ACCORD Freedom Trail-113 DeHaven Street - Florida Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This was the home of Oscar Turner (1898-1987) and his wife Mabel (1903-1978). Their daughter, Mattie, married educator and coach A. Malcolm Jones, the principal of Richard J. Murray High School, for whom the recreational field at the nearby Willie Galimore Community Center is named. A native of Georgia, Mr. Turner came to St. Augustine in the 1920s and worked for 40 years for the Florida East Coast Railway. The family lived for many years on Gault Street in North City, near the Fountain of Youth, before moving to this house in the 1960s.
Oscar Turner was active in the civil rights movement, serving as vice president of the St. Augustine NAACP and treasurer of the local chapter of Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He made history in the 1960s when he became the first black candidate for public office in St. Augustine after white City Marshal Charles Benet shot black City Councilman John Papino during a council meeting in 1902.
Turner ran for the School Board in 1962 and for the City Commission in 1965. Though he did not win either race, his grandson, Errol D. Jones, became St. Augustine's first black elected official in the 21st century when he was elected to the City Commission in 2002.

Marker Number: None Date: July 2, 2009 Marker Type: Plaque Sponsored or placed by: Northrop Grumman County: Not listed Website: Not listed

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