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Integration Commemoration

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A UNIVERSITY IN TRANSITION:
The Long Path to Integration

In commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Integration, this exhibit explores Florida State University’s history through the lens of integration and Inclusion from the founding until now. FSU as an institution continues to refine the relationship between the world outside of campus and the realities of the University as a living laboratory.

Integration allowed the university to open its doors to the first African-American students, admitting twelve science students into graduate classes in 1962. Memorialized by the Integration Statue, Maxwell Courtney became the first African-American to receive a bachelor’s degree in 1965, Fred Flowers the first to be a Florida State athlete in 1965, and Doby Lee Flowers became the first to be Homecoming Princess in 1970. In 1968, Lawrence Gonzalez and Luis Armando Martinez Perez enrolled as Florida State’s first Hispanic students. Combined with the establishment of the Black Student Union in 1968 to promote equality and civil rights, these students set the precedent for today’s diversity on Florida State’s campus.

Florida State University's 60th Anniversary of Integration logo
 

Integration Timeline

January 24, 1851

Florida State Legislature passes an act establishing two seminaries of learning, one to the east and one to the west of the Suwannee River

owl

May 20, 1865

US Army Brigadier General Edwin McCook formally announced President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation from the steps of the Knott House, effectively ending slavery in the state

1868

Reconstruction era: 1865-1877

Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs became Florida’s first black secretary of state

1871

Josiah Thomas Walls became Florida’s first black congressman

 

1896

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson declared segregation legal as long as public facilities for blacks and whites were “separate but equal”

1901

The Florida State Legislature approves West Florida Seminary’s name change to Florida State College (FSC)

Florida State College logo

1905

The Florida state legislature passes the Buckman Act, designates that Florida State College will become an all-women’s college named Florida Female College. Florida Female College was unlike other Southern state women’s college in that it considered liberal studies its primary focus, with teacher training and industrial education coming second.

1909

Florida legislature declares that “Florida Female College” will henceforth be known as “Florida State College for Women”

Florida State College for Women logo

 

1935

Florida State College for Women becomes the first institution of higher education in Florida to establish a chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society

phi beta kappa key

1947

New legislation transforms the college back to being coeducational, and Florida State College for Women is renamed Florida State University

Florida State University seal

1954

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court Decision declares racial segregation in schools unconstitutional

December 5, 1955

Montgomery Bus Boycott begins

 

May 26, 1956

Tallahassee Bus Boycott begins

Tallahassee bus boycott

1957

John Boardman expelled from FSU for violating the University’s regulation prohibiting multiracial social events, which Boardman told University officials he did not intend to follow

1962

FSU enrolls first class of 12 Black students in graduate-level science classes

1963

Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker & Carmena Greene Bostic enroll as FSU’s first female Black undergraduate students

 

1964

Civil Rights Act of 1964

1965

Fred Flowers becomes 1st Black FSU athlete to wear the FSU uniform.

Fred Flowers

 

Maxwell Courtney, FSU’s first black undergraduate student, graduates cum laude with a degree in Mathematics (French minor)

Maxwell Courtney

1967

Omega Psi Phi chapter founded, creating FSU’s first Black fraternity

Omega Psi Phi, FSU’s first Black fraternity

1968

Black Student Union founded

Black Student Union logo

 

Tonya Harris is hired as a Nursing Instructor, first Black faculty member at FSU

 

1969

The People’s Coalition for Gay Rights is established on campus

 

James “JT” Thomas Jr., first Black football player to play on the field

James “JT” Thomas Jr.

1970

Doby Lee Flowers elected FSU Homecoming Queen

Doby Lee Flowers

1971

Black students at FSU stage Westcott
Talk In

stage protest

1972

Office of Minority Affairs is established

 

Charles Leon Thompson is elected as FSU’s first Black Student Body President

Charles Leon Thompson

 

1974

Jack Gant becomes the 1st Black dean of the College of Education (was also 1st Black male faculty member)

1978

Seminole Tribe of Florida and FSU work together to create university symbols: Osceola and Renegade

 

Dr. Bobby E. Leach becomes FSU’s first Black administrator, serving as Vice President for Student Affairs

Dr. Bobby E. Leach

1980

Cecil Howard is named the first Black Homecoming Chief

Cecil Howard

1983

Guy Bluford, first African American astronaut in space

 

1986

FSU alum, Jack McLean, becomes first Black mayor of Tallahassee since Reconstruction

 

William R. Jones receives first FSU MLK Jr. Distinguished Service Award

1995

The Asian American Student Union is established

 

The Hispanic/Latino Student Union is established

1996

Liza Park is the first Asian American student to serve as Student Body President

 

Carla Gopher becomes the first member of the Seminole Tribe to graduate from FSU

Carla Gopher

2000

FSU combines programs to create award-winning CARE Program

FSU CARE Program logo

 

2003

FSU alum and former faculty member, John Marks, becomes 1st elected Black Mayor of Tallahassee

John Marks

2004

FSU unveils the Integration Statue during the Heritage Day event

Integration Statue

2009

Barack Hussein Obama inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States

 

Joseph L. Camps receives University’s highest honor, the Torch Award (Vires)

2010

The Center for Multicultural Affairs relocated to its new home: The Center for Global & Multicultural Engagement

The Center for Global & Multicultural Engagement building

 

2017

FSU builds new Black Student Union on campus

Black Student Union

2018

Inauguration of the FSU Civil Rights Institute

2019

FSU becomes a Top 20 Public Univeristy in U.S. News & World Report rankings

2020

Record 28 students selected for prestigious Gillman Scholarship

Gillman Scholarship students

 

2021

FSU students hold Black Lives Matter march to the Capitol

2022

FSU celebrates 60 years of Integration

60 years of Integration

 

FSU wins The INSIGHT Into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award for 9th consecutive year

 
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