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Booker T. Washington Junior College, the first and longest-lasting junior college for African Americans in Florida, was established by the Escambia County school board in 1949. Previously, the only higher education available in Florida to African Americans was at Bethune-Cookman College, Edward Waters College,
Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the Un ...
, and
Florida Memorial College Florida Memorial University is a private historically black university in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is a member of the United Negro College Fund and historically related to Baptists although it claims a focus on broader Christianity. Histor ...
, all
historically black Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
. The College, named for the famous black intellectual
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
, shared facilities and administrator with Booker T. Washington High School, in
Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal c ...
. Its founding and only president and dean, and principal of the high school, was Garrett T. Wiggins, the only educator in northwest Florida with an earned doctorate, described as "the smartest man in Escambia County". Its first class, with 23 students, graduated in 1951. At its peak the college enrolled 361 students. In 1965, in response to the pressures for integration, Washington Junior College was closed. It is often said that the college was merged with Pensacola Junior College (now
Pensacola State College Pensacola State College (PSC), formerly Pensacola Junior College, is a public college in Pensacola, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. The main campus, located in Pensacola, was opened in 1948 and was the first institute of high ...
), but like
Roosevelt Junior College Roosevelt Junior College was an institution serving African-American students, located on an 18-acre campus at 1235 Fifteenth Street in West Palm Beach, Florida. It took its name from the adjacent black Roosevelt High School, named in honor of for ...
and other Florida black junior colleges, it is more accurate to say it was closed. None of the faculty got similarly-paying jobs, and black student enrollment did not transfer en masse to PJC, where students found, at best, an indifferent reception.McCarthy, p. 67.


See also

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Gibbs Junior College Gibbs Junior College was created in 1957 by the Pinellas County Board of Public Instruction to serve African-American students in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was the first and most successful of Florida's eleven new African-American junior colleg ...
*
Roosevelt Junior College Roosevelt Junior College was an institution serving African-American students, located on an 18-acre campus at 1235 Fifteenth Street in West Palm Beach, Florida. It took its name from the adjacent black Roosevelt High School, named in honor of for ...
*
Carver Junior College Carver Junior College, in Cocoa, Florida, was established by the Brevard County Board of Public Instruction in 1960 to serve black students, at the same time that it founded Brevard Junior College, now Eastern Florida State College, for white stud ...
*
Jackson Junior College Jackson Junior College, in Marianna, Florida, county seat of Jackson County, opened its doors in 1961. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integration in s ...
*
Hampton Junior College Hampton Junior College, located in Ocala, Florida, opened its doors in 1958. It was one of eleven black community colleges which were founded, at the urging of the Florida Legislature, to show that a " Separate but equal" educational system for bl ...
*
Rosenwald Junior College Rosenwald Junior College, located in Panama City, Florida, opened its doors in 1958. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integration in schools was prohibi ...
*
Suwannee River Junior College Suwannee River Junior College, located in Madison, Florida, opened in 1959. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integration in schools was prohibited in the ...
* Volusia County Junior College *
Collier-Blocker Junior College Collier-Blocker Junior College, located at 1100 N. 19th Street in Palatka, Florida, opened its doors in 1960. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integrati ...
*
Lincoln Junior College Lincoln Junior College, located in Fort Pierce, Florida, 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, Martin, O ...
*
Johnson Junior College Johnson Junior College, located at 1200 N. Beecher St. In Leesburg, Florida, opened its doors in 1962, for black students, at the same time as Lake–Sumter Junior College (now Lake–Sumter State College), for white students. It was designed to se ...


References

{{authority control Historically black universities and colleges in the United States Educational institutions established in 1949 Educational institutions disestablished in 1965 Pensacola, Florida Education in Escambia County, Florida Two-year colleges in the United States African-American history of Florida 1949 establishments in Florida 1965 disestablishments in Florida Florida's black junior colleges Booker T. Washington


External links


Booker T. Washington Junior College digital collections
: Digitized archives and historical material related to Booker T. Washington Junior College, made available in the Pensacola State College Digital Collections.