Pork Chop Gang

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Pork Chop Gang, 1956.

The Pork Chop Gang was a group of 20

homosexuals
.

Photograph of the Aucilla River at Nutall Rise by Raeburn C. Horne's fish camp

Membership

The following legislators were members of the Pork Chop Gang in 1956, according to the captions on a photo of them in the state archives of Florida:[5]

Members of the Pork Chop Gang in 1956
Legislator Hometown
James E. "Nick" Connor Brooksville
L. K. Edwards Jr. Irvine
Irlo Bronson, Sr.
Kissimmee
W. E. Bishop Lake City
H. B. Douglas Bonifay
William A. Shands Gainesville
W. Randolph Hodges Cedar Key
Charley Eugene Johns Starke
John S. Rawls Marianna
Philip D. Beall Jr. Pensacola
Harry O. Stratton Callahan
F. Wilson Carraway
Tallahassee
W. Turner Davis Madison
Scott Dilworth Clarke
Monticello
Dewey M. Johnson Quincy
J. Edwin Baker Umatilla
Edwin G. Fraser Macclenny
Basil Charles "Bill" Pearce East Palatka
Woodrow M. Melvin Milton
J. Graham Black Jasper
J. C. Getzen Jr. Bushnell

Their public spokesman was Florida Senate President

St. Joe Paper Company
, as it was at most companies in Florida at the time).

Activities

The Raeburn C. Horne fish camp (1960s)

For nine years, the Pork Chop Gang, having failed in its investigation of alleged

communism in the NAACP, devoted its efforts to identifying homosexuals in Florida universities and schools. "By 1963, more than 39 college professors and deans had been dismissed from their positions at the three state universities, and 71 teaching certificates were revoked."[6] See Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida, a report prepared by the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee
, popularly called the Johns Committee, since it was Johns' legislative project (to get the committee set up) and he was its chair.

Their downfall was the Constitution of 1968, which ended decades of misapportionment that favored rural north Florida over more populated central and south Florida,[7] and eliminated mandatory school segregation. However, it took a new state constitution to get them out.[8]

Professor Judith Poucher called the Johns Committee "Florida's version of McCarthyism".[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Weitz, Seth (March 16, 2007). Bourbon, Pork Chops, and Red Peppers: Political Immorality in Florida, 1945-1968. Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  2. Tampa Tribune. September 1, 2013. Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.[dead link
    ]
  3. .
  4. ^ a b The Aucilla River Hideaway of Florida's 'Pork Chop Gang', Florida Memory, July 2, 2014, archived from the original on July 15, 2015, retrieved July 14, 2015
  5. ^ Group portrait of the Pork Chop Gang during the 1956 special session of the Senate, Florida Memory, 1956, archived from the original on July 15, 2015, retrieved July 14, 2015
  6. ^ Dare, Stephen (July 31, 2010). "Rise of The Pork Chop Gang. Conservative Racist Control from the 30s to the 60s". Metro Jacksonville. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  7. .
  8. ^ ABC Television News (March 16, 2015). "The Last Standing Porkchopper". Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  9. – via JSTOR.

Further reading