Isaac Jones lives in the echoes of Pleasant Street’s heyday.
Jones, 68, was born and raised in the 20-block district long enough to see the flourish and fall of the black community based there.
Gainesville’s Matheson Museum opened an exhibition called “Life on Pleasant Street” to showcase the neighborhood’s roughly 150-year history in honor of Black History Month. It will be open through May at the museum, located at 513 E. University Ave.
Freed slaves from South Carolina founded the neighborhood, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It later became a local center for civil rights advocacy.
Jones, an owner of the White & Jones building and 2 Friends Coffee Shop, located at 1001 NW Fifth Ave., said he was not old enough to take part in activism efforts but will never forget the hardships of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, an era the museum’s exhibition will highlight.
Oral histories play in the background on the exhibition floor, some including Wilhelmina Williams Johnson, a former music instructor at Lincoln High School, and former Lincoln High School principal A. Quinn Jones, who is credited with bringing education to Pleasant Street.
The exhibition illustrates the community’s progression from its foundation of Christian faith to its development into a hub for education and activism. The exhibit also includes the belongings of A. Quinn Jones. Bus tours through the Pleasant Street district will begin Saturday, and tickets cost $30.
Megan Covey, a Matheson Museum technician, said the exhibition is a great way to learn more about the community.
“Sometimes, you don’t naturally have contact with all of the diversity cities like Gainesville have to offer,” Covey said. “This is just a great way to learn more about the place we all live and the history we share.”
Stephanie Pastore, also a museum technician, said the exhibit’s purpose is to foster curiosity and educate visitors about the neighborhood.
“I think that part of this exhibition is to highlight the parts of history that, for so many generations, historians looked the other way, and the community looked the other way,” Pastore said. “I think that’s a way of building a bridge between the Pleasant Street community and Gainesville.”
For people who’ve seen the community’s change, the exhibition is a way to recognize what once was.
While residents rent houses along streets where rich history still clings like the Spanish moss in the overhanging trees, Jones recalled how the area has changed over time despite efforts to maintain its history.
“I hope we can develop some tours to show young people what used to exist,” Jones said.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 2/21/2014 under the headline “Pleasant Street exhibit remembers area’s rich history"]
