The Ritz Theatre and Museum

On Saturday, my mother and I went to the Ritz Theatre and Museum. The Ritz Museum is dedicated to keeping the African American history of Jacksonville, Florida alive. The first exhibit was of the Jacksonville high schools, with an emphasis on sports. This exhibit blended in well with another section of the museum that displayed sports, not only in the high school setting, but the college and professional setting as well. The third exhibit was of brothers James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson. The final exhibit was a walk-through displaying African American life in historical Jacksonville. We were shown around each exhibit by a tour guide. She really impressed me because this was the first museum I had ever been to that she actually knew her information and did not have to read off of the displays. Having the tour guide was helpful because she was able to tell us stories that provided addition facts that were not displayed.

Exhibit 1:

Edward M. Stanton was the first African American public high school in Jacksonville, Florida, beginning in 1868. It was also one of the first African American public high schools in the state of Florida. The Stanton team was also one of the first schools able to participate in football. One news article headline dated November 28, 1950 read “First Negro Football Game will be played in Gator Bowl”. Another dated November 30, 1950 read “East-West Classic will be played in Gator Bowl tonight”. Stanton’s football team went on to will the East-West Classic.

Northwestern William Raines opened in 1958. Our tour guide told us that this was an African American public school built less than a mile from Ribault high school, which at the time was an all-white school. Before the times of desegregation, white families moved from Ribault high school, soon making it an all-African American high school. She said that this was significant because this was the first time that two African American high schools were within a mile of each other, giving Raines high a lot of history. An event that is coming to the theatre soon is a documentary by Emanuel Washington called We Remember Raines. This documentary was made to help identify and make known the history of Raines high in order to keep it from being torn down.

Exhibit 2:

The next exhibit was all about sports. Here the East-West Classic trophy that Stanton high school won was displayed. Also on display was memorabilia from Robert Lee “Bullet Bob” Hayes. He was an athlete from Jacksonville. Hayes was a two time Olympic gold medalist and a Dallas Cowboy’s SuperBowl champion. Another fact the tour guide told me was that Don Gaffney, was from Jacksonville and was the first black quarterback to play for the University of Florida Gators.

Exhibit 3:

The third exhibit was all about the life of two brothers, James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson. The museum had a robotic display that gave a ten minute bio of the two brothers, more so James than John. James Johnson had been the principal of Stanton high school, an author, a poet, a huge name in Broadway and music, a NAACP executive secretary, and the first African American admitted to the Florida Bar. The two brothers along with fried Bob Cole wrote and composed over 200 pieces of music together. One piece, Lift Every Voice and Sing, is still widely known today and has been called the “Negro National Anthem”. 

 

Exhibit 4:

The final exhibit showed what life in the African American culture in Jacksonville had been like in the early to mid-1900. It showed home and family life, church, an insurance company, barber shop, doctor’s office, legal professional’s office, Eartha M.M. White, pharmacy, school, Photos by Weems, live entertainment and night life, and civil rights. There were three displays the tour guide stopped and had stories for. First was the church. The display was of Central Metropolitan C.M.E. Church. It was an African American church open from 1905 to 1986. In the stained glass window of the church, a black Jesus was portrayed with a white woman kneeling down to him. The tour guide said that she was surprised nothing had happened to the window because in the times that the church was open, this was a radical move for the people of the church due to discrimination and segregation. The second display she discussed was the Photos by Weems. Weems lived from 1929 to 1979. He was a visual storyteller who dedicated his life to capturing the lifestyle and culture of African Americans in photos. Weems work was names La Villa. The final display she took the time to discuss was the civil rights movement. She described the everyday discriminations that took place against the African American people and what they did to combat them. She stressed that most of the people working in the civil rights movement were adolescents and young adults. She said that they were pretty much throwing their lives away because they would not stand a chance in life after an arrest, but they believed that what they were fighting for was way more important.

The Ritz Theatre and Museum provided a great experience for me. I was able to not only learn history of a different culture but history of where I live as well. This museum is definitely a hidden treasure that I would encourage everyone to visit.