House Bill 9309

    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9309

        By Representative Roberts-Burke






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution honoring Florida Memorial College.

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  4         WHEREAS, in 1879, a group of humble, far-sighted

  5  members of the Bethlehem Baptist Association, under the

  6  leadership of the Reverend J. N. Stokes, met in Live Oak,

  7  Florida, to establish an academy for the training of

  8  African-American children, and

  9         WHEREAS, this group had been promised organizational

10  and financial assistance from an agency which came to be known

11  as the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the school

12  they founded was named the Florida Baptist Institute, and

13         WHEREAS, in 1892, another group of Baptists, which

14  included Reverend M. W. Gilbert, Reverend J. T. Brown, and

15  Sarah A. Blocker of Bethel Institute Baptist Church in

16  Jacksonville, sought and obtained financial assistance from

17  the American Baptist Home Mission Society to establish the

18  Florida Baptist Academy in Jacksonville, and

19         WHEREAS, the Florida Baptist Academy developed into a

20  flourishing elementary and secondary educational institution,

21  and

22         WHEREAS, in 1900, while serving as faculty at the

23  Jacksonville campus, brothers J. Rosamond Johnson and James

24  Weldon Johnson composed the song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing,"

25  now known as the Negro National Anthem, and

26         WHEREAS, in 1914, the Florida Baptist Academy was

27  declared one of eight of the 26 private schools in the state

28  that played an important part in the educational activities of

29  the State of Florida, and

30         WHEREAS, in order to continue its growth and expansion

31  as well as to give instruction in farming and gardening, the

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9309

    235-224A-98






  1  decision was made in 1918 to move the Florida Baptist Academy

  2  to a large tract of land in St. Augustine, and

  3         WHEREAS, it was in St. Augustine, with the inclusion

  4  within the academy's curriculum of "normal training courses,"

  5  that the Florida Baptist Academy became a junior college,

  6  changing its name to the Florida Normal and Industrial

  7  Institute, and

  8         WHEREAS, in 1931, Florida Normal and Industrial

  9  Institute was accredited as a junior college by the Southern

10  Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Florida

11  Department of Education, and

12         WHEREAS, 10 years later, the Florida Normal and

13  Industrial Institute merged with its sister institution, the

14  Florida Baptist Institute of Live Oak, and a four-year degree

15  program was instituted, and

16         WHEREAS, the institution's charter was amended and in

17  1944 its name was changed to Florida Normal and Industrial

18  College, and

19         WHEREAS, in 1963, the charter of the college was again

20  amended and its name was changed to Florida Memorial College,

21  and

22         WHEREAS, in 1968, the college moved from St. Augustine

23  to Miami, and

24         WHEREAS, in 1979, Florida Memorial College celebrated

25  its 100th anniversary, and 1998 marks its 30th anniversary in

26  Miami, and

27         WHEREAS, today, as one of the 40 member institutions of

28  the The College Fund/United Negro College Fund, Florida

29  Memorial College continues its proud tradition as a

30  historically Black, Baptist-affiliated college, providing

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9309

    235-224A-98






  1  students with quality education and helping to create

  2  tomorrow's leaders today, and

  3         WHEREAS, it is fitting and appropriate that the House

  4  of Representatives honors one of the oldest academic centers

  5  in the State of Florida, NOW, THEREFORE,

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  7  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

  8  Florida:

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10         That the House of Representatives of the State of

11  Florida hereby honors Florida Memorial College for more than a

12  century of dedication and commitment to academic excellence in

13  the State of Florida.

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