May 20th Stop 7 on the ACCORD tour- 64 Washington Street- Headquarters for the SCLC during the movement in 1964.

64 Washington Street ACCORD Freedom Trail

Inscription. 64 Washington Street was the Florida State Headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during and after the civil rights demonstrations of 1964. SCLC was founded in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56. The first executive director of SCLC was a former St. Augustinian, Dr. John Tilley (1898-1971). He had lived here while serving as president of Florida Normal (later Florida Memorial) College in the 1940s. In charge of the SCLC office here was Mrs. Loucille Plummer (pictured), a nurse who had lost her job because of her civil rights activities. The building at 64 Washington Street also housed the Royal Palm Barber Shop of Ernest Wells, one of the civil rights pioneers of St. Augustine, as well as a grocery store operated by Chris Lightburn, the celebrated alligator wrestler who was a co-founder, with jazz musician Doug Carn, of the annual Lincolnville Festival in 1979. This Historical Marker Presented this 2nd Day of July, 2007 by Northrop Grumman Erected 2007 by The 40th Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations, Inc. (ACCORD). Marker series. This marker is included in the Florida, St. Augustine Freedom Trail, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. marker series. Location. 29° 53.322′ N, 81° 18.815′ W. Marker is in St. Augustine, Florida, in Saint Johns County. Marker is on Washington Street. Today, the building is re purposed as the "House of Hope" Mission, and the area had several down-on-their-luck types in the area.   Bit of a rough area..... Close up of the marker: