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City of Jacksonville

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Civil righst trail logo with silhouettes of people walking and holding American flag

COJ TO HOST A LAUNCH EVENT FOR THE JACKSONVILLE CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL

February 24, 2026
The U.S. Civil Rights Trail is expanding this year, with the addition of historic sites in Virginia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida, offering travelers new destinations to explore pivotal stories, places, and voices that shaped the nation’s civil rights movement.

As part of this expansion, a Jacksonville U.S. Civil Rights Trail will be created through the Legacy Project. It will consist of place-based markers, education, and storytelling, which will highlight where history unfolded and connect visitors to the streets, neighborhoods, and institutions where organizing took root.

The Jacksonville Trail will honor both landmark events and everyday leaders who worked across neighborhoods and generations to sustain the movement, inviting visitors to reflect on the power of community action to create lasting change. It will consist of 40 markers, with the first five being installed in the coming weeks.

The City will host a launch event – which is open to the public - at Mt. Ararat Baptist Church on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. In 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a sermon at the church during his visit to Jacksonville. It will be one of the locations on the new Trail.

WHEN:          1pm, Wednesday, February 25, 2006

 

WHERE:        Mt. Ararat Baptist Church

                        2503 Myrtle Ave N, Jacksonville, 32209

 

WHO:             Mayor Donna Deegan, City of Jacksonville

Anna Brosche, CFO, City of Jacksonville

                        Darnell Smith, Market President, Florida Blue

                        Nat Glover, Former Duval County Sheriff

                        Isaiah Rumlin, President, Jacksonville NAACP

                        Tony Hill, Former Representative, Florida House of Representatives

                        Corrine Brown, Former Representative, US House of Representatives

                        Thomas Waters, Director of Neighborhoods, City of Jacksonville

Pastor Lee Harris, Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church

                       

About the City of Jacksonville 

The City of Jacksonville is the largest city by land mass in the contiguous United States, serving more than one million residents. City of Jacksonville leadership includes Mayor Donna Deegan and a 19-member City Council led by President Kevin Carrico. To learn more, visit jacksonville.gov. 

 

About the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

Launched in 2018, the U.S. Civil Rights Trail is a collection of more than 130 churches, courthouses, schools, museums and other landmarks primarily in the Southern states where activists challenged segregation in the 1950s and 1960s to advance social justice. The people, locations and destinations included in the Civil Rights Trail provide a way for families, travelers and educators to experience history firsthand. For details about the sites and stories from civil rights pioneers, visit CivilRightsTrail.com.