Ezra's Pensacola

Ezra Gerry lived in turn-of-the-century Pensacola, a racially interconnected society where African-American leaders owned local businesses and legal segregation did not exist. Throughout Ezra's hometown, churches provided a stable place to feel at peace to anyone who worshipped in Pensacola. However, change came to Pensacola at the turn of the century. Fires razed downtown merchant districts, forcing people to rebuild. As a port city, people came and went, as did yellow fever and other communicable diseases. Through these trials, the Pensacola's black community endured by holding on to its religious institutions and creating economic stability for themselves and their families. The implementation of Jim Crow-era laws shook the stability of an integrated city. To Gerry, the steadfastness of Pensacola may have seemed to crumble in front of him. This exhibit explores Pensacola's Arican-American history by examining the spiritual culture and the leaders of local businesses of Ezra's community and the intrusion of Jim Crow laws into his adopted hometown.