WJCT Documentary Receives Major Journalism Award
June 17, 2011
“Ax Handle Saturday – 50 Years Later” Named Florida’s Best Public Affairs Program in 2010
(Jacksonville, FL, June 17, 2011); “Ax Handle Saturday – 50 Years Later,” the WJCT television documentary that uncovered a “lost” story of the American civil rights movement, took top honors at the 17th annual 2011 Sunshine State Awards, presented June 11 in Hollywood, FL. The South Florida Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which presents the awards, named WJCT-TV’s “Ax Handle Saturday” Florida’s top Public Affairs Program in Broadcast.
The documentary, which aired on WJCT-TV in August 2010, explored a violent incident in Jacksonville’s history – a summer day in 1960 when a mob of white men, armed with ax handles and baseball bats, attacked black teenagers protesting the city’s segregated lunch counters. Airing on Ax Handle Saturday’s 50th anniversary, the program contained eyewitness accounts from frontline participants, many of whom had never before publicly told their stories.
Most of the photographs and nearly all the archival film in the documentary had never been published or broadcast. Instead, these images – a remarkable historical find from mostly obscure sources – had been locked away and unseen for half a century.
“This WJCT production is a shining example of the in-depth content we offer the First Coast community and consistent with our mission of providing programming and services that promote civic engagement,” said Michael Boylan, WJCT President and CEO. He added, “The only we can grow as a community is by reconnecting with the events of our past that shape who we are today. ‘Ax Handle Saturday’ gave us all an intimate view of a very difficult moment in Jacksonville’s history during what proved to be a pivotal time in the national civil rights movement.”
“Bringing this largely unknown story to a wide audience was a real privilege for us,” said Bill Retherford, Ax Handle’s producer and writer. “And we’re thrilled to receive this recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists.”
“The film preserved for future generations a chapter of our history that should never be forgotten,” said Lydia Stewart of the Ritz Theater and Museum, Northeast Florida’s primary repository for African-American culture and history.
A co-production of WJCT’s CreativeworX and Retherford’s Very Independent Pictures, the documentary was sponsored by the Jacksonville Historical Society with funding from Florida Humanities Council. Rich Conner of CreativeworX was Ax Handle’s videographer and editor, and Gary Saltsgiver was WJCT’s Executive in Charge of Production.
WJCT is the community-supported public broadcasting station for the First Coast. For more information about WJCT’s television and radio programming, visit WJCT Online at wjct.org.