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Donal Godfrey was 6 years old when KKK members bombed his home, targeting him because he was the first Black student to attend Lackawanna Elementary.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man is back home, where he was targeted and nearly killed 60 years ago because of the color of his skin.
“We lived on the corner and Gilmore Street,” Donal Godfrey said about his old Murray Hill neighborhood.
Godfrey and his mother, Iona King, lived at 3259 Gilmore Street 60 years ago, up until February 16, 1964.
“They drove around [the] blocks a couple, three times.” Godfrey said.
Members of the Klu Klux Klan rolled dynamite under Godfrey’s home early that morning.
Godfrey, his mother and other family members home at the time all survived.
“It exploded on the right side of the house, which was the wrong side. And which is kind of ironic, you know, if it hadn’t rolled completely to the other side. I would think my mom somebody would have been killed,” Godfrey said. “We couldn’t get to the kitchen from the front door.”
The KKK targeted Godfrey because he was Black and was the first Black student to attend the now-closed Lackawanna Elementary School.
“Mothers. I guess they were waiting for the children’s or whatever. But they would berate us, they would. They would berate us,” Godfrey said.
Godfrey said the school or city never reached out to his family after the bombing.
His story was unearthed by local historian Tim Gilmore.
A documentary recently followed, directed by Godfrey’s old neighbor Hal Jacobs.
“I was very much intrigued by your story,” Jacksonville City Council President Ron Salem said to Godfrey.
60 years later, city leaders invited Godfrey and his mother to city hall.
“What is it that was intriguing to you?” Godfrey asked Salem.
“The fact that it occurred, and I knew nothing about it,” Salem, who grew up in Murray Hill, said.
“Ah, that’s the answer I keep hearing,” Godfrey said.
Godfrey hopes to change that answer in his new book, “Living Freedom to Find Peace”.
“Writing the book was therapeutical,” Godfrey said.
In the book, Donal tells his story about the bombing, berating and healing in his new home Africa.
He thinks it’s a story that can help others and would like to see it introduced in high schools.
“Black Americans or Africans have been traumatized for 500 years. In my opinion, you have to address that trauma,” Godfrey said.
City Councilmember Tyrona Clark-Murray said she plans to create a resolution to honor Godfrey she said she also plans to apologize for the city’s lack of action at the time of the bombing.
