Rosenwald Junior College, located in

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the more populated city of the Panama City–Lynn Ha ...

, opened its doors in 1958. It was one of eleven black

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

s founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of 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 Cons ...

. Since racial integration in schools was prohibited by the

Florida Constitution of 1885 Florida's Constitution of 1885, its fifth, was drawn up by the Constitutional Convention of 1885. The convention was held from June 9, 1885 until August 3, 1885 in Tallahassee, Florida "for the purpose of reforming the "Carpetbag" Constitution of 1 ...

then in effect, the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated in the unanimous ''

Brown v. 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 ...

'' Supreme Court decision of 1954 by demonstrating that a "

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 protecti ...

" higher education system existed in Florida for African Americans. Like most of the new junior colleges, it met at first in the facilities of a black high school, in this case Rosenwald High School, a

Rosenwald School The Rosenwald School project built more than 5,000 schools, shops, and teacher homes in the United States primarily for the education of African-American children in the South during the early 20th century. The project was the product of the part ...

at 624 Bay Street (now Avenue). The school was named for

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...

, a Jewish philanthropist who funded many schools for blacks in the Southern United States. The current Rosenwald High School, at 924 Bay Avenue, has no connection with the former high school other than the name. Calvin Washington, principal of the high school, was appointed president. In 1963, Washington became full-time president of the college. According to him, "we never really had adequate facilities, nor did we have the kind of seed money we needed to get full-time faculty." The college got its own classroom building in 1962. Initial enrollment was 27. Another source gives the original enrollment as 35, "much lower than the 125 expected." The peak enrollment at the college, in 1964-65, was 177. The college was merged with the previously all-white Gulf Coast Junior College, now

Gulf Coast State College Gulf Coast State College is a public college in Panama City, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and offers the Associate of Arts degree, Associate of Science degree, certificates, and as of 2011, bachelor's degrees. History The ...

, in 1966. According to Ivie Burch, an administrator, "There was no transition, just closure of Rosenwald." When the college was merged, only one faculty member obtained a job at GCJC. Gulf Coast contains a Rosenwald Junior College Classroom Building, which has no relation to the former facilities of Rosenwald, several miles away. In 2014, Gulf Coast Community College launched the Rosenwald Junior College Center for Social Change and Inclusion.Zack McDonald, "Museum to display history of Rosenwald Junior College," '' News Herald'' (Panama City, Florida), February 13, 2014, http://m.newsherald.com/article/20140213/news/302139975, retrieved April 21, 2016.

References

{{authority control Historically black universities and colleges in the United States Education in Bay County, Florida Educational institutions established in 1958 Educational institutions disestablished in 1966 Gulf Coast State College Panama City, Florida Two-year colleges in the United States Buildings and structures in Bay County, Florida Rosenwald schools Florida's black junior colleges 1958 establishments in Florida

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References