None — In celebration of Black History Month, WFTV and WRDQ recently met some of Central Florida's Civil Rights Pioneers. Many of them are featured in the permanent exhibit titled "How Distant Seems our Starting Place" featured at the Orange County Regional History Center. The exhibit is open year round and gives you a look back at how far Central Florida has come. Below are two of the pioneers we recently met and are featured in on-air PSA's on WFTV and WRDQ. To learn more about them and other key advocates in our community, visit the Orange County Regional History Center online.
The Reverend Nelson Pinderhas been an advocate for more that 50 years in Central Florida. Pinder attended Bethune Cookman college were he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy and later went to Nashotah House Seminary in Wisconsin were he prepared to be an Episcopal priest. Reverend Pinder then went to pursue his Masters Degree in Education from Simon the Cyrenian Institute in London, England and finished it in Purdue University. In 1959 he arrived in Orlando were he was assigned St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. Revered Pinder later became a Civil Rights activist in the 1960's who worked with many people to peacefully integrate Orlando to avoid racism and discrimination. He also was a missionary and did work in Jamaica, West Indies, Honduras and England just to name a few. Shortly after, he became the president of The Union of Black Episcopalians and a member of the Mayor's Biracial Commission that dealt with issues of desegregation and equal employment opportunities for blacks. Pinder retired thirteen years ago and has received more than 150 awards and honors.
Ms. Mercerdese Clark has been an advocate in our Central Florida community for many years. Mercerdese is an Orlando native who accomplished her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from Hampton University in Virginia. Mrs. Clark served as a nurse in the Orange Memorial Hospital and Winter Park Memorial Hospital. Shorty after, she became the first African American female to be the Director of the Orange County Health Department in Florida. Mrs. Clark afterward, went on to be the president of the Parramore Heritage Foundation, a board director for Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corp and owned her own clothing store called "Clark's Ladies Fashion". Lastly, Mercerdese became a member of the Jones High School Hall of Fame and before retiring she worked as a Nursing Care Coordinator at Orlando VA Outpatient Clinic. Mercerdese Clark has been very successful in her career and has received numerous of awards and continuous to be very active in various community groups in Central Florida.
LeRoy Argrett, Jr. was born in Orlando, graduated from Jones High School in 1963 and Tennessee State University in Nashville. He received a Master of Education degree in Administration and Supervision from Rollins College, and taught for thirty years African and American History in the Orlando schools, at Evans High School from 1971 to 1987, and at Dr. Phillips from 1987 to 2001. He co-founded the Jones High School Historical Society in 1998. LeRoy Argrett was very active at Carter Tabernacle CME Church in Orlando, where he served as director of music and coordinator of the historical preservation committee. He was also a member of the male choir.His A History of the Black Community of Orlando, Florida, the first published history of African Americans in Orlando, appeared in 1991. Mr. Argrett passed away May 25, 2006 at age sixty-one.
Dr. Cecil B. Eccleston , a native of Jamaica, graduated from Meharry Medical School of Dentistry in Tennessee and came to Orlando to practice dentistry in 1925. He donated the land for the Eccleston/Callahan Hospital, opened in 1952 for physically impaired black children, was named for Drs. Eccleston and Callahan. In 1956 he noticed many sick young children were missing school, so he worked with the county school board to provide lessons for kids being treated in the hospital. It became the Eccleston Elementary School 1958. In 1958 Eccleston Elementary School only had thirty students and now it has over 536 Kindergarteners through sixth graders.
The Crooms Family. Moses Crooms Sr. was an ex-slave who came to Central Florida with a road building company in 1890. With his wife, Daphne H. Crooms, an ex-house slave from a Tallahassee plantation, he bought land on Washington Street, where he built a house in 1905. Among his children, the Rev. Moses Crooms Jr., owned a delivery and moving service and served as pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in 1941. The Rev. Alfred C. Crooms, owner of a print shop and book store, was Mt. Zion's pastor in 1945-1946. Professor J.N. Crooms became principal of Hopper Academy in Sanford in 1906. The school was renamed for him in 1926, and Columbus H. Crooms, was mayor of Eatonville, 1938-1963.
Dr. I. Sylvester Hankins was an Orlando native, the son of school teacher I.S. Hankins, Sr. He graduated from Edward Waters College in Jacksonville and in 1925, he graduated from Howard University Medical School in Washington. He practiced in Orlando for more than 50 years and helped establish a hospital for blacks. He built a black professional building on West South Street in 1947, and invested in Washington Shores. His efforts helped change the Sentinel's policy on reporting about blacks. In 1974, Dr. I. Sylvester Hankins was honored for his civic work through the dedication of a 14-acre park in his name on Columbia Street at cost of $170,000.00. A member of numerous planning and advisory boards, he worked on black voter registration, and served as president of the Orlando NAACP. The city named Hankins Park in his honor in 1974.