1821 - THE RED HILLS OF FLORIDA

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Tree located outside of the Springfield Schoolhouse Museum and Springfield A.M.E Church in Marianna, FL.

This area is known for its hill-and-valley character, abundance of lakes and springs and lush vegetation indicating naturally rich soils. About twenty-five miles wide, the Red Hills occupied the northernmost parts of the Florida counties of Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, and Madison. The lands in the central and northwestern part of Jackson County, on both sides of the Chipola River, were named the “Marianna Red Lands” by botanists, boasting one of the richest soils in Florida.

The rich soils in Jackson County made it a prime location for plantations. The main crop that was grown in this area was cotton. The cotton belt in Florida, when it became fully developed, extended from Jackson County, west of the Apalachicola River, into Alachua and Marion counties, southeast of the Suwannee River. The heaviest concentrations of plantations, slave populations, and cotton production were centered in Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, and Madison counties (Smith, 1973).

The high concentration of black-owned lands, remaining historic structures, active churches, and cemeteries form a living laboratory for understanding a rapidly disappearing way of life that provided a sustainable cultural and economic foundation for many African Americans. Spanning over 150 years these communities are rapidly being lost to urban sprawl, out migration, and restrictive zoning.

Education and Schools

While segregation limited access to education, interest in education by African Americans persisted. Initially, churches were utilized as educational institutions while funds were raised for the construction of separate school buildings. In August 1867, two years after the Civil War, a Colored School Society was created. A committee, which included Jessie Waller, Emanuel Fortune, and John Livingston, petitioned the state board of education to establish a colored school in Marianna. Construction plans for a “Northern-type” school were approved, but the school was never built. To expand education church-supported elementary schools were established in most communities. For over 50 years, they remained the primary source of education and community for students of the Red Hills.

In an effort to improve the opportunities for African Americans, many institutions for educational advancement established themselves within Jackson County. One of the first institutions of higher learning was the West Florida Colored Baptist College. The first traditional school for African American children was the Robert T. Gilmore Academy (1922 - 1944), a Rosenwald School just on the outskirts of Marianna (Gilmore Academy Newsletter). The school then became a K-12 union school known as the Jackson County Training School, which operated from 1940 to 1970.

The Gilmore Academy eventually became the Marianna Middle School.

The Jackson Junior College was built in 1961 to provide an opportunity of higher learning for African Americans while avoiding integration and helped prepare students to later transfer to other higher education institutions such as Florida A&M University (FAMU). Florida A&M University located in Tallahassee, a historically Black college and university (HBCU), was the nearest institution offering 4-year degrees for African Americans until FSU’s integration in 1963. The Jackson Junior College shut its doors in 1966 in response to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Gilmore Academy, 1999).

Above is a picture of the graduating class of 1941 from the Jackson County Training School (Gilmore Academy- Jackson County Training School Alumni Association, Inc., 2000).

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