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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 property now occupied by [[Pensacola City Hall]] and the [[M. C. Blanchard Judicial BuildingEscambia High School]], Pensacola's first high school for African-American students.
→Post-war career
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>
==References==
