Rodney L Hurst Sr

Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr., is a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, a widower, a cancer survivor, a civil rights activist, a Black historian, a military veteran, and the award-winning author of four books.

His first book, "It was never about a hot dog and a Coke®!" is a personal account of the 1960 sit-in demonstrations in Jacksonville, Florida, and Ax Handle Saturday. It recounts the segregated civic, political, and educational climate of Jacksonville, Florida, in the 1950s and the 1960s, the 1960 Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP sit-ins, and the violent event, Ax Handle Saturday. Due to the black-out of local news about these important civil rights events in Jacksonville, his book is the only historically accurate description of those sit-ins and the violence of Ax Handle Saturday. It won over a dozen awards, including the 2008 USA National Best Books Awards national book competition First Place Gold Medal Award for Multicultural Nonfiction and the Florida Book Awards Bronze Medal for Nonfiction.

"Unless WE Tell It…It Never Gets Told!" is Hurst's second book. It relates stories about Jacksonville's Black History and Civil Rights History. It was one of five finalists for the Multicultural Nonfiction Award by the National Best Books Awards national book competition. It was also honored with the City of Jacksonville's Historic Preservation Commission Award.

His third book, "Never Forget Who You Are: Conversations about Racism and Identity Development," which he co-authored with Dr. Rudy F. Jamison Jr., discusses Racism and identity development as seen through Mr. Hurst's and Dr. Jamison's eyes. The book review site, Readers View, awarded the book the 2021 Nonfiction "Book of the Year" and the 2021 Grand Prize Winner in its national book competition.

His fourth book, "Black and Brilliant," published in July of this year (2023), is for young adults ages 12-18 and is based on his first book about the 1960 Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP Sit-ins and Ax Handle Saturday. Black and Brilliant is more than a historical account; it is a call to action. It is Young people in Jacksonville, Florida, understanding their history through the classroom teachings of a Black and Brilliant schoolteacher who would mentor Hurst and, as the adviser to the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP helped young Black activists become “a part of the solution and not a part of the problem.”

Hurst is a native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a 1960 high school graduate of segregated Northwestern Junior-Senior High School in Jacksonville. He attended Edward Waters College, now University. He was the sixteen-year-old President of the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP and was one of the leaders of the 1960 Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP Sit-in demonstrations.

The documentary Ax Handle Saturday: 50 Years Later is based on his book. Hurst's leadership as a teenager during the Civil Rights Movement is also the subject of a chapter in the Scholastic book, Ten True Tales: Young Civil Rights Heroes, written for Third Graders to Seventh Graders and ages 8 to 12. The award-winning documentary, "Unless We Tell: Ax Handle Saturday features Hurst describing the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP 1960 sit-ins and Ax Handle Saturday.

In addition to his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, Hurst served two four-year terms on the Jacksonville City Council. He is responsible for many "firsts" in the Jacksonville Community. Hurst was one of the thirteen original national recipients of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Television Fellowships and was also the first Black to co-host a television in Jacksonville on PBS Channel WJCT. He was the first Black male hired at the Prudential South Central Home Office in Jacksonville, Florida. In addition, Hurst was the first Black to serve as the Executive Director of the State of Florida's Construction Industry Licensing Board. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force.

Hurst is a Silver Life Member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and a subscribing Life Member of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) as a member of the James Weldon Johnson Branch in Jacksonville, Florida. Hurst also organized and coordinated Jacksonville's first Civil Rights Conference (August 25-27, 2022.)

He is involved with many Boards and Agencies in the Jacksonville Community. Hurst served on the Jacksonville Civil Rights Task Force and chaired the Sub-Committee on the Civil Rights timeline for Jacksonville, which the Jacksonville City Council codified. Hurst speaks extensively on Civil Rights, Black History, and Racism.

He was the featured speaker for the City of Jacksonville's 23rd Annual Martin Luther King Breakfast, the Nassau County Annual Martin Luther King Breakfast, the Brevard County NAACP Branch Freedom Fund Dinner, and the City of Deltona's Black History Luncheon.

In addition, Hurst was the keynote speaker at the Induction Ceremony of Harriette and Harry T. Moore to the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame.

Hurst nominated his mentor, civil rights icon and NAACP Pioneer Rutledge H. Pearson, and his longtime friend and civil rights icon, Dr. Arnett Girardeau, to the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame. Pearson was inducted posthumously in 2016 and Dr. Girardeau into the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame in June 2017. Unfortunately, Dr. Girardeau died four months later. Hurst is also the Historian of the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches.

Hurst is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Visionary Award given by the National Alumni Association of Bethune-Cookman University; the Outstanding Alumnus Award by the National Alumni Association of Edward Waters College; The Clanzel T. Brown Award, presented by the Jacksonville Urban League; The Stetson Kennedy Foundation "Fellow Man and Mother Earth" Award; the President's Award by the President of the Jacksonville Branch National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the Jacksonville, Florida One Jax Silver Medallion Humanitarian Award, the Jacksonville Bar Association "Liberty Bell" Award and is a Recipient of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History's (ASALH) "Living Legacy" Award. Two public art murals in Jacksonville include his image.

Hurst is a widower. His late wife, Ann, passed on September 5, 2016, three months before their Fiftieth Anniversary on December 10, 2016.

Hurst is the father of two sons, Rodney II (Vandlyn) and Todd, and is the grandfather of Marquiette (Mar-Kita) and Jasmine, Rodney II's daughters. Hurst's eldest granddaughter Marquiette and her husband, Kyle, are the parents of Everly Ann, Hurst's first great-grand. Kyle is a noted videographer in Jacksonville, and Marquiette is an accomplished photographer. His youngest granddaughter Jasmine is a graduate of the Alvin Ailey Dance School in New York, where she lives and works. Jasmine is a dancer and a canvas art painter with shows in New York and Jacksonville. Hurst worships at First Baptist Church of Oakland in Jacksonville.