The memory of Sarasota Mayor Willie

Charles Shaw is razor sharp.

 He was reared in “Black

Bottom,” a swampy land in Newtown near Maple, Palmadelia and Goodrich Avenues.

There were no streetlights or curbside mail delivery. Overtown had its own

neighborhood with the same name because of its rich black soil. Shaw can

quickly rattle off the locations of community landmarks, dirt paths, swimming

holes, citrus trees and bus routes; and the names of neighbors. Newtown’s dusty

roads were paved in 1968, but the first paved streets followed the route of the

city transit bus. His grandmother and family members owned land along Orange

Avenue and 31st Street. When there was a death in the neighborhood, Mrs.

Herring, Fannie McDugle, and Mrs. James formed an unofficial neighborhood

association with Mrs. Viola Sanders at the helm. The women collected food and

flowers for grieving families. Shaw’s mother sewed a heart or a ribbon on the

right sleeve of the bereaved.

The retired letter carrier attended

the Booker schools with teachers Barbara Wiggins, Mrs. McGreen, Prevell Carner

Barber, Aravia Bennet Johnson, Foster Paulk, Esther Dailey, Coach Dailey, Janie

Poe, and Turner Covington. “I would have to say that the entire learning

experience at Booker groomed me into a leader. We were taught that you always

had to be better, do better. You had to.”  

Shaw was among the African American

students who traveled on a bus across the Skyway Bridge to attend Gibbs Junior

College. He served in the U.S. Air Force, then became a letter carrier

following in the footsteps of Jerome Stephens, the first African American in

Sarasota hired by the postal service.