ST. CLOUD, Fla. — Life in Old Florida in the 1940s and 1950s saw Black people having to follow rules that meant keeping a close eye on the clock.
When the sun was setting, being in the wrong place at the wrong time could mean life or death in a sundown town.
Alice Eady and Freddie Holcy remember life during the sundown town era.
“He had his gun out like he was going to blow me away," Holcy said.
Eady reflects on times when her uncle and others found themselves fearing for their lives.
“I remember another time, the KKK was on 441 right here," she said. "I remember that, they had to run to keep from getting killed, I remember that.”
During those times, the Ku Klux Klan was prevalent in Florida.
They were marching, some with their hoods off at the State Capitol in Tallahassee. Eady’s good friend, Freddie Holcy, remembers no matter what time of the day your life could be at risk when you were Black.
"They had a name they would call us, you know," Holcy said.
Holcy recalls an incident where a white man was not happy with him for stepping foot in a bar in town.
“I went back out to the car, and he stood outside there, and got his gun out so I didn’t say anything and eased on into my car and backed on out, because I’m by myself, if you know what I mean," he said.
Whether you lived in a sundown town or just traveling through one, there were strict rules to abide by. Holcy said just to go see a movie in town meant planning ahead to avoid trouble.
“We went in groups. We didn’t go one or two — we went in groups, that’s what we did," he said.
When Jennifer Paul became the first African American councilmember elected in St. Cloud, she remembered that on the campaign trail, one of the concerns she heard from residents is that they hadn’t officially denounced this part of history, so decades later, she made a move to change that.
She announced a proclamation at a recent meeting that the city’s status as a sundown town, now in 2025, was officially over.
“Casting aside the darkness of our city’s former reputation, to joyfully declare on this ninth day of January 2025, that St. Cloud is now a place of hope, opportunity, and new beginnings shining brightly on all citizens," Paul said during the meeting.
As the sun rises now in St. Cloud, it’s a new day forward.
“We’ve had a lot of people coming from other places, moving in, and they were not that type of person, so that made a real difference in St. Cloud, and the whole area, to tell you the truth," Holcy said. "Now, you don’t have to be afraid. You can go any place you want to go right now."
