Union Academy (Gainesville, Florida) facts for kids
The Union Academy was a special school started in Gainesville, Florida in 1867. It was built with help from the Freedmen's Bureau, a government agency that helped newly freed African Americans after the Civil War. This school was the very first one for African Americans in Gainesville and Alachua County. It offered a good, free education when other public schools in the area were not doing well. The Union Academy later became part of the county's school system and stayed open until 1923.
Before the Civil War, most African Americans in Alachua County were enslaved. It was against the law for them to learn to read or write. After the war ended in 1865, many African Americans, including soldiers, moved to Gainesville. Soon, there were more black residents than white residents in the city. This created a big need for schools.
Starting a School for Everyone
After the Civil War, the Freedmen's Bureau wanted to help set up schools for the newly freed people. They provided building plans, materials, and helped get money from churches and charities in the North. In late 1865, two white women teachers came to Gainesville from New England. They started teaching 60 black students in a church that wasn't even finished yet. It had no windows or doors!
Many white people in Gainesville were not friendly to these teachers. White boys sometimes bothered the classes. But the school kept going. By 1867, even some important white leaders started to attend the school's end-of-year events.
In the fall of 1867, a group of black residents in Gainesville formed a board to open a new school. They bought land for the school, which they named the Union Academy. The Freedmen's Bureau gave them plans and building supplies. Many freedmen who were skilled carpenters volunteered their time to build the school. The building was large, with one floor and a porch. It even had a tall bell tower, and a bell was added in 1870. This was one of the biggest schools built for black students by the Freedmen's Bureau in Florida. At first, the school didn't have much furniture, but a special organ for music lessons was added in 1872.
By 1868, the Union Academy had different levels of classes, like primary and grammar school. The first teachers left by 1870. New teachers came from a group called the American Missionary Association, along with two black assistants. The school also started getting some money from the Alachua County Board of Public Instruction and another group called the Peabody Education Fund. The school was teaching 179 students. Teachers reported that students were doing well, but they also needed more books and supplies. Classrooms were often very full.
Public Schools in Alachua County
Before 1869, there were no free public schools in Gainesville or Alachua County. White students from wealthy families went to private schools like the Gainesville Academy. If families couldn't afford it, the county might pay for tuition, but most poor families didn't want to be seen as "paupers" (very poor people). So, many children from poor families didn't get a formal education.
In 1866, the owner of the Gainesville Academy offered his school building to the state. He wanted the East Florida Seminary, a state school, to move to Gainesville. The state agreed, and the Seminary moved. Other private schools also opened in Gainesville around this time.
The Alachua County Board of Public Instruction was created in 1869. By 1870, there were 22 public schools in the county. However, many white people didn't like these new public schools. Most school boards had at least one black member, and the textbooks often supported the Union (the North in the Civil War). The schools also lacked many basic things, and it was hard to find good teachers.
Changes and Growth
After 1877, white Democrats started to regain control of Florida's government, including the Alachua County school system. Money from the Freedmen's Bureau and most northern charities for the Union Academy stopped by 1874. People started to accept that going to free public schools was okay. A system of separate schools for black and white students was set up. Most of the money and resources went to the white schools. Spending on schools was cut, and the school year for county-supported schools became shorter, from five months to three months.
But the Union Academy was different. It had "well-educated teachers" and stayed open for eight months a year. It was the only public school in the county with students divided into grades and using proper textbooks. The Union Academy also received money from the state to support its normal department, which was a program to train teachers. After 1873, all the teachers at the Union Academy were black. Graduates from the Academy's normal department went on to teach in other black schools across Alachua County.
In 1883, voters in Gainesville approved a plan to borrow money for improvements at the East Florida Seminary and the Union Academy. This plan was not popular with white voters, but black voters helped it pass. Since the city couldn't spend money on a building it didn't own, the Union Academy's trustees sold the school to the city for $2,000. This money was used for repairs and improvements, especially to expand the teacher training program.
In the mid-1890s, a second floor was added to the Union Academy building. This cost $1,100. The school now had eleven classrooms and could hold 700 students! By 1903, a house next door was added for the younger students. The main school building got electric lights by 1919, but the primary school building still used kerosene lamps.
In 1920, another plan to borrow money was passed to build two new high schools in Gainesville: one for white students and one for black students. Both were made of brick and were similar in size and features. By 1922, the Union Academy was teaching 500 students from grades 1 to 9, with eleven teachers. The new high school for black students, Lincoln High School, was finished in 1923. The outdoor toilets (privies) from the old Union Academy were even moved to the new school that summer.
