Fletcher Alonzo Paschal Jr., a civic leader and retired educator was a prominent member of the Overtown community for over 75 years.
Born in Shellman, Ga., Paschal moved to Miami with his parents in 1925. The family settled in Overtown, where his father, Fletcher Sr., became the first jitney driver in Miami.
It was in Overtown that Paschal developed what would become a lifelong love of music. He took saxophone lessons sponsored by the old Works Program Administration and took to the instrument right away.
Music was his ticket to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, where he performed in the band on a scholarship and where he met his wife of 61 years, Agenoria. She recalled how Paschal and a couple of junior high trumpet players, Julian and Nathaniel Adderly, would come to her parents’ home to practice.
”He’d come over and they’d practice in our hallway,” Agenoria Paschal said.
At Paschal’s urging, Julian switched over to saxophone. He later became jazz legend ”Cannonball” Adderley, while his brother, Nat, became a renowned trumpet player.
Years later, Paschal played for jazz greats such as Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald when they performed in Miami Beach.
After graduating from college and serving in World War II as a member of The 92nd Infantry Division, Paschal moved back to Miami in 1946. He joined the staff of his alma mater, Booker T. Washington High, first as a shop teacher and later as drivers education teacher — the first black man to do so ”south of the Mason-Dixon line,” he would say.
Because of his involvement with driver safety, in 1957 the Dade school district selected Paschal to help develop the first three-pronged drivers education course that included television awareness, driving-range practice and actual road tests for high school students.
”That was one of his crowning moments. He was the only black person to be involved in setting up the program,” said son Fletcher Paschal III.
Paschal became assistant principal at Miami Jackson, Hialeah-Miami Lakes and American high schools. He retired from the Dade schools system in 1991.
In the community, Paschal was noted for his generosity through his church and civic organizations. He was a member of the Gideons and enjoyed handing out Bibles to prison inmates and to students at Florida Memorial College.
”Their ethics in terms of walking with God led him on his journey,” said daughter Agenoria P. Powell.
He also was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and the King of Clubs of Greater Miami , the oldest black civic society in Miami.
On May 13, 2021 , The family of Fletcher A. Paschal Jr., District 3 County Commissioner Keon Hardemon and Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, school board member for District 2, celebrate the newly renamed Fletcher A. Paschal Jr. Avenue./Selena Stanley for The Miami Times in front of the school name in honor of his wife Agenoria S. Paschal (ASP)/Olinda Elementary School, the Liberty City school she originally opened and where she served as its first principal.
The third-generation educator, now retired, served the Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) and her community for more than 40 years as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and director, following in the footsteps of her grandmother who was an outstanding teacher in the 1800s.
Moments, B. (2004, May 19). Fletcher Alonzo Paschal, jr. – rip. organissimo forums. Retrieved November 17, 2022, from https://www.organissimo.org/forum/topic/10272-fletcher-alonzo-paschal-jr-rip/
Finding aids. Fletcher Alonzo Paschal JR. Collection, 1938-2011 | The Black Archives History & Research Foundation of South FL, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2022, from http://www.theblackarchives.org/archon/?p=collections%2Ffindingaid&id=177&q=