JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The daughters of late civil rights icon Lloyd Pearson are sharing stories about his fight for equality and the legacy he left behind.
Pearson died on Dec. 17 at 102 years old.
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He was a longtime Jacksonville resident who was deeply involved with the ongoing civil rights movement. He participated in the March on Washington in 1963 and was also involved with the NAACP during the ‘80s and ‘90s.
In June 2023, Pearson recited a poem entitled “Millionaire” from a rehabilitation center.
“I’m glad I have two feet. Two eyes to look at Heaven above,” Pearson read a part of one of the stanzas.
Six months later, his daughter Barbara watched the video with tears in her eyes of her father reciting that poem, as she mourns his death.
RELATED: Jacksonville civil rights leader celebrates 100th birthday
Barbara, Lucy and Delores are three of Pearson’s daughters, who knew their dad was an icon to the world and in their eyes.
“The phrase, ‘Fought the good fight’ comes to mind because he fought the good fight right up until he passed,” Lucy said.
“I was able to make him comfortable and do whatever I could for him,” Delores said, who was her father’s caretaker during the last year of his life.
His daughters say he passed down values of consistency, commitment, integrity and most importantly, love.
“Be respectful of people,” Lucy said. “Treat people the way you want to be treated. That is what I learned more than anything.”
The family had two mandatory rules:
All the kids had to go to church, which they walked two miles twice every Sunday for morning and evening services.
All six kids had to go to college when it was time.
“My dad was a very strict dad, but he was always so kind,” Lucy said.
“He was very involved not only in our lives, and everything that we did,” Delores said. “He was involved in the community, and he loved it.”
That passion is proven through more than 30 years of service as a United States mail carrier, an executive member of the National Association of Letter Carriers for 75 years and the National Association of Retired Federal Employees.
Pearson was also the oldest member of the NAACP Jacksonville Branch.
He was devoted to pursuing equality and justice.
“He said, ‘Barbara, you cannot hate people because they are not like you,’ Barbara said. “‘You cannot hate people. You have to love everybody but you can hate what they do and try to make things better.’”
One of Pearson’s ways of doing that was by helping people register to vote.
Jacksonville’s NAACP chapter credits Pearson for collecting 35,000 voter registration applications in his lifetime.
Pearson alluded to that effort during a News4JAX interview for his 100th birthday celebration in October 2021.
“I’ve kept pretty busy, but I’ve enjoyed it,” Pearson said in the interview.
Even in that effort, something significant happened in downtown Jacksonville more than 60 years ago.
Back in the 1960s, Pearson was in what used to be called Hemming Park but is now James Weldon Johnson Park.
He was assisting people to register to vote.
One man did not like that. He came up to Pearson and punched him in the back of the head, which knocked him down to the ground.
That could have changed history for Pearson and this city.
That experience, among many others, did not deter Pearson. If anything, it possibly added more fuel to his internal engine.
Pearson pushed voter registration at a Run DMC concert in the 1980s and was known to keep a folding table in his car’s trunk just in case an opportunity ever presented itself to set up shop.
Through his life’s work, Pearson hoped to leave a lasting impression.
“My daddy loved me,” Lucy said. “I just feel his love. If nobody else loved me, my daddy loved me.”
Not only did Pearson have love for his family, including his precious daughters, but also love for the communities he served.
“He loved people,” Delores said. “He loved the community and doing what he could to uplift the community.”
He had a passion in his heart and song on his mind.
“I’ve got my mind stayed on freedom,” Pearson sang proudly.
That legacy is cemented in Jacksonville’s history and reverberates through the River City.
A memorial service for Pearson will be held on Jan. 5 at Woodlawn Presbyterian on 3026 Woodlawn Road. The service starts at 11 a.m.