JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When you meet Dana Michelle, she’ll introduce herself as your “neighbor.” That’s because she is on a mission to advocate and fight for Durkeeville, one of Jacksonville’s historic Black neighborhoods.
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Her advocacy is manifested by hosting Urban Hikes through Historic Durkeeville where you can see Jacksonville’s Northside up close and experience the art, history and culture of Black Jacksonville.
A recent tour attended by News4JAX started at the Emmett Reed Community Center. The grave site of Thompson Williams is right on the sidewalk next to the community center, just feet away from where children play.
That’s because the park used to be the Mount Herman Cemetery, which was Jacksonville’s largest 19th-century African-American cemetery.
That’s just one piece of history you can learn on the hike through Durkeeville.
“On the route, we see the Emerald Trail, the S line, and we also get to go down Myrtle Avenue, which was Black Main Street in the 1930s and 40s so it’s been really exciting to see people respond positively,” Michelle said.
Nigelle Kohn is the director of a community program called Florida Avenue Main Street, and she grew up and went to school in the neighborhood, but she said she never saw how much it changed from the perspective of the tour.
“Being able to see it from behind, but also see the changes that have happened when I was growing up around here and going to school in this community, it seemed more lively, it seemed more active, and to see almost the loneliness, I know that this community can be vibrant again,” Kohn said.
Jada Hunter took one of the tours too. She is the Executive Director of the Center of Hope. Hunter talked about what the tour meant to her as a community leader.
“I’m happy to see that the Durkeeville Society is working to restore what was here,” Hunter said. “It was just mind-blowing because there are all kinds of wonderful, awesome programs inside of the [Emmett Reed] community center.”
Michelle said the idea of the tours came about from her work on a documentary called Moncrief Springs, which she hopes to finish in the summer of this year.
She said they’re also looking for people to help fund the film so it can get into a film festival.
“We could tell people outside of Jacksonville and outside of Florida about the rich history that’s right here in Durkeeville and some of the neighboring areas, LaVilla, Moncrief, Sherwood, the documentary has been a labor of love,” Michelle said.
You can support the upcoming documentary by clicking here.
You can also click here to sign up for the next walking tour on Feb. 22 at 9 a.m.