Jackson Junior College

Jackson Junior College, located in Marianna, Florida, county seat of Jackson County, was founded in 1960 by the Jackson County Board of Public Instruction as the Negro Junior College. The name was changed before the college opened its doors to students in September, 1961. At the time, Black applicants were not accepted by nearby Chipola Junior College (today Chipola College); the closest opportunity for black students to get a college education was at Florida A&M University, 75 miles away. It opened with 47 students and five part-time faculty. Its peak enrollment, in 1964-1965, was 195 students, plus additional "adult education students" working toward a GED.[1]

The college was one of eleven junior colleges founded after a 1957 report to the Florida Legislature by the Community College Council (established by the Legislature for this purpose). The Legislature wished to show that the integration mandated by the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision was unnecessary in Florida, because a "separate but equal" system of higher education existed; school integration was forbidden under the 1885 Constitution then in effect.[2] The Board of Public Instruction abruptly closed it in 1966, when it became clear that racial integration in education was unavoidable.

For the first two years the college shared facilities with the black high school, named Jackson County Training School. In 1963 its own building was completed, containing four classrooms, two science rooms, and an administrative suite. The college continued to use the high school cafeteria and library.[3]

Salaries were lower than they were for the white faculty at Chipola Junior College.[4] The initial faculty were all teachers at the high school, and its only president, William H. Harley, Sr., was also principal of the high school. It was particularly strong in science, sponsoring an annual science fair.[5] It did not have athletic activities or teams. It was primarily oriented toward preparing students to transfer to a four-year college, especially Florida A&M University.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Walter L. Smith, The Magnificent Twelve: Florida's Black Junior Colleges, Winter Park, Florida, FOUR-G Publishers, 1994, ISBN 1885066015, pp. 211-225.
  2. ↑ Governor Leroy Collins, Prologue to Smith's book, p. xvi.
  3. ↑ Smith, p. 222.
  4. ↑ Smith, p. 217.
  5. ↑ Smith, p. 219.
  6. ↑ Smith, pp. 215-216.
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