Ambassador Club Food Fund drive, L-R: Clara Ponder, George Baker, Ernest Ponder, Gwen Wade, c1955. Photo courtesy of the St. Petersburg Museum of History
The Ambassadors Club: Leading the Way By Tina Stewart Brakebill In 1953, St. Petersburg physician Dr. Ralph M. Wimbish invited a small group of Black professionals, educators, and business leaders to his home to discuss how they might help improve the lives of the city’s African American community. The Ambassadors Club, a men’s civic association, was the result of this meeting, and its members would be on the forefront of efforts to change entrenched systemic inequities and offer meaningful cultural opportunities and support for the greater community.
neighborhoods. Nearly every facet of life reflected strict segregation, including beaches, pools, golf courses, downtown’s green benches, lunch counters, hotels, movie theaters, schools, and a wide variety of jobs. African Americans made up about 14 percent of the city’s population but were overrepresented in St. Pete’s pool of economically disadvantaged citizens. This reality was the backdrop for Dr. Wimbish’s call for action: “Gentlemen, let us wake and do something to help our community.”
“Gentlemen, let us wake up and do something to help our community.”
Festival Floats, Milk Funds, and Using Power for Good
The 1950s are often glorified as a boom era in St. Petersburg. The city’s population exploded, its footprint expanded, and industry and tourism flourished. While truthful, this glowing description certainly isn’t the whole story. In particular, St. Pete’s Black population struggled to gain access to the resources helping make the boom a reality for others. Despite priding itself on being a “progressive” southern city, St. Petersburg held to its Jim Crow-era policies and attitudes. In 1950, most of St. Pete’s 14,000 African Americans still lived in segregated
One of the Ambassador Club’s first efforts is also one of its best known. In 1954, the Club sponsored the “first Negro float” to be invited to participate in the annual Festival of States Parade. The all-Black Gibbs High School and the Sixteenth Street Junior High bands had marched in the parade in past years but always had been relegated to the end. The Ambassadors negotiated an agreement in which they were assured that “the float will not be entered near the end of the parade as most Negro units are.” Its success ensured it also was not the last parade
6
GREENBENCHMONTHLY.COM / SEPTEMBER 2021
