Ocala civil rights advocate honored with road naming
Honorary Whitfield Jenkins Road is a portion of Northwest 24th Road, near Northwest 18th Street.
Whitfield Jenkins, 85, a former Marion County NAACP president and civil rights pioneer, gets a hug during a road dedication for him on Northwest 24th Road in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, March 21, 2025. A portion of NW 24th Road was renamed for Jenkins to the “Honorary Whitfield Jenkins Road” during the unveiling ceremony. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
A five-intersection portion of Northwest 24th Road in Ocala was renamed Honorary Whitfield Jenkins Road in a sign unveiling ceremony on March 21.
Upwards of 100 family members, friends and associates, including several members of Jenkins’ fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, attended the ceremony.
“I never looked for this,” Jenkins, 84, said about the road naming. He lives a short distance from the site of the unveiling at Northwest 24th Road and Northwest 18th Street.
Jenkins served three terms as president of the Marion County Branch of the NAACP, from 1984 to ’89, ‘91 to ‘92 and ‘97 to ‘98. He was a member of the NAACP State Conference from 1996 to 2003. In 2024, the local NAACP branch honored him with the “Freedom Fighter of the Century” recognition, hailing him as a champion of civil rights and inclusion for all members of the community.
A biography supplied by his wife, Loretta Pompey Jenkins, who also is a former president of the local NAACP branch, stated that Whitfield was instrumental in getting the area west of Pine Avenue to around Interstate 75, with predominantly Black residents, annexed by the city. She said her husband carried on the work of Ocala civil rights activists of the 1960s.
Whitfield Jenkins was born Sept.19, 1940, in Zuber, in north Marion County, and attended what is currently Fessenden Elementary School. The school was segregated and included high school classes at the time he attended and graduated. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University in health studies and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Rollins College. He was a teacher and physical education coach and later worked with the Florida Department of Corrections at Lowell Correctional Institute. After retirement, he worked as a union representative, the biography indicated.
Ocala City Council President Pro-Tem Ire Bethea opened the road naming ceremony on Friday.
“This is a great day. Whitfield Jenkins is a beacon of hope. He is a true champion for the community,” Bethea said.
Bethea said Jenkins is a champion for civil rights, equality and inclusion, and one of the people who drives the community and who challenged and inspired change for brighter futures and more inclusion.
In addition to his wife, Jenkins was accompanied at the ceremony by daughter Rose Jenkins, son Ali Jenkins and grandson Jordan Woods and his wife Danielle and their 2-month-old daughter, Eden.
Rose called her father a “humanitarian” who “changed so many lives. Ali said he “looked back” and had a fuller understanding of things his father had said when he was a child. Jordan Woods said his grandfather was like a mixture of ingredients which “came out to a perfect recipe.”
The Rev. Edward Bland of Greater Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church said Jenkins has a “heart for the community” and is a “man of principle.”
Ocala City Manager Pete Lee called Jenkins “a leader in every way” and commented on his youth outreach. Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano said Jenkins was always concerned about the “whole community” and pointed to the support Loretta provided to her husband.
George Sabb, a friend of Whitfield Jenkins since 1962, said when he served as the mayor of Bartow, he would call his friend to discuss issues.
Eric Cummings, pastor of New Zion Baptist Church and vice-chair of the Marion County School Board, said Jenkins “challenged unfairness.”
Bruce Seaman, a member of the Bridges Project, a nonprofit group focused on race relations, said Jenkins is a big supporter of the organization.
Rodney Long, former executive secretary of the Alachua County Branch of the NAACP and a longtime friend, said Jenkins, is a “great mentor…who didn’t mince words.”
Jenkins said he could “not envision” what God had put him in place to do.
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