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Among A longtime leader in Pensacola's black community, Sunday was also instrumental in the properties once owned by Sunday includes three establishment of the four corners at the Belmont-DeVilliers intersection as well as the land now occupied by [[Pensacola City HallEscambia High School]], Pensacola's first high school for African-American students.
→Post-war career
During the Civil War, Sunday served in the Union Army, first with the 6th Regiment of the Corps d'Afrique and later with the 78th Infantry, United States Colored Troops. Then aged 25, Sunday was inducted into the army on [[May 15]], [[1863]] at [[Fort Barrancas]] and sent to Louisiana, where he quickly became a leader within his unit and was promoted to first sergeant.
Sunday participated in the [[Wikipedia:Siege of Port Hudson|Siege of Port Hudson]] and the [[Wikipedia:Battle of Olustee|Battle of Olustee]], among other engagements. Later in life, Sunday helped organize the local chapter of the [[Wikipedia:Grand Army of the Republic|Grand Army of the Republic]].
==Post-war career==
Sunday founded a successful contracting firm, which built hundreds of houses and commercial buildings throughout the city, as well as several other business and real estate investments. When Jim Crow laws forced African-American business owners out of [[downtown Pensacola]], Sunday helped establish [[Belmont-DeVilliers]] as Pensacola's primary black business district. When Pensacola's black Catholics formed [[St. Joseph Catholic Church]], Sunday provided the land for the new church.
By the time Sunday retired, he was quite wealthy; in his 1907 book “The Negro in Business,” famed black educator Booker T. Washington called Sunday "the wealthiest colored man in that section of the state," estimating Sunday's fortune at $125,000, or more than $3.4 million in 2018 dollars. Washington wrote that Sunday "is said to pay taxes on $90,000 worth of property" and "owns valuable holdings in the principal business streets of the city, and employs steadily a force of men to repair old and build new houses."<ref>Washington, Booker T. (2006). ''The Negro in Business'', p. 236. Hertel, Jenkins & Co., Chicago.</ref>In 1900, in response to a question from a reader asking whom was "the wealthiest colored man in the South," ''[[Wikipedia:The Colored American (Washington, D.C.)|The Colored American]]'' said that "in real and personal property we think John Sunday of Pensacola, Fla. is the wealthiest colored man anywhere."<ref>"Queries." The Colored American. 8 December 1900.</ref> Among the properties once owned by Sunday includes three of the four corners at the Belmont-DeVilliers intersection as well as property now occupied by [[Pensacola City Hall]], [[M. C. Blanchard Judicial Building]], and [[L&N Passenger Depot and Express Office]].
==John Sunday House==
Preservationists who unsuccessfully worked to prevent the demolition of the John Sunday House later established the [[John Sunday Society]], a nonprofit organization whose mission is to "raise awareness of Pensacola’s diverse and multicultural history and to advocate for the preservation of Pensacola’s historic places and spaces."<ref>[https://johnsunday.org John Sunday Society website]</ref>
In 2019, Pensacola Mayor [[Grover RobinsonIV]] proclaimed Sunday's birthday, March 20, "John Sunday Day."<ref>[https://weartv.com/news/local/city-of-pensacola-commemorates-march-20th-as-john-sunday-day "City of Pensacola commemorates March 20th as 'John Sunday Day'"], ''[[WEAR]]'', 19 March 2019. Retrieved on 1 June 2019.</ref>
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