One of the best known songs related to African American culture and life was written by native Floridians, James Weldon Johnson and his brother Rosamond Johnson, of Jacksonville, for the dedication of Florida Memorial College, now Florida Memorial University, in 1900. The university has a rich history which began in Live Oak. The last time we celebrated our national holiday to commemorate the late Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., in White Springs, I was reminded of the history of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by a longtime friend.
As she told the story, I was reminded of the number of lives that were touched for over a century in our part of the world by educators who taught in segregated schools throughout our region. It came to light that day, as we sang this song and the over 60 group, many of whom attended segregated schools, could sing each word of the song from memory.
North central Florida was no different from any other part of the deep south with dual school systems for white students and African American students. In Texas, schools were operated for white students, African American students and Mexican Students. In certain Louisiana parishes, schools were operated for white, black and creole students. This was the law of the land upheld by the United States Supreme Court and it extended to public transportation, drinking fountains, waiting rooms in the offices of doctors in dentists, separate sections in movie theaters—usually the balcony—and in eating or other public establishments and recreational areas. When the community college system began in Florida, it too was segregated, with the closest African American Community College located in Madison's Suwannee River Community College, later named Madison Middle School.
These schools and their educators were beacons of hope for countless individuals who, today, have lived and served our state and nation in various capacities. These educators had to use creativity with their teaching methods, as very often they had very few materials with which to work. The phrase, "separate but equal," did not surface until Brown vs. Board of Education, the hallmark Supreme Court decision that was the clarion call that would, some 16 years later, bring an end to state mandated and nationally upheld racial segregation in many years. This system has received the court's stamp of approval in Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896.
Florida Memorial University is a private university located in Miami and is the only historically black college and university (HBCU) in southern Florida. The school's history dates back to two separate institutions, the Florida Baptist Institute, which was founded in 1879 and Florida Baptist Academy, which formed in 1892. The Florida Baptist Institute was founded by the Black Baptist Church of Florida in Live Oak with Reverend J. L. Fish as its first president. Florida Baptist Academy was founded by Reverend Mathew Gilbert with the help of Reverend J. T. Brown and Sarah Ann Blocker, who was an instructor in Jacksonville.
In 1918, the Florida Baptist Institute renamed itself Florida Memorial College and the Florida Baptist Academy became Florida Normal and Industrial Institute. Both institutions, now junior colleges, relocated to St. Augustine. In 1941, the two junior colleges merged and renamed the new four-year college the Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial Institute. The campus occupied 110 acres of land on the outskirts of St. Augustine which had been the "Old Homes Plantation," one of the largest slave-holding plantations in the state. In 1942, the college changed its name to Florida Normal and Industrial College and then, in 1950, to Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial College. By 1963, it became known as Florida Memorial College, the name it kept until 2004 when it took its current name, Florida Memorial University. The campus relocated to Miami in 1968.
The university's enrollment had grown dramatically in the past three decades. In 1976 it had 402 students. By 2008, the enrollment stood at 1,807 students. Memorable alumni include Barrington Irving, who was the first black person and youngest pilot to fly solo around the world in 2007. Memorable faculty include John Rosamond Johnson, who wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing" with his brother, James Weldon Johnson, in 1900. In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) declared the song the "Negro National Anthem."
Florida Memorial University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award 41 undergraduate degrees and four graduate degrees. February is known for many things, such as Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day and President's Day, which celebrates the birthdays of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The month of February is also Black History Month, where we remember the lives and the influences of African Americans who had and continue to have a profound influence on our American nation.
As a side note, not only did the Johnson brothers write the lyrics and the music for "Lift Every Voice," but they went to compile one of the largest collections of "African American Spirituals" in the United States of America, transcribing the words and writing the music, as we must remember that many of these songs were handed down in the "oral" tradition of song and story and had never been copyrighted in any way. In doing this, James Weldon Johnson and his brother Rosamond preserved a huge slice of American life and culture.
From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs, wishing you a day filled with joy, peace and, above all, lots of love and laughter.
"Lift Every Voice and Sing"
by John Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson
"Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty,
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea,
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won,
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died,
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last,
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast,
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way,
Thou who hast by Thy might Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray,
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land."