A Building and City Divided

Group Photo of Employees at the New Post Office circa 1941.

Over the preceding decades, the citrus freeze, inclement weather, and the Great Depression harshly affected Orlando and the Central Florida region as a whole. However, Orlando weathered adversity and developed from a rural town to a bustling city. While Orlando rose in prominence, it was confronted by a problem affecting the entire American South: segregation. While the United States emerged as the new leader of the free world, the hypocrisy of a society that was both "separate but equal" and "free but restricted" came under scrutiny. These problems had existed in many cases unopposed for long periods of time, but the forces of modernization thrust them into the public discussion in Central Florida.

The post office at Jefferson Street served as an example of the juxtaposition that America was finally be forced to confront. As evident by the photograph to the right, very few people of color were employed at the Downtown Orlando Post Office around 1941. This entity of the federal government, said to support all citizens, was divided by outdated and immoral cultural and local customs. In 1960, Governor LeRoy Collins (1909-1991) said that the institution of segregation was "unfair and morally wrong." Sit-ins were organized by local students from Jones High School to protest Orlando's segregation policies. Local leaders attempted to stop unrest by removing the most blatant signs of segregation, but latent forms of segregation persisted among all aspects of Central Floridian life. There is no better example of this than the post office: a federal building at the center of a community, representing the ideals of the Founding Fathers that, at mid-century, still employed very few African Americans.

Bibliography

"Racism and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Florida." Florida Memory. Accessed October 19, 2015. https://www.floridamemory.com/photographiccollection/photo_exhibits/civil-rights/civil-rights2.php.

"Orange County Desegregation Timeline." The Orlando Sentinel. Accessed October 17, 2015. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange/orl-desegregation-timeline-htmlstory.html.

Porter, David D. "The Truth About Central Florida's Racial History: Florida Had A Pivotal Role In Both Infamy And Victory In The Battle For Civil Rights." The Orlando Sentinel, August 10, 2003. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2003-08-10/news/0308090014_1_central-florida-black-orlando.