{"id":89161,"date":"2025-12-19T10:35:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/89161\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T10:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:35:10","slug":"orlando-to-dedicate-south-street-stretch-for-late-sen-geraldine-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/89161\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando to dedicate South Street stretch for late Sen. Geraldine Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A stretch of West South Street in downtown Orlando will soon honor the late State Sen. Geraldine F. Thompson<\/a>, a trailblazing lawmaker and historian who spent decades advocating for her community and preserving Black history.<\/p>\n

City and state leaders are scheduled to gather near the Wells\u2019Built Museum on Friday morning for the official street renaming ceremony. The designation will rename part of West South Street as \u201cSenator Geraldine F. Thompson Way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The location holds special significance. Thompson founded the Wells\u2019Built Museum and fought to preserve it as a cornerstone of African American history in Orlando and beyond. The museum sits just steps from the street being renamed in her honor.<\/p>\n

Residents say the recognition is fitting for a woman whose impact spanned generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that would be good that she\u2019s going to be recognized for the things that she did for the community,\u201d said Otis Clark, a longtime resident.<\/p>\n

[WATCH: Remembering Florida Sen. Geraldine Thompson, trailblazing Orlando lawmaker]<\/p>\n

Thompson served Central Florida for more than 40 years as an educator, historian and lawmaker, holding seats in both the Florida House and Senate. Throughout her career, she was widely regarded as a powerful advocate for civil rights, education and historic preservation.<\/p>\n

Thompson died unexpectedly in February from complications from knee surgery. She was 76 years old.<\/p>\n

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Thompson\u2019s influence reached far beyond city limits.<\/p>\n

[WATCH: Family, friends honor the legacy of the late Sen. Geraldine Thompson]<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Geraldine Thompson impacted our community and our state in many different ways over the years,\u201d Dyer said in a statement to News 6. \u201cThrough her work as an educator, historian and elected official, she was committed to uplifting all people. We are thankful that our city can celebrate her legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

City leaders say the honorary street designation ensures Thompson\u2019s name \u2014 and her life\u2019s work \u2014 will continue to be remembered for generations.<\/p>\n

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. on West South Street. Mayor Dyer and State Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Orlando, who won a special election to fill Thompson\u2019s seat, are among those expected to speak.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A stretch of West South Street in downtown Orlando will soon honor the late State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[48241,100,48031,1335,139,141,140,99],"class_list":["post-89161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-black-history-month","tag-florida-legislature","tag-geraldine-thompson","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89161","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=89161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}