Chapter 4 introduces us to Robert Hayling, the leader of the St. Augustine civil rights movement. It traces Hayling’s upbringing in Tallahassee in an all-Black world where his father taught at Florida A&M, an HBCU from which the younger Hayling graduated in 1951. We see his time in the Air Force and at Meharry Medical School in Nashville, where he trained to be a dentist. He was exposed to civil rights through people like John Lewis and Diane Nash. Hayling at first stayed clear of activism, focusing on his career and his young family. That was still his focus when he opened his dental practice in St. Augustine in December 1960.

But in time, Hayling is sparked by the inequities in the nation’s oldest city, becoming the advisor to the Youth Council of the local NAACP. In that capacity he interacts with then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson, whose March 1963 visit proves a considerable turning point for both men.

By chapter’s end, we see Hayling fully engaged in the movement, a polarizing figure beloved by young Blacks in the city but representing a dangerous brand of militancy to old-guard white leaders.