Honoring civil rights martyr Johnnie Mae Chappell, family and leaders commemorated her legacy 62 years after her racially-motivated killing in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Family members and community leaders gathered Monday to honor the life and legacy of civil rights martyr Johnnie Mae Chappell more than six decades after her killing in a racially-motivated attack.<\/p>\n
Chappell, a 35-year-old mother of 10, was shot and killed March 23, 1964, while walking home with groceries along New Kings Road and Flicker Avenue. She had stopped to search for her misplaced wallet when a truck carrying four white men drove by. One of the men fired a shot, striking and killing her.<\/p>\n
Her son, Shelton Chappell, was just 4 months old at the time of her death. He said the loss continues to weigh on the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a heavy weight, but we\u2019re still commemorating her and honoring her as a family should,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On the 62nd anniversary of her death, relatives, community activists, city leaders and elected officials gathered at the site of the shooting, now marked with a historic designation in her name. Attendees lit candles in remembrance and reflected on her life and legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201c62 years ago, my mother was thinking of her children,” Shelton said. “She went to go get ice cream leaving work, thinking of how to celebrate her children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Civil rights activist Rodney Hurst called attention to the racial violence that led to her death.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about how evil your heart must be to kill someone just because of the color of her or his skin,\u201d Hurst said.<\/p>\n
Family members said the vigil was not only about remembering the past but also about continuing the fight for justice and equality.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us not to pay homage to her, we would be less than,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cI\u2019d be less than a son, less than a father, less than a friend. I want to honor my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Faith leaders also urged continued action.<\/p>\n
\u201cFight on, because still injustice is around us,\u201d a local pastor said during the vigil.<\/p>\n
The site\u2019s historic marker will be added to the Civil Rights Trail, helping ensure future generations understand the impact of Chappell\u2019s life and death.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay her name, Johnnie Mae Chappell,\u201d Hurst said.<\/p>\n
“Understand where they were at that time and where we are at this time,” Shelton said. “We still have to fight on. We still have to fight on. Hold on just a little while longer, everything is gonna be alright.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
A statement of solidarity from Syracuse University\u2019s College of Law was also read during the vigil.<\/p>\n
Family members said the support reflects how Chappell\u2019s story continues to resonate beyond Jacksonville and inspire ongoing conversations about justice and equality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honoring civil rights martyr Johnnie Mae Chappell, family and leaders commemorated her legacy 62 years after her racially-motivated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-203427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}