Sallye Brooks Mathis

Sallye Brooks Mathis (1912 - 1982) was a teacher and civil rights activist in Jacksonville, Florida who served as an elected official in local government along with Mary Singleton. She served on Jacksonville's city council for 15 years. She grew up in the area, attending local schools. She later attended Benedict College in South Carolina, and Bethune-Cookman College in Florida. In 1945, she graduated from Tuskegee Institute with a Bachelor of Science in education. In 1955, she graduated from Florida A & M University with a master's degree in secondary education. and continued to teach in public schools for more than 25 years.

After her retirement, she started to commit herself fully to community service and activist issues. She participated in civil rights marches, and as part of the League of Women Voters, she attended city council meetings. Alongside Wendell Holmes, she worked on the issue of school desegregation. She integrated the Jacksonville YWCA and their board of leaders.

In 1966, Mathis organized an NAACP voter-registration drive. A year later, she won the first annual Pearson Award from the Florida branch of the NAACP. Mathis was also involved in the NAACP Youth Council.

City Council Fellow NAACP members encouraged Mathis to run for a city council seat in Jacksonville. She also won favor with white constituents,

Mathis ran against incumbent city council member Barney Cobb in the primary election on June 6, 1967. She won the Democratic nomination for Ward 3, beating Cobb with 19,260 to his 16,872 votes. On the June 20th general election, Mathis ran against Republican Theodore Forsyth Jr. for Ward 3 and won with 19,416 to 14,528 votes.

The general election took place after a grand jury indictment for various corruption charges were brought against eight Jacksonville officials. Once the city council election ended, it was considered a "sweep"; Democrats were elected in all 7 of the contested races, and the election ended with 8 of 9 incumbent members being replaced on the city council. After the election, Mathis was selected to be on the council's City Pardon Board.

In 1977, she was one of the Florida delegates for the National Women's Conference. Mathis continued to serve on the Jacksonville City Council until her death in 1982. The Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School was also named in honor of Mathis.

In 2015, she was posthumously inducted into the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame.