In 1964, national Civil Rights activists gather in the city of St. Augustine, on northeast Florida’s Atlantic coast, to campaign for desegregation. Police react to sit-ins by filling jails to capacity. The KKK reacts with arson and assaults.

On June 11, Martin Luther King Jr. confronts the owner of a motel during a sit-in at the motel’s diner where Blacks are refused service. He and others are arrested.

On June 18, demonstrators return to the motel. 17 rabbis leading a prayer in the parking lot are arrested while Black and white activists jump into the pool. The owner dumps muriatic acid into the pool. Many more arrests are made.

Photographs of the event appear in newspapers worldwide. The following day, the U.S. Senate breaks an 83-day filibuster and passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964.