While Rollins College and the city of Winter Park were founded around the same time and with similar values, when it came to the Civil Rights movement these two community partners were often in conflict with one another. Using the archival record as a window into three local controversies, I explore here the sometimes extremely… Read More Campus and Community Controversies
Rollins College officially desegregated when it welcomed its first African American student in 1964, John Cox (pictured further down the page). This year marked the beginning of a longer, and undoubtedly difficult, journey for black students at Rollins to find spaces they felt welcome on campus, enjoyed as full-time residents, and excelled as leaders. Looking… Read More Desegregating Campus Spaces
After the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 which determined that segregation was no longer legal anywhere in the United States, the South predictably resisted the order to change traditional educational enrollment. (1) In many school districts, white protests erupted in violence and kept black children from entering the previously… Read More The First Black Faculty Members at Rollins College