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Lake City, Florida: A Sesquicentennial Tribute (2009) H. Morris Williams, Dr. Kevin M. McCarthy
Chapter Fifteen: 1950 - 1959
Segregation
In Florida, prior to 1954, it was illegal under both the Florida
Constitution and Florida Statutes to educate children in a racially
integrated classroom. Florida Statutes not only required that the
children be kept separate by race, but even their textbooks could not
be stored together!
In 1954, the school board built Niblack Elementary School
at 837 N.E. Broadway Avenue to consolidate several elementary
schools that served African–American students throughout Columbia
County. The school, which is still operating today, honors in its name
Mrs. Minnie Jones Niblack, who worked to build, consolidate,
and improve local schools and also served that particular school as
teacher and principal, and later as county supervisor.
The Minnie J. Niblack Elementary Choir from Lake City
sang at the 1957 Florida Folk Festival in White Springs under
the direction of Alfonso Levy, namesake of the Performing Arts
Center at Lake City Community College.
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www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: 7C3282B3-DDE1-49C3-985A-3A9C9467368D
