Carver Junior College, in

Cocoa, Florida Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida. The population was 19,041 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne– Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Etymology Several stories circulate amon ...

, was established by the

Brevard County Brevard County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in ...

Board of Public Instruction in 1960 to serve

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

students, at the same time that it founded Brevard Junior College, now

Eastern Florida State College Eastern Florida State College, formerly Brevard Community College, is a public college in Brevard County, Florida. It is a member of the Florida College System and has campuses in Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville, as well as a Virt ...

, for white students. It was named for the black agricultural researcher

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the e ...

. Like 10 of Florida's other 11 black junior colleges, it was founded as a result of a 1957 decision by the

Florida Legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Co ...

to preserve

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Intern ...

in education, mandated under the 1885 Constitution that was in effect until 1968. More specifically, the Legislature wanted to show, in response to the unanimous Supreme Court decision mandating school integration (''

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

''), that the older standard of "

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 protec ...

" educational facilities was still viable in Florida. Prior to this legislative initiative, the only publicly funded colleges for negro or colored students (as they were called at the time) were

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 ...

, in Tallahassee, and

Booker T. Washington Junior College 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 ...

, in Pensacola. The only President of the college was James R. Greene, who was also principal of the black Monroe Senior High School. In 1962 the Carver Junior College building, adjacent to the high school, and funded by the Florida Department of Education, was completed. Enrollment was * 1960-61 year: 168 * 1961-62 year: 263 * 1962-63 year: 143 As with the other Florida black community colleges, support from the black community, which wanted full integration, was unenthusiastic. The

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&n ...

complained to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that the college was costing $100,000 per year, enrollment was low, high school teachers and facilities were being used, and educational outcomes were unsatisfactory. In 1963, citing inadequate enrollment, the Board of Public Instruction made the decision to close the college by merging it with Brevard Community College (today

). The Carver site operated as a branch of Brevard Community College for the 1963-64 academic year, so existing students could complete the programs they had started. After 1964 no college classes were held at the Carver site, and its facilities were turned over to Monroe High School. In the 1990s Brevard Community College named a new building the George Washington Carver Administrative Center, and placed a portrait of President Greene there.McCarthy, p. 19.

References

{{authority control Education in Brevard County, Florida Cocoa, Florida Educational institutions established in 1960 Educational institutions disestablished in 1963 Historically black universities and colleges in the United States Eastern Florida State College Buildings and structures in Brevard County, Florida Two-year colleges in the United States African-American history of Florida 1960 establishments in Florida 1963 disestablishments in Florida Florida's black junior colleges

See also

References