W–054 · 18 June 1964 · St. Augustine, Florida, United States
The Pool Protest
Five Black and two white activists entered the whites-only pool at the Monson Motor Lodge together. While rabbis protested outside the motel, the seven swimmers stayed in the water. It was 18 June 1964 in St. Augustine, Florida. They included J.T. Johnson, Al Lingo and 17-year-old Mamie Nell Ford, later known as Mimi Jones.
1. At the pool
Provenance and sources for frame 1
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Public copy, 961 × 1296; the larger Getty/Bettmann licensed master is not freely available. NPCA credits Horace Cort; AP rights remain.
2. Newspaper frame
Provenance and sources for frame 2
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Newspaper reproduction, 2531 × 4041 including printed caption; print grain is not negative detail. Commons marks it PD-US-no notice; WITNESS has not independently assessed that legal status.
The St. Augustine campaign had been under way for months. Local activists sought equal access to hotels, restaurants and beaches, joined by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. A week earlier, Martin Luther King Jr. had been arrested at the same motel after trying to eat in its restaurant. Black and white protesters now challenged the pool's colour bar together.
Motel manager James Brock brought a container of muriatic acid, a chemical also used in pool maintenance, and began pouring it into the water. ‘I’m cleaning the pool,’ he said, according to the caption beneath The Tampa Tribune's photograph. Johnson later recalled trying to calm the frightened swimmers: he believed the volume of water would dilute the acid enough to prevent it from harming them.
A police officer jumped into the pool, and the protesters were taken away under arrest. Photographs of the protest appeared in newspapers. The next day, 19 June, the US Senate passed the Civil Rights bill; President Lyndon Johnson signed it on 2 July, barring racial discrimination in public accommodations. Resistance to desegregation continued in St. Augustine. A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the Monson after it began admitting Black guests, and federal courts had to intervene to make private businesses comply with the law.
3. Into the pool
Provenance and sources for frame 3
File and rights
Public copy, 800 × 485; photographer and reuse terms are not stated on the page. UPI and Florida Humanities give different names for the officer. AP/Flagler record 94 describes the same episode, but a match to this photograph has not been established.
Mimi Jones continued her studies, earning a degree at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She worked in education and community organisations and remained active in the civil-rights movement. Jones died in Boston on 26 July 2020.
About forty years after the protest, Johnson returned to the Monson's site, now occupied by a Hilton. In his StoryCorps conversation, he recalled telling the manager he would not stay there because the hotel had no African American employees. The manager promised that would change before his next visit.