At age eight, Mary’s family moved to

unit #10 in a public housing complex in Newtown. The differences between

conditions in Overtown where they lived before, and the new complex were like

night and day.

 The new apartment had a

bathroom, electricity, a yard with grass, and sidewalks. Before that, their

shotgun house had no running water. They pumped water for bathing, washing

dishes and laundry.  There were three tubs to wash, rinse garments, and

rinse again. Before Clorox, a boil pot whitened clothes. An outhouse 15 feet

from the house was used. A portable oil stove was the major kitchen appliance

and kerosene lamps provided light.  An imaginary boundary line kept

community children from veering past 10th Street. Simmons only ventured across

the line to grocery shop with her grandmother. “We would walk down Main Street

and smell peanuts in the five-and-dime store. I remember asking, ‘Granny can I

have an ice cream cone.’ She said, ‘sit here.’ I sat on the curb. I never

forgot the place, Oleander’s. Granny went in, got it, and brought it outside. I

looked at her, looked at the cone, looked at the people sitting inside. But you

didn’t ask adults questions. You just did as you were told.”

Sheila Sanders has a sweet smile but

don’t mistake it for weakness. She organized a boycott of the Sarasota Federal

Bank as a third grader at Booker Elementary School. At that time, her class

learned money management by filling out savings deposit slips for their

pennies, dimes and nickels, but the students could not take tours of the bank

as children from other schools did. Sanders persuaded her classmates to send

deposits to Palmer Bank where they could tour.  Her actions foreshadowed

future activism. The teenager proactively participated in the NAACP

accompanying leaders John Rivers and Maxine Mays to local and state meetings. In

high school, Sanders learned about the political process by reviewing the agenda

of school board meetings and attended the meetings by taking the city bus.

“Some things won’t be said just because you’re sitting there.” 

Sanders, William “Flick” Jackson and

John Rivers joined Dr. Edward E. James II as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against

the City of Sarasota. They successfully pushed for single member district

voting that opened the way for African American representation on the Sarasota

City Commission.