Howard High School (Florida)

Last updated
Howard Middle School (formerly Howard High School) as seen from US 27 in June 2019. Howard Middle School; Ocala, FL.jpg
Howard Middle School (formerly Howard High School) as seen from US 27 in June 2019.

Howard High School was a segregated black school in Ocala, Florida. It closed in 1969, after the public schools were integrated in 1968. It is now a middle school.

Contents

History

The school was built as Howard Academy in 1866 on land donated by James H. Howard, a former slaveowner, on the corner of Osceola and Third streets. The building burned down in 1887, and a new school was built the next year at the corner of Adams and Bay, which is now Northwest Second Street and Northwest Seventh Avenue, at a cost of $1600. The teachers and additional financial support and the teachers came from the Freedmen's Bureau. The school was named after Union Army General Oliver Otis Howard, who was the first and only director of the Freedmen's Bureau. Until 1880, the teachers were all white; then, black teachers took over. In 1914 a two-story, twenty room building was constructed at a cost of $7,000. High school was added in 1927. The building burned again in 1935, and was replaced with a new brick building. For years, books were provided after students were finished with them at the white schools. [1] In 1955, a new high school building was built, with grades 4-8 remaining at the old school.

In 1965, some students from Howard began attending all-white Ocala High School (now Forest under a choice plan. In 1968, some white students began to attend the school. In 1969 it closed. [2] In 2002 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. [3]

The athletics teams were known as the Wild Bulls. [2]

Notable people

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marion County, Florida</span> County in Florida, United States

Marion County is located in the North Central region of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,908. Its county seat is Ocala.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gainesville, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area with a population of 350,903 in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocala, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Ocala is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Florida, United States. Located in North Central Florida, the city's population was 63,591 as of the 2020 census, up from 56,315 at the 2010 census, making it the 43rd-most populated city in Florida. Ocala is the principal city of the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 375,908 in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Otis Howard</span> American army general (1830–1909)

Oliver Otis Howard was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War. As a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men against Confederate forces at the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines in June 1862, an action which later earned him the Medal of Honor. As a corps commander, he suffered two major defeats at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in May and July 1863, but recovered from the setbacks as a successful corps and later army commander in the Western Theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedmen's Bureau</span> US agency assisting freedmen in the South

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a federal agency after the War, from 1865 to 1872, to direct "provisions, clothing, and fuel... for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dillard University</span> Private college in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.

Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanton College Preparatory School</span> Preparatory school in Jacksonville, Florida, United States

Stanton College Preparatory School is a preparatory high school in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Stanton College Preparatory School is a highly selective school that offers both the Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest High School (Florida)</span> Public secondary school in Ocala, Marion, Florida, United States

Forest High School is a school in Ocala, Florida, United States. It has an EMIT (engineering) program. The school's colors are green and gold and the school mascot is the Wildcat. As of 2014, it had an enrollment of some 2,058.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alachua County Public Schools</span> Public school district in Florida, US

Alachua County Public Schools is a public school district serving Alachua County in North Central Florida. It serves approximately 29,845 students in 64 schools and centers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crispus Attucks High School</span> Public magnet school in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

Crispus Attucks High School is a public high school of Indianapolis Public Schools in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. Its namesake, Crispus Attucks, was an African American patriot killed during the Boston Massacre. The school was built northwest of downtown Indianapolis near Indiana Avenue and opened on September 12, 1927, when it was the only public high school in the city designated specifically for African Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College of Central Florida</span> Public college in Florida, United States

The College of Central Florida (CF) is a public college with campuses in Marion, Citrus, and Levy counties. It is part of the Florida College System. Founded in 1957 as Central Florida Junior College, CF has grown to span three counties and include the Appleton Museum of Art and Vintage Farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fessenden Elementary School</span> United States historic place

The Fessenden Elementary School is a historic school established previously known as Fessenden Academy in the outskirts of Ocala, Florida, between Martin and Zuber. It is part of the Marion County Public Schools district. On September 29, 1994, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Fessenden Academy Historic District The district covers 150 acres (0.61 km2) and has 3 buildings and 1 structure.

In the United States, a freedmen's town was an African American municipality or community built by freedmen, formerly enslaved people who were emancipated during and after the American Civil War. These towns emerged in a number of states, most notably Texas. They are also known as freedom colonies, from the title of a book by Sitton and Conrad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard School (Warrensburg, Missouri)</span> United States historic place

The Howard School was built in 1888. It was closed in 1955. The building sat on Culton Street in Warrensburg, Missouri. The school was officially entered in the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln High School (Gainesville, Florida)</span> Historic school in Gainesville, Florida, United States

Lincoln High School was a public high school for African American students in Gainesville, Florida during the segregation era. It replaced the Union Academy, founded with support from the Freedmen's Bureau in 1867. Lincoln High School was built in 1923 at Northwest 7th Avenue. When it was first constructed it only served grades 1–11, but the principal A. Quinn Jones campaigned for it to serve through grade 12 so students could graduate with diplomas and continue on to attend college or universities. In 1926, Jones succeeded in persuading the county board, and Lincoln High School became the second fully accredited African-American High School in the state of Florida. The A. Quinn Jones House is preserved as a museum honoring his legacy.

Hampton Junior College, located in Ocala, Florida, opened its doors in 1958. It was one of eleven black community colleges which were founded, at the urging of the Florida Legislature, 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, the closest public college that would accept negroes was Florida A&M University, 175 miles away.

Not to be confused with Howard Academy in Monticello, Florida

Stone High School was a public high school for black students in Melbourne, Florida. It closed in 1967.

The Union Academy was a school founded with the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau in Gainesville, Florida in 1867. It was the first school for African Americans in Gainesville and Alachua County, and provided a free quality education to African Americans when public schools in Alachua County were struggling. The Union Academy was eventually absorbed into the county school system, and remained in operation until 1923.

The East Florida Seminary was an institution of higher learning established by the State of Florida in 1853, and absorbed into the newly established University of Florida in 1905. The school operated in Ocala from 1853 until 1861. After being closed during the Civil War, the school re-opened in Gainesville, Florida in 1866.

References

  1. Bryant, Monica (February 12, 2006). "Howard Academy was Ocala's first black school". Ocala, Florida: Star-Banner. Archived from the original on July 15, 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 Fillmore, Andy. "Howard High class of 1968 remembers good times, challenges of integration". Ocala Star Banner. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  3. "The history of Marion's first school for blacks".
  4. "Event to feature FAMU head coach, athletic director".
  5. "Eugene Milton" . Retrieved 13 May 2020.

29°11′54″N82°09′09″W / 29.1983°N 82.1525°W / 29.1983; -82.1525