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Extraordinary Stories. Little-Known Characters. Uncomfortable Truths.

The Black girl who defied segregation, inspiring MLK and Jackie Robinson

  • Feb 1, 2021
  • 1 min read

Audrey Nell Edwards Hamilton with Martin Luther King III in 2011. She was arrested with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in St. Augustine, Fla., in June 1964. They were taken to the St. Johns County Jail, where she had already spent time after her arrest in 1963 for a lunch counter sit-in. (David Nolan)
Audrey Nell Edwards Hamilton with Martin Luther King III in 2011. She was arrested with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in St. Augustine, Fla., in June 1964. They were taken to the St. Johns County Jail, where she had already spent time after her arrest in 1963 for a lunch counter sit-in. (David Nolan)

Audrey Nell Edwards was still a baby when Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color line in 1947.


In 1963, when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed that it was time to “make real the promises of democracy,” Audrey Nell was a 16-year-old, languishing in a cell in the St. Johns County Jail in St. Augustine, Fla.


Within a year, both civil rights icons would meet and be inspired by Audrey Nell, a spunky warrior for civil rights, part of a group known as the “St. Augustine Four.” They were young people with uncommon courage. They spoke up. They spoke out. They broke color lines and leaned hard against the arc of the moral universe – all at great personal cost.



In this June 18, 1964, file photo, pro-integration demonstrators hold a prayer session at the Monson Motor Lodge Restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida. The restaurant was the target of sit-in attempts by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (AP Photo)
In this June 18, 1964, file photo, pro-integration demonstrators hold a prayer session at the Monson Motor Lodge Restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida. The restaurant was the target of sit-in attempts by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (AP Photo)

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