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Lakeland city commissioners will likely vote May 5 on a resolution to rename Webster Park after the late Civil Rights activist Nellie Madalynne Brooks.
Members of the Lakeland Chapter of the NAACP, including Brooks’s daughter, Beverly Boatwright, along with members of the Webster Park South Neighborhood Association made the proposal during the city commission meeting April 21.
“She was such a pioneer for the community. She dedicated her heart, soul and mind to this community. She helped to shape … Lakeland to what it is today,” Boatwright said.
“It’s just an honor to see all of her work was not in vain and remembered not only for this generation but generations to come.”
The idea to rename the park in Brooks’s honor originally came from another local Civil Rights activist, Annie Phyall,in 2016, according to Parks and Recreation Director Bob Donahay.
Who is Brooks? Nellie Madalynne Brooks was a preacher’s daughter, born in 1922. She grew up in Miami.
“As a girl, the church experienced a tragic moment in their congregation when a parishioner was discovered hanging from a tree,” Boatwright told Lakeland commissioners.
“Determined to act, young Madalynne joined others in a group to seek justice and that was the beginning of her journey as a Civil Rights leader.”
She moved to Lakeland as a teenager and went on to become a cosmetologist and own a business, Mada-Lynn’s Hat Shoppe.
Brooks was an active member of the NAACP. She is most known for her role in organizing protests that led to the end of racial segregation in Lakeland, in restaurants, hospitals, stores and movie theaters.
Boatwright recalls joining her mother on the picket lines outside of the Polk Theatre and staging sit-ins at the lunch counters inside the S.H. Kress department store in downtown Lakeland, which later housed the Explorations V. Children’s Museum.
“She was a bold speaker. She stood up to influential people,” Boatwright said.
“She had no fear when it came to representing her community. She stood up for what she felt was right. She didn’t care who it was or how much influence they had.”
Donahay said he’s heard numerous stories about Brooks from Phyall as well as Detroit Tigers Legend Willie Horton.
“She marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963. She was the real deal. She was big in Civil Rights. She was the first black jail matron in Polk County.”
According to Kenneth Glover, former NAACP President and member of the Polk County Voters’ League, not only was she the first Black jail matron in Polk County, she sued the sheriff’s office when she was terminated and won the case, even after appeal.
“She was terminated on what she felt was discriminatory ground, racism and sexism,” Glover told the commissioners, adding the case opened doors for all women to be hired and treated fairly at the sheriff’s office.
“It was because of Ms. Brooks. She was the Rosa Parks of our community.”
Brooks died in 2000, due to complications from heart disease, Boatwright said.
Involved in politics: Her push for change and unity led many politicians, including former Florida governor and Lakeland native Lawton Chiles and Polk County Tax Collector Joe Tedder to stop by her home in order to get her vote as well as the Black’s community’s, Boatwright explained.
“She was known for her courage and unwavering determination,” Boatwright said, calling her a renaissance woman. ”(She) spent her entire life serving her church and her community.”
Mama Brooks: Willie Horton, who was on the Detroit Tigers 1968 World Series Champion team, was very close to Brooks. He recalled standing on the picket lines with her to push for integration at the Polk Theatre.
“She was a great lady, not only for me but all Blacks at that time. She helped (with integration), not only in Lakeland but in cities across Polk County,” Horton said.
Horton, now 82, called her Mama Brooks, and considered her a second mother, especially after losing his parents in a car wreck in 1965.
“She would talk to me and help raise me,” Horton said.
When Horton and other Black players initially came to Lakeland to play for the Detroit Tigers in Spring Training, they could not eat at many of the restaurants in town nor stay in the hotels.
Boatwright said her mother took Horton in.
“She was really busy trying to help find housing because the Black Detroit Tigers couldn’t stay in the hotel where the White (players) stayed… She would cook for them and they’d come in and out of the house.”
“We had nowhere to go. She found us a place to stay,” Horton said. “She’s been there for many other players.”
Why was it named Webster Park?: According to Parks and Recreation Director Bob Donahay, the park is presumably named after the street it’s located on, Webster Avenue.
The street is named after Edgar Webster, a sawmill owner and real estate developer.
Webster died in 1923 and is buried in Bartow, according to city historian LuAnn Mims.
What’s Next: The city commissioners voted unanimously to draft the resolution, to not only rename the park after Brooks, but to also find funding to add a plaque to describe her contributions to Lakeland.
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Great Article! Her Granddaughter Nicole who died from Covid would be sooo proud!