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Vol. 26:2 ISSN 0160-8460 June 1998
The Preservation of Florida's Historically All-Black School Records
by E. Murell Dawson
The Importance of Ethnic Records
If an accurate account of America's history is to be preserved and disseminated, then records relating to this country's numerous ethnic groups must be safe-guarded and utilized. As Americans, we all are responsible for the preservation of such records. However, members of various ethnic groups must take an active role in this endeavor. Additionally, professionals such as archivists, historians, and librarians serving in all types of repositories, educational and research centers, must also make records reflecting the historical experiences and contributions of America's many ethnic groups an intrinsic part of their archival holdings and programs.
Archival Projects Given National Priority
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the national government took the lead in giving priority to archival preservation projects. Grants and funds from Federal and state governments, such as the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management, as well as contributions from private donors, were readily available. Such funds greatly assisted in the collection and cataloging of records relating to the African-American experience.
In 1982, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission awarded a $15,000 grant to Florida A & M University's Black Archives, Research Center and Museum to collect archival material on African-American schools and educational institutions in the state of Florida. In 1992, Florida's State Historical Records Advisory Board gave the Black Archives a $10,000 grant to continue to collect, catalog, and make available to the public records relating to Florida's historically all-black public and private schools from kindergarten to university levels. Records from these institutions contain some of the most comprehensive documentation of the progress, regress, and perseverance of African Americans.
Unit class on tuberculosis at Kirksey Elementary School, Leon County, 1941. Photograph from the Dorothy Holmes Jeanes Supervisor Collection, Black Archives, Florida A & M University.
Segregation and the Creation of Florida's All-Black School Records
The records of Florida's historically all-black schools were created mainly during the period of segregation. The records being sought for re-capture and preservation include official and private materials produced and/or circulated between Florida's Superintendent of Education and Supervisor of Negro Schools (positions usually held by white individuals); a Negro director of secondary schools (usually an African-American male); a Negro director of elementary schools (usually an African-American female); and African-American school principals, teachers, and students.
The social system of segregation dictated the creation of a black counterpart to almost every white organization. Thus the project also sought to collect printed records on state-wide African- American organizations and events, such as the Florida State Teachers Association, the Annual Conference for Negro Principals, the Jeanes Supervision programs, and Negro Home Demonstration Agents' activities. [Editor's note: Jeanes programs were funded by the Negro Rural School Fund, Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, and provided teachers and other personnel to rural African-American schools throughout the South. Since the late 1960s, Jeanes funds have been used to pay for education specialists, such as reading and special-education instructors.]
African-American churches and private high schools served as the state's first public schools for African Americans. In the early 1930s, 29 of Florida's 67 counties had at least one black high school. The state also had twelve black junior colleges, three private church-supported colleges, and one state-supported university. Many of Florida's most accomplished African Americans graduated from these institutions.
When federal court-ordered desegregation legislation swept the country, it had an overwhelming impact on American society, and especially on African Americans. The pros, cons, and present-day effects of segregation and desegregation, especially as they relate to African Americans, have yet to be, if ever, fully realized or understood by the majority of American people. Hopefully, records from Florida's all-black schools will offer information that will help individuals of all races have a better understanding of past and present American history.
Integration and the Loss of Florida's All-Black School Records
In several ways, haste, confusion and danger accompanied integration. For many historically black schools, integration meant closure and/or merger with a larger white institution. Many state-required records relating to African-American education were maintained by state agencies and county school boards. However, additional "first-source" records existed that were not housed by official education authorities. Unfortunately, the majority of such printed records, like most of the physical buildings of these pioneer schools, were lost.
When black schools were closed, sometimes transfer procedures were available to relocate records to appropriate educational agencies. However, in many cases, records transfer procedures were not available. It was common for records to be left behind in abandoned school facilities, misplaced, or destroyed. Sometimes former employees collected personal and/ or sentimental records and memorabilia from closing institutions. As a result, many remaining records and historical materials from Florida's all-black schools are in the custody of African-American citizens and groups, and are scattered throughout the state. Because of the consequences of integration, many of these people distrust the government. However, the entire collection project was based on personally contacting past and present African-American educators, administrators, and other individuals who were involved in the state's segregated education system.
Winter Conference of Florida Jeanes Teachers, 1940. From the Dorothy Holmes Jeanes Supervisor Collection, Black Archives, Florida A & M University.
Collecting and Cataloging Florida's All-Black School Records
Fortunately, some records from Florida's numerous African-American high schools and from the state's twelve African-American junior colleges have been preserved and are accessible to some degree through local preservation organizations and/or research facilities. However, it was Florida's Historically Black Colleges and Universities that took the lead in establishing archives that housed materials relating to African-American education. Perhaps this was because resources were more readily available to help with preservation projects. These early on-campus archives usually operated under the auspices of the institutions' main libraries. Printed material and historical memorabilia relating to the colleges' history are often the heart and bulk of their archival holdings. The History of Florida A & M University Collection at the Black Archives and the Personal Papers of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune at Bethune Cookman College are appropriate examples.
Public response to the project was less enthusiastic than expected, perhaps because of limited publicity. Nonetheless, numerous records were collected and cataloged. These materials were mainly from North and Central Florida. At the conclusion of the project, more than 100 cubic feet of records had been collected. Among the more prominent collections were the Dorothy Holmes Jeanes Supervisor Collection, the Benjamin Holmes Black Education Collection, the Benjamin and Dorothy Holmes Black Church Collection, the Gilbert Porter Florida State Teachers Association Collection, the Willie Ziegler White Florida State Congress of Parents and Teachers Association Collection, and the Jeneythel Merritt Jeanes Teacher Collection.
Clearly, the largest collection in this project consists of the administrative records of present-day Florida Memorial College in Miami. The college was located two miles west of St. Augustine from 1918 until the late 1960s, and was then called Florida Normal and Industrial College (FNIC). Due to financial problems and racial tension, the small church-supported school relocated to Miami in 1968, changing its name during the transition. The move was probably made in haste, given that many of the school's early administrative records were left behind in a dilapidated barn. A community member reported the records to the Black Archives in 1980, and the Archives' founder and director, James N. Eaton, went down personally to collect the records.
The large amount of correspondence, programs, and publications in these collections ends abruptly around the late 1960s. These records offer the public better insight and understanding into the strong, multifunctional bonds that existed between black and white educational institutions and communities, as well as the vital role of the black church. Again, if a true and complete history of this nation is to be told and preserved, materials such as Florida's all-black school records must be saved. To date, this continues to be an on-going project for the Black Archives. Any person who has information regarding similar records is requested to contact the Center at (850) 599-3020, or a local preservation or research facility.
(Murell Dawson is a research associate at, and the senior archivist and curator of, the Black Archives, Research Center and Museum, Florida A & M University.)
Uniformed African-American School-Bus Drivers in Leon County, Florida, 1948. From the Dorothy Holmes Jeanes Supervisor Collection, Black Archives, Florida A & M University.
