the next move should be.

So there were steps to this being successful.

The whole group kind of got together and they talked and they discussed and they kind of learned from each other.

They listen to each other.

I think when you're in a group that a biracial group, Reverend said, it was a group of people that had a lot of knowledge and was willing to push it forth so that Tampa can be a better city.

So, you know, white gentlemen and black gentlemen getting together and discussing what can we do in this city and make it, you know, not violent.

Right, so that was the big key.

Trust and nonviolence.

That's one of the aspects that you did that you really did a deep dive into in your research for your stage play, the role of that biracial committee, and how city leaders and police supported the participants in the sit in.

Tell us about that.

Yes, it was a remarkable confluence of events and a group of people.

Julian Lane, the mayor of Tampa, was committed to racial equality.

Yes.

Cody Fowler, who was the lone white attorney who would represent African Americans in the early part of the 20th century.

He was running the biracial committee.

And Reverend Lowry, of course, was pivotal.

What I discovered was that those negotiations were at an impasse for a while until the idea came out.

What if we open all the lunch counters at once?

This was a new idea because the contention of some of the.

owners of the restaurants was if we accept blacks in our restaurant, everyone's going to go to our competition.

So Cody Fowler, with the help of Reverend Lowry and, uh, with, uh, Julian and the, uh, people representing the lunch counter said, we'll open everything.

We'll open all the lunch counters at the same time.

However, just think about it.

The negotiations began in March.

They didn't get finished until September.

That's right, the first day of the integrated dine in was September the 18th, 1960.

So it wasn't it wasn't a slam dunk.

It took some.

Honoring the history of the civil rights movement in Tampa Bay starts with passing it down to the next generation, showing young people that they, too, can have positive impacts on their community, that they're not powerless to make change.

And it's important to note that we all have a role to play, no matter our background.

I guess I like that, so tonight.

Coming up, and congratulations.

[music] One of the qualities of this story is that it is regular people doing irregular things, regular people doing heroic things.

[music] Leaders made sacrifice, students made sacrifice, and there's no regret.

[music] I believe if we don't visit history, if we don't talk about the past, if we don't see how we progress, then we really do run the chance of repeating.

[music] There's a lack of that connection between young people and the next generation.

It's being aware of your history.

[music] This is the place to honor a moment in time, so that people who watch it can make their own decisions, and they can take this story and walk their own path with it.

[music] It's particularly important right now that our students and generations to come know this story, to remind them of the best of who we are.

Fred, why was it so important?

Why is it so important for the next generation to know this story?

It's important because it's Tampa history and it tells us, I think, where we need to go in the future.

When we look at the progress that was made by black people in Tampa, in spite of segregation.

And Central Avenue is the key thing that we can look at.

Where, you know, there were black business owners, black attorneys, black doctors, people who did extraordinary things against the odds in spite of the segregation that we face.

So today, while we have desegregation and we have opportunities that did not exist, there are still challenges.

But we can learn from the past because in spite of all the things that we had to overcome, we still found a way to move ahead, to move forward, to make progress.

And so that's, I think, the value of learning our history, we can draw strength from the heroes of yesterday.

Shirley, what do you feel is will be your husband's greatest legacy, doctor?

Uh, Reverend Lowry's greatest legacy.

Are so many.

Um, he lived a long life.

Um, Reverend of course.

Um, always said he wanted to make the place the world a better place, you know, than when, you know he came in.

But as far as the students, Reverend was proud of the sit ins because of the students.

So thank you, Miss Arthenia.

But he wanted to be a support system for that.

So the sit ins was a great legacy for him.

Um, human rights.

I think he would like to be known for his human rights fight.

He even went to talk to John F. Kennedy to talk about human rights in the state of Florida.

So I believe that is one of his biggest legacy, the fight for human rights, the fight for diversity, the fight for people to have rights as others.

So Arthenia, do you ever feel discouraged in this battle for equality?

Never, it's in my DNA to fight for what I believe in.

You know, in the Constitution guarantees the pursuit of happiness for everybody.

And, uh, as a young girl, having grown up on Central Avenue, as Fred had talked about in my father owning the Cotton Club, a business, their premier nightclub, uh, I got an opportunity to see whatever I wanted to be.

Every... every profession.

Every from from movie theaters to cab drivers, seamstress, beauticians, doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, the game.

Everybody was represented, and I knew that I could be whatever I wanted to be.

I was around it.

Segregation in and of itself was not good, but we had a family there.

Everybody looked out for everybody, and it was.

And I and I had a wonderful experience as a child.

It's when I stepped out of the bubble of Central Avenue that in comes this segregated society.

Do you remember clearly that day when you first walked into that counter and were able to be served?

Absolutely, what was it like?

Oh, the first day?

Yes, because, you know, we had some trepidation, but we were young and fearless and ready to make a change.

And everybody was fired up.

But we had a somber look on our faces, and we went and we sat and we asked to be served.

When Tampa changed and the world was able to see that through negotiation and collaboration and people who are like minded and want to do what's right that you can achieve success.

And we did.

Our work was not in vain.

We got real success from what we did.

Again, our thanks to all of our panelists Arthenia Joyner, Shirley Lowry, Fred Hearns and Mark Leib.

The documentary Triumph premieres on WEDU on Thursday, December 4th at 9 p.m., and it will air across all Florida PBS stations on January the 19th for Martin Luther King Day.

It's also available to watch right now at WEDU.

On behalf of the entire team here at.

Thank you so much for watching.

[music]