Willie Charles Shaw
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. “There was a time when one of Rev. Herring’s cows got out and I was at my grandmother’s house that lived on the corner as you come around Palmadelia Avenue. I was on my tricycle and the cow came up behind me. I remember looking over my shoulder saying, ‘he got me.’” 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.” In high school, the teenager played the trumpet for a short time and was the “band boy” for Newtown’s pride and joy, the Booker High School band under the direction of Alexander Valentine.
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.
The District 1 Sarasota City Commissioner was elected in 2011. He is serving a second term as mayor and continues the proud tradition of Black pioneers who advocate for the underserved, including veterans.
