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Sarasota News Leader October 12, 2012 the African-American community during those trying times. Sarasota does have a past most residents do not like to recall, a past involving slaves, the KKK, cross burnings and intimidation and fear inflicted upon people based solely on the col- or of their skin. John Hamilton Gillespie, a founding father of Sarasota who was sent to the city to try to save the Ormiston colony of Scots, not only spent his life building and improving the town, but he also had an unusually strong penchant for the game of golf. Gillespie employed an African-American named Leonard Reid, who came to Sarasota in 1900 as a manservant. "Reid worked with Gillespie in laying out Sarasota's first golf course," Sarasota County Historian Jeff LaHurd recounts, "but [Reid] would never be allowed to play golf on the course." We have a past in which men of color helped build our local golf course, but they weren't allowed to play golf. A whole segment of our population was not allowed to eat in local restaurants or use local beaches. The resolution or revolution in social standing was wrought by people believing in a cause, standing fast to their beliefs in a peace- ful manner. But at the time of the struggle, many feared change. What led us to that marker dedication on Oct. 6 was a recurring issue in decades not so long past: a desire by whites — and many blacks — to have a separate beach for the Af- Page 51 rican-Americans. Finding such a location was a source of constant contention among Siesta, Lido, Casey and Longboat keys, the city and the county. Perhaps the most significant step in the jour- ney to beach desegregation was a bold move by the local leader of the NAACP, a man named Neil Humphrey. With the help of many others, he simply encouraged people to get in their cars, in an organized caravan, and drive out to Lido Beach, swim and hang out on the beach. This sounds simple and non-controversial, but the effort was highly organized. Local Af- rican-American leaders discussed the plan with the county government and with the lo- cal sheriff. Squad cars led and followed the caravans of 100 or so African-Americans to and from the beach. These now famous caravans on Sundays were the subject of headlines in the local paper. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in a 1955 article stat- ed that "Negroes" had "invaded the beach on Lido Key." Another speaker at the marker event on Oct. 6 was Odessa Butler. Her mother, Maxine Brooks Mays, was a member of the NAACP. "She would bring me to sit-ins at the Ligett's at Five Points and at Woolworth's in Ringling Shopping Center," Butler recalled. "And the lunch counters, after a bit, opened up [to Af- rican-Americans]." During the ceremony, Odessa Butler conclud- ed her remarks in her firm voice: "After 58 years, the struggle is not over."