Only U.S. Stamp Issued to Honor Something In Jacksonville & One of St. Augustine

[stjr]

Last I checked, this stamp, picturing the Ribault Monument, then in Mayport, is the only U.S. stamp ever issued to honor a person, place, thing, or historical event in Jacksonville/Duval County:





This postage stamp was part of a series of three stamps issued to commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of the settling of Walloons in New Netherlands, now the State of New York, in 1624. The Huguenots and the Walloons were early French and Flemish settlers of America, sharing a bond of Protestant heritage, both adhering to the strict Calvinist philosophy.

These 5-cent stamps, designed by C. Aubrey Huston, were first placed on sale May 1, 1924, at Washington, D.C., Jacksonville, and Mayport. The stamp has for its central design the Ribault Monument in Mayport, Florida commemorating the landing of the Huguenots on May 1, 1562.

Led by French naval officer Jean Ribault, the French Huguenot exploratory group came ashore near the mouth of the River of May (now the St. Johns River), and they were greeted by Native Americans called the Timucuans. Ribault, along with his lieutenant René Goulaine de Laudonnière, erected a stone column bearing the coats of arms of his French King.

Ribault and Laudonnière soon returned to Europe to arrange supplies for the new colony. In June 1564, Laudonnière sailed again to the mouth of the St. Johns River, and was once more welcomed by the Timucuans. Laudonnière led the colonists inland, where they founded Fort Caroline at St. Johns Bluff. The fort was named for the reigning French king Charles IX.

In August 1565, Ribault returned to Ft. Caroline to resupply the settlement. Upon learning of the Spanish fortifying the colony of St. Augustine just 35 miles to the south, Ribault set out with several ships carrying 200 sailors and 400 soldiers to dislodge the Spanish, but he was surprised at sea by a violent storm lasting several days.

Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the governor of Florida for Spain, took advantage of this. Marching his troops overland, he surprised the Fort Caroline garrison at dawn on September 20, which then numbered about 200 to 250 people. The Spaniards attacked them and killed most of the defenders, except for about 50 women and children who were taken prisoner and 26 defenders who managed to escape, including de Laudonnière.

Meanwhile Ribault's fleet of ships was wrecked on the coast south of St. Augustine. The Spanish picked up many of the survivors and killed them, including Ribault. This massacre put an end to France's attempts at colonization in Florida.

During the early 1920s a movement began in the Florida Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to mark the location of Ribault’s first arrival in the New World. In 1924 a piece of land was donated near present-day Mayport for a new column designed by Florida sculptor Adrian Pillars (who also designed the famous winged sculpture in Memorial Park). At this time the U.S. Post Office released this commemorative stamp of Ribault’s column, and the U.S. Mint released a coin.

When U.S. Naval Station Mayport was established in 1941, the monument became inaccessible to the public and was moved. Three moves later, in 1958, the monument found its permanent home on St. Johns Bluff, and became part of the new National Park site, Fort Caroline National Memorial. Now situated atop St. Johns Bluff, the monument provides a commanding view of the St. Johns River.

The stamp below was issued by the US in 1965 to honor the 400th anniversary of St. Augustine.  The same stamp, with Spanish words and currency, was issued simultaneously by Spain in what I believe was the first ever US joint issue of a stamp with another nation.  The next issue like this, as I recall, was when the US simultaneously issued with the USSR the Apollo-Soyuz stamp in 1975, the US version below (USSR version is same art work but design varies slightly otherwise plus change in language and currency).

[stjr]

More interesting tidbits on the Huguenots in America:

The first Huguenots to leave France seeking freedom from persecution went to Switzerland and to the Netherlands.[citation needed] A group of Huguenots under the leadership of Jean Ribault in 1562 ended up establishing the small colony of Fort Caroline in 1564, on the banks of the St. Johns River, in what is today Jacksonville, Florida.

The colony was the first attempt at any permanent European settlement in the present-day continental United States, but the group survived only a short time. In September 1565, an attack against the new Spanish colony at St. Augustine backfired, and the Spanish wiped out the Fort Caroline garrison.....   

* Eight American Presidents (George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and Lyndon Johnson) had significant proven Huguenot ancestry, as did founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and Paul Revere. Twelve other U.S. Presidents had credible but unproven claims to Huguenot ancestors. [40]
    * Davy Crockett, celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician was of Huguenot stock. The Crocketts were the descendants of Huguenots who fled France in the 17th Century and migrated to Ireland. Crockett is an Anglicized version of the name "de Crocketagne".
    * Francis Marion, American Revolutionary War guerilla fighter, was of predominantly Huguenot heritage.
    * In 1924 a commemorative half dollar, known as the Huguenot-Walloon Half Dollar[41], was coined in the United States to celebrate the 300th anniversary of their initial settlement in what is now the United States. One Huguenot colonist was a silversmith named Apollos Rivoire, who would later anglicize his name to Paul Revere. He would, still later, give his name and his profession to his son, Paul Revere, the famous United States revolutionary.
    * A neighborhood in New York City's borough of Staten Island is named Huguenot, and the city of New Rochelle, New York, is named after La Rochelle, a former Huguenot stronghold in France.

Above from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugenot

A French expedition, organized by Protestant leader Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and led by the Norman navigator Jean Ribault had landed at the site on the River of May (now the St. Johns River) in February 1562, before moving north to Port Royal Sound. There, on present-day Parris Island, South Carolina, Ribault left twenty-eight men to build a settlement known as Charlesfort. Ribault then returned to Europe to arrange supplies for the new colony, but was arrested in England due to complications arising from the French Wars of Religion, which prevented his return.

Without supplies or leadership, and beset by hostility from the native populations, all but one of the colonists sailed back to Europe after only a year. During their voyage in an open boat, they were reduced to cannibalism before the survivors were rescued in English waters. Meanwhile, René Goulaine de Laudonnière, who had been Ribault's second-in-command on the 1562 expedition, led a contingent of around 200 new settlers back to Florida, where they founded Fort Caroline (or Fort de la Caroline) atop St. Johns Bluff on June 22, 1564. The fort was named for the reigning French king, Charles IX. For just over a year, this colony was beset by hunger, Indian attacks, and mutiny, and attracted the attention of Spanish authorities who considered it a challenge to their control over the area.

In June of 1565, Ribault had been released from English custody, and Coligny sent him back to Florida. In late August, Ribault arrived at Fort Caroline with a large fleet and hundreds of soldiers and settlers and took command of the settlement. However, the recently appointed Spanish Governor of Florida, Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, had simultaneously been dispatched from Spain with orders to remove the French outpost, and arrived within days of Ribault’s landing. After a brief skirmish between Ribault's ships and Menéndez's ships, the latter retreated 35 miles south, where they established the settlement of St. Augustine. Ribault pursued the Spanish with several of his ships and most of his troops, but he was surprised at sea by a violent storm lasting several days. In a bold stroke, Menéndez marched his forces overland, launching a surprise dawn attack on the Fort Caroline garrison which then numbered about 200 to 250 people. The only survivors were about 50 women and children who were taken prisoner and a few defenders, including Laudonnière, who managed to escape; the rest were executed.

As for Ribault's fleet, all of the ships either sank or ran aground south of St. Augustine during the storm, and many of the Frenchmen onboard were lost at sea. Ribault and his marooned sailors were located by Menéndez and his troops and summoned to surrender. Apparently believing that his men would be well treated, Ribault capitulated. Menéndez then executed Ribault and several hundred Frenchmen as Lutheran heretics at a place now known as Matanzas ("massacres") Inlet. This atrocity shocked Europeans even in that bloody era of religious strife.[1] A fort built much later, Fort Matanzas, is in the vicinity of the site. This massacre put an end to France's attempts at colonization of the Atlantic coast of North America.

The Spanish destroyed Fort Caroline, but built their own fort on the same site. In April 1568, Dominique de Gourgues led a French force which attacked, captured and burned the fort. He then slaughtered all his Spanish prisoners in horrible revenge for the 1565 massacre.[1] The Spanish rebuilt, but permanently abandoned the fort the following year. The exact location of the settlement is not known.

Reconstruction

Fort Caroline was authorized as a National Memorial on September 21, 1950, and established on January 16, 1953. The memorial features a scaled-down reconstruction of the fort, based on historic renderings, and a visitor center. The memorial is administered in conjunction with Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, the memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

Above from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Caroline

Visit the National Park Service's Fort Caroline at: http://www.nps.gov/foca/

[BridgeTroll]

I love those history lessons... thanks stjr 

[jandar]

The US Postal service honored one of our own in 1988. I was at the school that is named after him where they presented the stamp.

Of whom do I speak?
James Weldon Johnson.

[riverside_mail]

Here's another one:

[stjr]

The US Postal service honored one of our own in 1988. I was at the school that is named after him where they presented the stamp.

Of whom do I speak?
James Weldon Johnson.

Good catch, jandar.  Unfortunately, it appears the Post Office didn't recognize Jacksonville's connection  directly with this issue since it did not have a first day of issue here:

James Weldon Johnson Commemorative Stamp

On Feb. 2, 1988, the U.S. Postal Service released a 22-cent commemorative stamp honoring African-American lawyer, lyricist, U.S. diplomat, civil rights activist, novelist, poet, and educator James Weldon Johnson. First day of issue ceremonies were held in Nashville, Tenn. at Fisk University, where Johnson had taught creative literature from 1930 until his death in June 1938. The stamp's issuance came in the 50th anniversary year of Johnson's death, but the release date was moved from June to February to mark Black History Month. It was the eleventh issue in the Postal Service's Black Heritage series.

The stamp shows Johnson along with the beginning of the song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which many consider the black national anthem. This was one of over 200 songs that Johnson and his brother composed in the early 1900s.

From: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:1pJU_jNQdR4J:georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/jwjohnsonstamp.htm+first+day+of+issue+james+weldon+johnson&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

James Weldon Johnson Biography:

Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Fla. on June 17, 1871. He attended Atlanta University, where he wrote over 30 poems while a student. At graduation ceremonies in 1894, Johnson gave the senior address for his graduating class. After Atlanta University, Johnson returned to Jacksonville, Fla., where he became principal of that city's Colored High School. At the same time he studied law, and in 1897 Johnson became the first black admitted to the Florida Bar. After practicing law for a short time, Johnson returned to Atlanta University to obtain a master's degree in 1903. From 1900 to 1906, he and his brother collaborated in composing over 200 songs, including what many consider the black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt named Johnson U.S. consul to Venezuela, a post he followed that of consul to Nicaragua. In 1917, Johnson obtained a doctorate from Talladega College in Alabama, followed by a doctorate from Howard University in 1923. In 1916, he began working with the NAACP, and in 1920 became the organization's executive secretary. In this role for the next ten years, Johnson was an ardent fighter for federal anti-lynching laws. Throughout this and the two earlier decades, the multi-talented Johnson also wrote poetry and prose, including The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and God's Trombones. In 1930, he became a professor of creative literature at Fisk University. On his birthday in 1938, Johnson was driving to his summer home in Maine. During a thunderstorm, his car was hit by a train at an intersection in Wiscasset, Maine. Johnson died from the injuries on June 26.

From: http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/jwjohnson.htm

[stjr]

Here's another one:

Another nice catch.  Unfortunately, again, Jacksonville was slighted by the Post Office and first issue ceremonies were held in New York:



Here is Randoph's bio:

Asa Philip Randolph was the son of a Methodist (AME) Pastor. He was born on April 15, 1889 in Crescent City, Florida. In 1891, the Randolph family moved to Jacksonville. Randolph attended high school at the Cookman Institute where he graduated at the top of his class.

Randolph moved to Harlem, New York in 1911 where he attended classes at City College and joined the Socialist Party. He taught at the Rand School of Social Science and in 1917 founded the journal, "The Messenger," In 1921 Randolph ran an unsuccessful campaign for New York Secretary of State.

Randolph began lecturing throughout the country and urged Blacks to join unions. He organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, (Today - the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks).

The Pullman Company organized a vicious campaign against the union and persuaded Black Newspapers and Ministers to attack the Brotherhood. Union members were labeled as Reds and Communist agitators.

In 1935 the Brotherhood officially became a part of the American Federation of Labor, (now the AFL-CIO).  The union negotiated a contract with the Pullman Company in 1937 becoming the first Black Union to have a contract with a company.

In 1941, Randolph convinced President Roosevelt to establish the Fair Employment Practice Committee, which led the way in obtaining equal opportunities for minority employment in government and in the defense industry.

Randolph formed the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience in the Armed Forces in 1947.  Under pressure from Randolph and the League, President Truman issued an executive order against discrimination in the military. This order allowed Blacks to be admitted to the Army and Navy Academies.

When the AF of L and the CIO merged in 1955, Randolph was appointed to the executive council and became Vice President in 1957. He founded the Negro-American Labor Council in 1960 and served as it's president until 1966. He helped organize the march on Washington, D.C. in 1963. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a direct result of this march. Randolph was appointed the honorary chairman of the White House Conference on Civil Rights in 1966.

Randolph wrote articles for the Journal of the Urban League and founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute to help train minority youths in skilled occupations.

A. Phillip Randolph died in New York, New York on May 16, 1979.

From: http://www.esperstamps.org/heritage/h12.htm