Chit-Chat and Chew at the ACCORD

The ACCORD Civil Rights Museum hosts a lunchtime gathering and discussion with Robert Saalfeld on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 7 and 8, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. You are invited to bring your lunch to chat with Saalfeld about his experience and how it moved him.

Saalfeld, a retired attorney from Oregon, recently donated a letter and other artifacts to the ACCORD Museum. He had written that letter to his parents when he was 15 and visiting St. Augustine during the civil rights marches and disturbances. He and his schoolmates and chaperones had traveled by bus from Oregon that summer, passing through some of the more troubled parts of the South. 

In St. Augustine, while out for dinner, Saalfeld and his friends witnessed a 'Night March' of Black and white non-violent integrationists silently walking in pairs around the Old Slave Market for equality and freedom. The marchers didn't encounter violence, but were treated to jeers, sneers, and insults of an angry white mob of segregationists and Ku Klux Klansmen, with dogs and clubs.

The young white teen was profoundly disturbed and moved by what he witnessed, and he has said it changed the course of his life. Join him for a tour of the ACCORD Museum and learn more about his experiences as a northern white teen witness in the 1964 South.

Admission: Free

When: Tuesday and Wednesday, April 7 and 8, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Where: Accord Civil Rights Museum, 79 Bridge Street, St. Augustine, Florida 32084