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Florida Tech students call this part
of campus "the jungle." A hundred years ago the first
African American settlers along Crane Creek called this area "Cathead" because "the
area was full of wild cats and panthers. We would see them peering
at us from the trees. But they never harmed anyone," according
to a local farmer.
Melbourne's first school house rests
at Florida Tech, this 9' by 12' school house opened its door for
the first time in 1883. The first class of students was made up
of both African-Americans and whites meeting in separate sessions.
In 1971, members of the Inter-Fraternity Council moved the school
house to its present site. They placed the school house on a coquina
rock foundation that was part of the original foundation of Florida
Agricultural College, the states first land-grant university.
Therefore, the "real" foundation of higher education
in the state of Florida rests beneath this little schoolhouse at
Florida Tech.
During the 1950s Jim Crow and segregation
were widespread in Florida. Florida Tech championed the cause of
equality of opportunity in Brevard County. In 1959, Brevard Engineering
College rented three classrooms in a local middle school. A county
school official learned that two African Americans had enrolled
in Florida Tech classes at that site and told President Keuper
to "expel the black students or be evicted." The college
moved its classes to another site. Years later, Keuper remarked
that if it had not been for the "eviction notice," the
college might still be renting classrooms. |
