Suwannee River Junior College

Suwannee River Junior College, located in Madison, Florida, opened its doors in 1959. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integration in schools was prohibited in the Florida Constitution of 1885 then in effect, the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated in the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision of 1954 by demonstrating that a "separate but equal" higher education system existed in Florida for African Americans.

It was founded simultaneously with North Florida Junior College (today North Florida Community College), for white students. The college was jointly supported by Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, and Taylor Counties. The initial president was James J. Gardener. In 1961 he resigned and was replaced by Jenyethyl Merritt.

The college was focused on preparing students for transfer to a four-year college; the only terminal progrram was in Secretarial Science. Enrollment the first year was 90. Peak enrollment, in 1964-65, was 402.

Like the other new black junior colleges, it was located near a black high school, in this case Madison County Training School; a Rosenwald school, Suwannee River High School, also shared the site, which today is not in use. During the first year the college functioned in the late afternoon and evening, using the high school facilities. A classroom building was completed in 1960. In 1963, a second unit opened, comprising a library (shared with the high school) and administrative offices. In 1965 a gymnasium, also shared with the high school, was opened.

In response to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Madison County Board of Public Instruction announced in December 1965, in the middle of the academic year, that 1965-66 would be the last year of the College's operation. Unusually for Florida's black junior colleges closed at that time, all but two faculty members transferred to the formerly all-white college, North Florida Junior College. However, less than 50 Black students made the transfer. The Black community "lost the feeling of belonging" and "the resentment held by some community persons and students could not be easily overcome". As elsewhere, the faciltiies for the Black students were closed, and facilities for the white students were minimally affected.

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