JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – During Black History Month, News4JAX is celebrating local African American trailblazers who paved the way in politics and public service.
These are just a few of the figures whose influence is still felt among the local African American community.
Rita Carter Perry
Perry was the first woman in Jacksonville and the state of Florida to be a founding publisher of a weekly newspaper, The Jacksonville Free Press.
The Free Press was first published in 1986 and came as a response to the community’s plea for more positive stories by African Americans about their neighborhoods and their culture.
The Jacksonville Free Press, which is still printing, is circulated in the tri-county area and southeast Georgia. The weekly publication, now being helmed by Perry’s daughter, Sylvia Carter Perry, delivers local, state and national news to its readers from a positive perspective of the Black experience in America.
Rita Carter Perry, who grew up in Detroit, likely took inspiration for the name of her newspaper from the Detroit Free Press, which has been publishing since 1831.
Perry was a creative writer and artist manager with Motown, and once Perry moved to Jacksonville, she began blazing trails in radio and journalism in a career that spanned 45 years.
She worked as a general manager for various local radio stations and wrote for local publications in Florida and Georgia. Perry lived a life of social activism, engagement and advocacy. She was a board member of the Clara White Mission, the YMCA and the NAACP, just to name a few.
In 2013, she was given the Mayor’s Trailblazer Award, and she was a recipient of the MLK Foundation Award for exceptional service in the African-American community.
Perry passed away quietly and unexpectedly in 2018 at the age of 80.
Margaret Ann McQueen
McQueen was the first African American to be elected to the Jacksonville Beach City Council, serving from 1991 to 1994 and then again in 1998.
A photo from the Beaches Museum shows McQueen as she took the oath after she was elected to city council in 1991 to represent District 1.
McQueen is also known for leading the Jacksonville Beach Community Action Co-Op, which addressed issues within the city like crime.
A street in Jacksonville Beach is named in honor of McQueen, who also helped build relationships between residents and police in the city.
The street sign is at the intersection of Second Avenue South and Seventh Street South in Jacksonville Beach.
McQueen, a University of North Florida alum and an elementary school teacher, raised her children in her hometown of Jacksonville Beach.
She died in 2013 at the age of 73.
Nat Glover
Glover made history as the first African American elected sheriff in Florida since the end of Reconstruction when he was voted into office in Jacksonville in 1995. He was re-elected in 1999.
It was a major milestone for the city and for Glover, who was born in then-segregated Jacksonville in 1943.
His 1999 reelection garnered Glover national recognition for his community policing, ban on choke holds and displaying officers’ names on their vehicles -- a practice that continues today.
Glover also created the Sheriff’s Advisory Council, also known as ShAdCo, to partner with citizens in all areas of the city.
Considered a pioneer in leadership in Jacksonville, Glover worked 37 years in law enforcement and was inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Officers’ Hall of Fame in 2021.
Glover, a widely respected public servant in Florida, later served for seven years as the president of his alma mater, Edward Waters University, Florida first historically Black college.
In February 2024, the Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute named a fellowship in honor of Glover, who was called “one of the greatest public servants in our city’s 200-year history.”
The fellowship is part of the university’s Minority Fellowship Program, and students selected for the fellowship receive a full scholarship for Jacksonville University MPP Degree Program, an internship placement with the City of Jacksonville, a stipend, and the opportunity for mentorship and professional development.
The one-time Jacksonville mayoral candidate is now a leadership coach and author. His book “Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff in the Deep South” is available on Amazon.
Alvin Brown
Brown, who served as mayor of Jacksonville from 2011 to 2015, was the first African American to be elected to that office.
Brown was the first Democratic mayor of Jacksonville in 20 years. He began his career as a senior member of the White House leadership team under President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, advising the administration on urban policy and domestic issues.
According to his profile on Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics & Public Service page, Brown earned his bachelor’s and MBA from Jacksonville University, received honorary doctorates from JU and Edward Waters University, and completed postgraduate work at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Brown has worked as the executive-in-residence at Jacksonville University‘s Davis School of Business; been president and CEO of the Willie Gary Classic Foundation; and been executive director of the Bush/Clinton Katrina Interfaith Fund.
He has also served as chairman of the board of the National Black MBA Association.
Since serving as mayor of Jacksonville, Brown has gone on to serve on the national level and is currently the Vice Chairman of the National Transportation and Safety Board.
Born in South Carolina, Brown moved to Jacksonville in 1981 and continues to reside in the River City with his wife and two sons.