An Information Resource in Honor of Black History Month 2023
City of St. Petersburg officials formally ended racial segregation in public facilities in 1963. Yet occupational segregation persisted for decades more.
For 30 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the lawsuit filed by “the Courageous 12” black officers in 1965, almost every inch of progress by the City in diversifying its workforce was either forced by federal actions or conceded in response to crisis.
The three graphics below illustrate the saga.
The result: the City of St. Pete workforce remained exclusively white until the 1980s in some departments. Thus, generations of African Americans were barred from equal employment opportunity for decades.
The City has long employed African Americans as an indispensable part of its workforce. But until the 1970s, black workers were hired to the lowest rungs of the City employment ladder, as a rule.
In 1968, the year the civil rights movement came to an end, over 99% of the city’s white collar, professional and skilled employees were white. Only four African Americans worked in city hall in May 1968, according to the City ‘s personnel director: two custodians, a storage clerk and the Director of Community Relations (who quit after only 15 months, citing lack of support).
The quest continues today. Though City employees have become more reflective of our population (by race and gender), African Americans have not yet achieved full representation in either the public or private sector labor markets, especially in higher paying and management roles. Far from it.
Today, African Americans are 20% of St. Pete’s total workforce, but we are less than 1% of the city’s technology workers; less than 1% of architects & engineers; less than 5% of tenured faculty at the University of South Florida; and still only 9% of workers in management & financial occupations.
If past progress was by force, the future should be by choice, with intentional strategies and investments that can substantially close racial gaps in employment and earnings.
Timeline 1: Integration of Skilled & Management Workforce of City of St. Pete
Timeline 2: Struggle, Progress & Regress in Integration of City of St. Pete Workforce
Timeline 3: Evolving Racial Attitudes on Hiring & Promoting Blacks, Among City of St. Pete Officials
To share black history notes with us, email Latorra Bowles, Project Manager & Research Assistant at [email protected].
