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Rosenwald Junior College, located in Panama City, Florida, opened its doors in 1958. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integration in schools was prohibited by the Florida Constitution of 1885 then in effect, the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated in the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision of 1954 by demonstrating that a "separate but equal" higher education system existed in Florida for African Americans.
Volusia County Junior College, located at 875 Second Avenue in Daytona Beach, Florida, opened its doors in 1958. It was one of twelve black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integration in schools was prohibited in the Florida Constitution of 1885 then in effect, the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated in the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision of 1954 by demonstrating that a "separate but equal" higher education system existed in Florida for African Americans.
Collier-Blocker Junior College, located at 1100 N. 19th Street in Palatka, Florida, opened its doors in 1960. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. The Florida Constitution of 1885 had established legal racial segregation in schools and other facilities. But the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision of 1954 ruled that segregated facilities were unconstitutional. The legislature founded new junior colleges to add access to the segregated higher education system in the state. They wanted to demonstrate that a "separate but equal" higher education system existed in Florida for African Americans.
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Johnson Junior College, located at 1200 N. Beecher St. in Leesburg, Florida, opened its doors in 1962 for black students at the same time as Lake-Sumter Junior College for white students. It was designed to serve Lake and Sumter Counties. It was one of eleven black community colleges which were founded, at the urging of the Florida Legislature, in the late 1950s and early 1960s to show that a "separate but equal" educational system for blacks existed in Florida; the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated by the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. At the time, there was no nearby college for Negroes, and the distances and lack of funding effectively closed off most local Blacks from college.
Tonjua Harris Williams is the current President of St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida, assuming the office in 2017.
References
- ↑ Dr. Walter Smith, "Gibbs Junior College Alumni celebrates 57 years," The Weekly Challenger , July 10, 2014, http://theweeklychallenger.com/gibbs-junior-college-alumni-celebrates-57-years/ Archived 2021-07-04 at the Wayback Machine , retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ↑ Walter L. Smith, The Magnificent Twelve: Florida's Black Junior Colleges, Winter Park, Florida, FOUR-G Publishers, 1994, ISBN 1885066015, p. 18.
- ↑ Smith, p. 27.
- ↑ Smith, p. 17.
- ↑ Smith, p. 27.
- ↑ Smith, p. 47.
- ↑ Smith, pp. 47-48
- ↑ Gibbs Junior College Alumni, "History", http://www.gibbsjuniorcollegealumni.org/History.htm Archived 2015-08-15 at the Wayback Machine , consulted September 11, 2015.