How Cora Tyson Helped Shape Local Civil Rights History

There are those still alive today who were on hand for a time of upheaval that casts a decades-long shadow. Their stories are waiting to be heard. If you’ve embarked on the ACCORD Freedom Trail through Lincolnville, you may have encountered one such figure’s story along the tour’s 31 markers. Last spring, St. Augustine’s own Cora Tyson enjoyed her 102nd trip around the sun. She resides in the same house where she once hosted Martin Luther King Jr. for two weeks. Her home, which served as Dr. King’s headquarters, stands among the markers on the Freedom Trail. Famed city trolley tours announce her name twice every hour. Cora served as “housemother” during the Civil Rights Movement – providing a tranquil respite for fellow activists during the Jim Crow era. Under the cover of night, she served a refreshing tea and ginger ale mixture on her porch. On one such evening, Cora recalls King’s serenity as he quenched his thirst. Meanwhile, a procession of five opaque limousines donning skeleton flags passed nearby, followed by a cohort of men marching in white robes. “God had opened my heart up in my home and I had put it to help with the movement, not knowing that anything like this would come later on.” Cora didn’t at first foresee how St. Augustine would become a pivotal lightning rod for the nation at large. Still, she carries no regrets as she looks back on her life of service. “I did it with a smile, and I’m proud I was able to do it, and I think that I did help The Movement.”

Out of heartfelt gratitude for her hospitality, her guests took turns signing her family Bible. It now reads like a who’s who of The Movement, dressed with inscriptions from the likes of Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, and Jose Williams.

For the last 23 years, Cora has served as the Vice President of ACCORD, Inc. (the Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Movement). Even as a centenarian, she is known to host events where she relates historical accounts of her days as housemother to members of The Movement. “The Movement did something to me,” she says. On the one hand, she enjoyed comradery with a diverse demographic. “We all got along. Even in here, we was living whites and blacks all up and down this street,” continues Cora. Still, the visceral racial tensions of the day opened her eyes to a newfound danger in her own backyard, as it were.

Cora served for many years on the St. Johns County school board as a dietician, where her love of nurturing others found an outlet. She worked at James A. Webster Elementary School, St. Augustine High School, and Allen D. Nease High School before retiring. Students describe her as a “nana” figure. One who compassionately makes time to uplift young St. Augustinians. Cora’s life remains a testament to the fact that while laws may provide the “teeth,” it’s the tenacious spirit of people that comprise history’s heartbeat.