This timeline situates the founding of the Rollins College Black Student Union (BSU) within the greater national narrative around desegregation, the emergence of the Black Power movement, and the formation of the Black Panther Party (BPP). It is intended to encompass a long span of history (100 years) for the purposes of showing just how… Read More The Rollins Black Student Union and Black Awareness Week
This digital timeline looks at the creation and activity of the Inter-Racial Club (Race Relations Committee) of Rollins College, created c. 1939 and active until the late 1970s. This club was created during the Hamilton Holt Presidential era at Rollins, had support from faculty and administration, and was dedicated to discussing issues about race and… Read More The Role of the Rollins Race Relations Committee
Following the The Supreme Court decision to mandate the integration of public schools in the landmark Brown v. the Board of Education case (1954), colleges across the country slowly began integrating their campuses and sports programs. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Sunshine State Conference (SSC), the Florida-based collegiate sports conference that Rollins College holds membership in,… Read More Rollins’ First Generation of African American Athletes
The town of Winter Park experienced many of the social and economic impacts of the Civil War’s reconstruction era. During that time, despite African Americans gaining freedoms through multiple constitutional amendments, Jim Crow laws allowed for segregation and discrimination to occur. A vote for incorporation to make Winter Park a city failed due to a… Read More Gus Henderson and Early Civil Rights Activism in Winter Park