JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Former Jacksonville Sheriff Nathaniel 'Nat' Glover wrote a book about his upbringing in Jacksonville when the city was once segregated.
The Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and Forefront Books will publish his body of work.
They said Glover's memoir Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff in the Deep South "aligns perfectly with Frederick Douglass' lifetime efforts to cross tough racial and partisan divides and has meaningful dialogue for the greater good."
Glover said his peers always encouraged him to write a book and tell his story. Stories, he said, impacted his life.
Glover told First Coast News he wants people to know where he came from and the challenges he had to overcome. To Glover, his book is about turning trials and tribulations to stories of triumph. He vividly recalled the time he was caught in downtown during 'Ax Handle Saturday.'
Back in 1960, a group of white men attacked Black demonstrators with ax handles and baseball bats. Protestors were conducting a sit-in, opposing segregation.
Glover said he was not involved but he was still targeted.
At the time, Glover said he was working as a dishwasher. He was instructed to leave because of the violent gathering, but he stayed to mop the floor. As he was leaving, Glover said he was surrounded by men with ax handles and they were hitting him. He remembered some of the insults they hurled at him. Glover said a police officer nearby told him to leave town or else he would be killed. To this day, Glover believes he wasn't killed because an officer was nearby.
Glover said he ran away and cried. Afterward, he made a vow to 'never run away from a challenge.'
"That actually fueled my tenure as a law enforcement officer," Glover added.
Glover later became the first Black elected sheriff in Florida since the reconstruction era. To Glover, being a police officer means being a leader and "doing the right thing for the right reason." His book will also explore the racism he experienced in the police force. The Jacksonville icon served with the police since 1966 and then became sheriff from 1995 to 2003.
"Sometimes some of the worst things that happened to you could be some of the best things that will impact your life in a way that will have redeeming value," Glover said.
Striving for Justice: a Black Sheriff in the Deep South will be released on Aug. 22, days away from 'Ax Handle Saturday'.
“My memoir intends to build enough awareness and goodwill to also establish a significant endowment for need-based scholarships in our region through the Florida State College at Jacksonville Foundation and The Where They Will Shine Scholarship,” Glover was quoted in a news release.
Students who qualify for the Federal Pell Grant and plan to attend Florida State College at Jacksonville, Edward Waters College, the University of North Florida, or Jacksonville University are invited to apply.