Charlie Cobb at St. Paul A.M.E.

Charles "Charlie" Cobb, civil rights activist, journalist, and author, will join the congregation of the St. Paul A.M.E. and speak about his experience in the South during the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s. He will talk during the service, on Sunday, June 16, 2024. The service begins at 10:45 a.m. and will be followed by a reception in the church's community room.

Decades before becoming a journalist with NPR and PBS, Charlie Cobb was active in the Civil Rights Movement and trained younger workers in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee — the organization that prepared students for lunch counter sit-ins.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the St. Paul A.M.E. Church in St. Augustine several times during his visits to St. Augustine in the 1960s. The church was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in St. Augustine, and other prominent leaders of the movement also spoke there, including Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, Andrew Young, Hosea Williams, and Willie Bolden.  

This event is one of many held during June to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the local Civil Rights Movement and the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Admission: Free. The congregation does take a collection.

When: Sunday, June 16, 2024 at 10:45 a.m.

Where: St. Paul A.M.E. Church, 85 Martin Luther King Avenue, St. Augustine, Florida 32084

Deborah Menkart took the photo of Charlie Cobb during an event in Washington D.C. in 2016.