When we recall leaders of the civil rights movement in Northeast Florida, we often highlight some of the local men who were involved in making history.
James Weldon Johnson, A. Philip Randolph, Rutledge Pearson, Earl Johnson, Wendell Holmes, Rodney Hurst, Alton Yates.
These men and more certainly deserve to be remembered.
But there also are local women who shouldn’t be forgotten — like Eddie Mae Steward.
When Steward died of a heart attack at age 61 in 2000, newspapers all over the South ran news obituaries, the first sentence noting her role in a historic school desegregation case in Duval County.
Times-Union columnist Bill Foley wrote: “To me, the face of the civil rights movement in Jacksonville belongs to Eddie Mae Steward.”
In the years after her death, Steward was honored in several ways. Congress voted to name a post office in Springfield after her. The state renamed a portion Main Street, between 6th and 8th streets, “Ms. Eddie Mae Steward Avenue.” And Mayor John Peyton issued a proclamation declaring Feb. 17, 2004 to be Eddie Mae Steward Day in Jacksonville.