Aug. 5, 1964 - A Federal judge today ordered 17 restaurants and motels in St. Augustine, Fla., to start serving Negroes by Saturday and warned segregationists not to interfere.
District Judge Bryan Simpson issued the order in Jacksonville. He told the operators of the establishments in the racially troubled tourist city that the new Civil Rights Law must be obeyed.
A short time later, a grand jury named a biracial committee to help solve the city’s racial problems.
Dr. Martin Luther King arrived in St. Augustine from Atlanta to address a rally and, presumably, to test compliance with Judge Simpson’s order. The order was issued at the request of a group of local Negroes.
Dr. King said the ruling should put an end to a “rule of terror” in the city, the nation’s oldest, by white segregationists.
“Now the citizens of St. Augustine have an opportunity to live together in peace and harmony,” Dr. King told a news conference.
Judge Simpson forbade a group of segregationists, including Halstead (Hoss) Manucy and members of the Ancient City Hunting Club that Manucy heads, from threatening, intimidating, or coercing any of the motel and restaurant operators or the Negroes who might seek service.
Negroes charged that many St. Augustine establishments, after initially obeying the law, resegregated under threats from segregationist pickets.
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