65 years later: Former Florida legislator reflects on role in 1960 DeLand sit-ins

The backstory:

ORLANDO, Fla. - A former state representative participated in a DeLand lunch counter sit-in to protest against segregation 65 years ago this week. In 1960, Joyce Cusack, now 82, was a 17-year-old Senior at Euclid High School, an all Black school in DeLand.

At the beginning of February that year, a group of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University [NCA&T] students, later dubbed "The Greensboro Four" staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s store in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina.

Cusack said she and her peers discussed their actions, and a few of the subsequent protests during their journalism class. They soon decided to stage a sit-in of their own.

The downtown DeLand Woolworth’s location allowed Black patrons to purchase food, but they were not allowed to sit down or eat inside. "[It was] an injustice, just not the way things should be done," Cusack said, thinking back on the movement.

She said she felt every emotion associated with being wronged."Sadness. Anger. You feel hurt," she said. "Why treat me like that?" After school, the teens paid a visit to the store and sat down at the counter, but were refused service.

What they're saying:

Cusack remembers a nervous energy among her peers. The energy was returned by staff who, at the time, were instructed not to serve them.

"To go there was to make a statement in itself: ‘This is not right. This is unacceptable," she said. The incident sparked quite the controversy inside the store."There were police officers between us and the folk that wanted to get to us," she said. 

That day, Cusack said the lunch counter closed early. The group then migrated across the street to a store called McRory’s, where they saw a similar outcome.

Day after day for several weeks, groups of Black youth sat down in those stores out of protest. All while this is happening, similar demonstrations are seen throughout Florida. Some peaceful, others resulting in arrests and or violence.

In DeLand, the sit-ins were largely peaceful, though demands to be served while seated were not met. Cusack said the counters were closed early each day she and her peers visited, and eventually they suspended serving food at the counter altogether.

Joyce Cusack

"When they opened them up again, they opened them up to all people," she said.

They’d accomplished what they set out to, but that was just the beginning of Cusack’s fight against social injustice.

After a career in the medical field, she went on to be elected to the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 27.

Cusack said her role in the sit-ins provided a full circle moment.

"The ones who [were threatening us and calling us the N-word] at the lunch counter, their grandchildren voted for me to go to Tallahassee as a legislator," she said. "It was monumental for me."

According to the West Volusia Historical Society, she became the first Black Woman out of Volusia County to serve in the state legislature.

Though Cusack considers it an amazing accomplishment, she’s thankful people didn’t box her in due to her race.

"[Voters] did not see me as being a Black woman," Cusack said. "They saw me as a person that could represent all the people."

The DeLand sit-ins served as a springboard for Cusack’s career in public service.

She said she’s hopeful people will learn from the past and speak out against wrongdoings as she and her classmates did all those years ago.

"Identify a problem, articulate and talk about that problem and try to work to change injustices everywhere," she said. "The world will be a better place."