The story behind Tallahassee’s civil rights protests is old hat, I’m sure, to many lifelong Tallahasseeans. But this painful part of our city’s history was unexplored territory for me, a newcomer to Florida. And what really moved me that day from Donovan’s presentation were the photographs of Florida A&M student protesters carrying placards with handwritten messages. The messages on these placards were a study in compelling contrasts. They were bold, yet humble. Conscience-pricking, yet gentle. In-your-face, yet non-threatening.

When you “have a face for radio” and make your living as a writer as I do, it isn’t easy to admit that a picture really is worth a thousand words. But I was completely convinced of this truth more than a year ago as I sat in the Fermentation Lounge listening to Dan Donovan of the Tallahassee Planning Office give a presentation about a proposed sidewalk to commemorate the early 1960s protests against segregated lunch counters.

The story behind Tallahassee’s civil rights protests is old hat, I’m sure, to many lifelong Tallahasseeans. But this painful part of our city’s history was unexplored territory for me, a newcomer to Florida. And what really moved me that day from Donovan’s presentation were the photographs of Florida A&M student protesters carrying placards with handwritten messages.

The messages on these placards were a study in compelling contrasts. They were bold, yet humble. Conscience-pricking, yet gentle. In-your-face, yet non-threatening.

In a word, they were incredibly persuasive.

We live in a day where persuasion seems to have fallen out of fashion, where public disputes often degenerate into shouting matches and name-calling between combatants more interested in wielding power than in building consensus.

Into this mayhem some meekly cry out for civility. But this appeal is often pooh-poohed as wimpy and priggish — the stuff of finger-wagging schoolmarms.

Look, I know that “politics ain’t beanbag,” and that public disputes can’t be solved simply with kind words and pats on the head. But I also know that there has to be a better way for citizens to engage in public discourse than what we often see on cable “news” channels today.

And this, no doubt, helps to explain why I found those photographs from the Tallahassee civil rights protests so arresting.

Maybe it’s just an ironic quirk of the English language, but it’s a curiosity to me that those FAMU students who staged America’s first civil rights “jail-in” were accused of engaging in civil disobedience.

Somehow the idea of being handcuffed and sent to jail — and of remaining in jail for days on end — doesn’t seem wimpy to me.

And I’m sure it didn’t seem wimpy to Henry Steele, either.

He was only 16, but Steele, son of the late Rev. C.K. Steele, still remembers what it was like to be the youngest student arrested in those peaceful protests in front of McCrory’s dime store. And Steele still can recall the names of all those brave FAMU civil rights “foot soldiers” (and their white Florida State collaborators) who did time with him.

Steele and a fellow civil rights veteran, Laura Dixie, will draw upon their memories of these events at a special forum today at the Young Actors Theatre on Glenview Drive.

The forum, “Civil Rights, Civil Means; Tallahassee’s Protests at 50: Why They Still Matter,” is being sponsored by the Village Square, a nonprofit organization that promotes civil discourse in our day. The event is part of a unique “double feature” that includes YAT’s 7:30 p.m. production of “Hairspray,” a Broadway musical set in the early 1960s that has a theme of racial integration.

The forum will be a great opportunity for area students — and newcomers — to learn about an important part of Tallahassee’s history. But it will offer far more than just a history lesson, even for some of our city’s old-timers.

“The Tallahassee civil rights protests aren’t just a meaningful moment in our hometown’s history,” Village Square executive director Liz Joyner said. “They have everything to do with where we find ourselves as a country today.”

Indeed, in addition to hearing from Steele and Dixie, those attending the forum will wrestle with many of the thorny issues that confound our public discourse today — including one that the 1960s protesters faced: Is it appropriate to make references to God or the Bible in making one’s public case?

Joining Steele and Dixie for the forum discussion will be state Rep. Alan Williams, who has worked to keep the memory of these protests alive, and several members of the civil rights commemorative sidewalk committee.

It ought to be a great forum — especially since it will feature many of those compelling civil rights photographs (which, I must confess, are worth far more than even my best 1,000 words).

I hope you’ll come see for yourself.

IF YOU GO

Cost: The forum is free; “Hairspray” tickets will be sold through YAT box office at 386-6602, ext. 2, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William Mattox is a member of the Village Square’s Board of Directors. He will moderate today’s forum. Contact him at bmattox@earthlink.net

This editorial was originally published in The Tallahassee Democrat.