World News – UK – Alfred « Zack » Straghn, 92, helped build the cultural architecture for change in Delray Beach – Boca Raton’s most trusted news source

Alfred « Zack » Straghn, a longtime funeral home operator, softball coach, Sunday school teacher, and fighter who was instrumental in hiring Delray Beach, black cops and integrating the city beach died in December. 3 at Delray Medical Center. He was 92 years old.

The lifelong Delray Beach resident wore many hats in the community. While many of his roles were unofficial or didn’t even have titles, he just did what needed to be done without expecting any personal gain.

While working for a funeral home in the 1950s and 60s, he and a handful of community activists addressed the most important and volatile issues of the time – segregation, lynching, education, and economic justice.

Mr. . For many, Straghn was a walking archive of history and a voice of argument. His faith was the center of his life and he studied his ragged Bible every day.

He would welcome journalists looking for local historical information to his office, where he would be giving classes on yesterday’s Delray Beach. Regardless of the subject of the interview, Mr.. Straghn had to share two accomplishments: an effort from 1954 that eight years later led to the separation of the beach and the integration of the police.

In the 1950s, blacks were banned from going to the city’s public beach or nearby municipal swimming pool, then on the southwest corner of Atlantic Avenue and State Road A1A. In fact, city workers emptied the pool at 3pm. m. Every day, to prevent black kids from using it after hours, he told me.

When a youth, including his cousin, defied the order and swam in the Atlantic, his cousin drowned in an area heavily populated with sharp stones. While the boy yelled for help, the onlookers ignored their pleas, he said.

Partly upset about the tragedy, Mr.. . Straghn and a group of blacks held a « calf-in » protest that resulted in the arrest of black beach-goers and even cross-burns. The saga gained national attention.

« We are going to swim in the three miles of beach here and no one is going to stop us because this is ours, we pay taxes in this town and this is where we are going to swim, » he told a WPTV-Ch 5 reporter in a February interview 2019.

Mr. . Straghn then tried unsuccessfully to contact the then police chief R. . C.. . Croft to hire more blacks for the force. The few blacks in the force could only patrol and make arrests within the black community.

After Croft retired in 1972, he was succeeded by James S.. . « Jimmy » Grantham held out his hand to Mr.. . Straghn and asked for his help in recruiting black officers.

« That was very important to Zack, » said Brooks, who retired after 23 years as captain. « He knew the importance of integration and that [blacks] cannot do certain things . . . like using the beach or the swimming pool was very important to him. ”

Sixty years later, the agency has increased its number to 25 black officers, including 20 men.

Delray Beach Police Chief Javaro Sims, credited with raising minority attitudes, shouts Mr.. . Straghn “a staple in the city. ”

« He was a catalyst for African Americans in town and certainly within the Delray Beach Police Department, » said Sims, whose father and Mr.. . Straghn were classmates. « Mr. Straghn was also a great supporter of mine in my role with the police. There will never be another Zack Straghn. ”

His verbal hand-to-hand combat didn’t stop there. He fought so blacks could use a coin-operated laundry and be served in a downtown restaurant, Brooks said.

« Delray Beach has come a long way in integrating and working with people to come together thanks to him, » said Brooks.

Between the fight against the establishment, Mr.. . Straghn found time to practice softball. Long before the term nonprofit was even coined, it had a traveling softball team that toured the state.

I have Mr.. . Straghn, when I moved to town in the late 1980s and became a member of his church, the Greater Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church. He was my Sunday school teacher (something he really enjoyed), one of my mentors, and someone who really cared about me as a person.

As a young reporter I spent time with him to learn the checkered history of this enclave by the sea, where I had planned to “punch my ticket” after two years and move on.

I soon learned that while often unnamed or underrated, he was waging the fight to rid this city of the remains of Jim Crow. And while much of his struggles as president of the local NAACP were under the auspices of the local NAACP, many were invisible to the public.

Mr. . Straghn loved to sing bass with the Delray Community Choir, his church choir and the male choir. I anticipated the rare occasions when we would do a duet.

Until several years ago, when his health deteriorated, he walked miles from his home on Southwest 5th Avenue to the beach every weekday, which he had been doing for over 60 years.

Five years ago, he received the Let’s Move Legendary Award from the Palm Healthcare Foundation for the inspiration that led to his annual Let’s Move walk.

Long before the area was saturated with black funeral homes, it was almost guaranteed that Straghn & Son’s Tri City Funeral Home would take over the service when an elderly person died. Mr. Straghn made friends with the families he advised. He was an absolute professional with a unique blend of business acumen and compassion for the thousands of families he has served over the years.

Two sons, Keith and Vince, preceded him in death. Survivors include his childhood sweetheart and childhood wife, Lois, and a host of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

(Required)

(Will not be published)
(Required)

XHTML: You can use these HTML tags: