Lincoln Junior College, located in

Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Florida’s Atlantic Coast. It is also known as the Sunrise City. Per the 2020 census, the population w ...

, United States, opened its doors in 1960, at the same time as Indian River Junior College (now Indian River State College), restricted to white students. It was designed to serve Indian River,

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, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie 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 Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protectio ...

" educational system for blacks existed in Florida; the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated by the

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's ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

'' decision of 1954. At the time, there was no nearby college for Negroes, while the distances and lack of funding effectively closed off most local blacks from college. Initial classes used the facilities of the adjacent Black high school, Lincoln Park Academy. In 1962, a new building added classroom facilities, faculty offices, science laboratories, an administrative unit, a fine arts building, and a student union. Leroy S. Floyd, principal of Lincoln Park Academy, was selected as president of the new institution. In contrast with some of the new presidents, he had eight months to prepare for the September of 1960 opening. With one exception, that all the initial administrators and faculty were also employed in the K-12 school system in St. Lucie County prior to the College's opening. Offerings included: a college parallel program (64 semester hours) to prepare students for transfer, adult education (preparing for GED), technical offerings in brick masonry, carpentry, waitress training, and technical illustration. The adult program was a part of the evening high school program prior to the College. However, when it became part of the College, enrollment quadrupled from 115 to 446. Initial enrollment was 98 students. Peak enrollment in its final year (1964–65) was 667 students, of which 221 were in the college parallel program. In 1964–65 it became apparent that the black institution would soon be merged with Indian River Junior College; the College closed in 1966. It was planned that the Lincoln facility would remain a center of Indian River, but "local political leaders were not ready to promote integrated facilities for the college in the Black community". Uniquely among the twelve black junior colleges, all the full-time faculty became "members of the merged faculty" at Indian River. President Floyd became dean of students at Indian River Junior College.Smith, p. 242.

References

{{authority control Education in Indian River County, Florida Education in St. Lucie County, Florida 1960 establishments in Florida Universities and colleges established in 1960 Education in Martin County, Florida Education in Okeechobee County, Florida Indian River State College Florida's black junior colleges Buildings and structures in St. Lucie County, Florida

See also

References