JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s now been over 60 years since Johnnie Mae Chappell was shot and killed while walking home from the grocery store in Northwest Jacksonville. Chappell’s death came at the hands of a man looking for vengeance amid ongoing race riots that occurred miles away.
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A jury would later find that man – J.W. Rich – guilty of manslaughter. He then served just three years behind bars.
Friday morning, city officials and Chappell’s loved ones unveiled a new historical marker honoring her legacy.
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“We were put in foster homes, juvenile shelter, for what? Why? Why are we in jail? What did we do?” recounted Johnnie Mae’s son, Shelton Chappell. “But with this marker, it’s like being exonerated.”
Shelton is one of ten of children left behind after Johnnie Mae’s killing. He told Action News Jax Friday, while the marker is a step in the right direction, there’s still work to be done providing the resources needed in an area of Jacksonville that he feels has been long neglected – the Lincoln Villas neighborhood.
“It’s still to me, left from that time my mother was killed,” Shelton said. “You go to other communities and see how they have thrived, but this community seemed to have been left behind.”
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Now, Shelton hopes one day a replica of the marker can be brought across the country and to the nation’s capital itself, spreading the word about what happened to his mother, while serving as a reminder to practice peace and love – not violence and hatred.
“So I can say, Jacksonville, you did it. I really thank you for making a mark. Long time coming … change gonna come.”
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