PUNTA GORDA — At 97, Afreda Weathersbee Mobley didn’t recognize the Punta Gorda streets where she grew in the Jim Crow era, but she remembered the segregated train station bathrooms, water fountains and schools.
“I was 5 years old when we moved to Punta Gorda,” Weathersbee Mobley recently told members and guests at the Blanchard House in Punta Gorda. “We lived on Fitzhugh Avenue on the corner of Wood Street. The Bailey family lived across from us. Everything has changed. I don’t recognize anything around here anymore.”
Blanchard House President Martha Bireda heard Weathersbee Mobley was in Florida visiting family and asked her to come speak to locals about her early years in Punta Gorda…