Pregame for the Fourth of July with this St. Petersburg talk about the Civil Rights Act

The year 1776—when the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence—has taken on new meaning in recent years thanks to alt-right crybabies whose buttholes pucker up at the letters C-R-T.

That’s why it’s nice to see folks spending a night thinking about 1964. On June 2 of that year, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which made employment discrimination illegal, integrated schools and other public facilities, and prohibited discrimination in public places on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The legislation is widely-regarded as the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, and for this talk, moderator and WTSP reporter Emerald Morrow is joined by authors Bill Maxwell and Beverly Coyle—among the last generation of Floridians to graduate from segregated schools—plus Ray Arsenault, a scholar of Southern history.

Allendale church hosts, and Tombolo Books will have copies of “Once Upon a Time in Florida Stories of Life in the Land of Promises”—one of 2023’s best books, and one that includes stories from Maxwell and Coyle—for sale.

And while the program is co-sponsored by Florida Humanities, snowflakes will be happy to see the group covering its ass by issuing the disclaimer that “Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed at this conference do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.”

There’s no cover for “Marching Forward: 60 Years After the Civil Rights Act” happening Tuesday, July 2 at St. Pete’s Allendale United Methodist Church. Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

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