Former Jacksonville Sheriff Nathaniel “Nat” Glover stopped by the Bolles Middle School Bartram Campus on January 26 to speak with Grade 8 students taking Civics with middle school teachers Allison Greene and Kellie Marks.

Glover is the first Black sheriff of a major city in the Deep South since the Reconstruction era. He shared his experience facing racism with the eighth graders and told them how he focused on uniting people during his career to inspire change. In addition to speaking with students in Parker Auditorium, Glover also spent time with Bulldogs in the classroom before and after his presentation.

At 17, Glover unknowingly headed into an angry white mob and the Ku Klux Klan attacking young Black protestors staging a sit in at a downtown "whites-only" lunch counter. Known as Ax Handle Saturday, it is this harrowing encounter with racism that Glover says committed him to a lifetime of fighting for justice.

Glover joined the Jacksonville Police Department in 1966 and was named Police Officer of the Year four times, promoted to detective, rose to sergeant and became the city’s first hostage negotiator. In 1995, Duval County voters elected him to serve as sheriff. Glover garnered national attention for his community policing, ban on chokeholds and de-escalation training, earning praise from then-President Bill Clinton and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

Glover was a mayoral candidate in 2003 and served as the 29th president of his alma mater, Edward Waters University. He was twice nominated for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Male President of the Year. The school's stadium is named the Nathaniel Glover Community Field and Stadium.

He received a "Great Floridian" designation in 2016 for his dedication to law enforcement, higher education and the city of Jacksonville and was inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Officer's Hall of Fame in 2021.

Glover’s memoir, “Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff” was released on August 22, 2023, and is available to purchase at Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop and Amazon. In conjunction with Florida State College at Jacksonville's Foundation, book proceeds will help fund scholarships for need-based students through the Where They Will Shine Scholarship Fund.

Visit our online photo gallery to view pictures from Glover’s presentation.