Browse Exhibits (4 total)
How do We Know?: Explaining the Historian's Craft
At its heart, History is about answering "how do we know?" By studying our past, we learn how our present was constructed. If we know our present, we can make better decisions about our future.
This exhibit explains and provides examples of how historians practice their craft. You will learn how historians create questions and analyze evidence from the past with a critical eye to make reasonable conclusions about their meaning.
Inextricably Intertwined: The history of Tallahassee, American slavery, and Native American Removal
There are multiple ways in which the history of Florida State University and the history of slavery in the United States and Native American removal directly intertwine. The land upon which Florida State University sits is the ancestral home to the Muskogee peoples. Geopolitics between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries forced continual political and social realignments. In the end, the U.S. government compelled Native Peoples to relocate to newly designated areas that were unconnected to their ancestral homes.
Tallahassee, Florida's capital, was at the center of a political, cultural, and social system that extracted the unpaid labor of African Americans. Enslaved persons built the building that became West Florida Seminary, the first predecessor to Florida State University. However, West Florida Seminary, which was a public institution, was not open to African Americans. Nor would Florida State University be until 1962.
This exhibit explains the roots of Florida State University. Its ties to slavery and the removal of Native Americans make it unexceptional within the larger history of the development of the United States. Nonetheless, every story has unique features, and this is ours.
As you move through the pages, you can click on the images to learn more about these items.
Making Modern Tallahassee: African American Community-building from Emancipation through the Modern Civil Rights Movement
After the Civil War ended in 1865, the people of the United States reconstructed their nation. Three amendments to the U.S. Constitution redefined the meaning of citizenship. African Americans in Florida were now free, but freedom did not guarantee equal opportunity. After the election of President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877, the federal government receded in its defense of African American civil liberties. Southern states adopted new constitutions and laws embedding racial segregation into their communities' political, economic, and social fabric. Known as Jim Crow, these laws established a system of white supremacy. Florida was no exception to this movement.
Despite impediments, intimidation, and violence, African Americans persevered in building communities. However, the accommodation of Jim Crow should not be mistaken for acceptance. African Americans continually contested white supremacy in everyday deeds and, eventually, through court action and mass protests.
By law, Florida State University and its antecedent, Florida State College for Women, were only open to white students. Most Floridian politicians fought integration even when the U.S. Supreme Court determined that racial segregation was inherently unequal in 1954. Likewise, FSU's students debated desegregation. Some believed it was inevitable, while others rejected the premise. A few became activists to dismantle Jim Crow. Two found themselves expelled for their activities.
In 1962, FSU integrated. In the summer, twelve African American science teachers from Broward County took courses on campus. In the fall, Maxwell Courtney became the first African American undergraduate and Maxine Thurston became the first graduate student to enroll. Despite experiences of racism on campus, African American students continued to matriculate.
This exhibit explains the history of the development of Florida State University and its antecedent, Florida State College for Women. Its existence as a whites-only institution makes it unexceptional within the history of the United States. Nonetheless, every story has unique features, and this is ours.
You can click on the images to learn more about these items as you move through the pages.
Tallahassee’s Racial Past Surrounds Us: Physical Markers of Race Relations
"The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind. And if it didn't stay behind, well, you might have to stomp it out." Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1988
"To [African Americans], slavery is not past. I mean, it's not a mystery. It is not a historical curiosity. It is a cruel, unavoidable ghost that haunts in a way we can't see." The Big Payback, Atlanta, 2022
No space in Tallahassee was untouched by enslavement and Jim Crow. After a court order in 1961, Tallahassee removed the literal signs that segregated public spaces like restrooms and water fountains. Nevertheless, many of the structures created to support enslavement and Jim Crow remain. Although these spaces of oppression and survival are in plain sight, they are invisible if you are unfamiliar with their history.
These two exhibits offer you journeys into seeing these hidden histories. The first is a representation of spaces-education, leisure, religion, and health-that Tallahassee built to maintain a racist system of oppression. The second is sites of significance for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) History at Florida State University.