Day 18 📍 Scavenger Hunt
Celebrating Black History Month by exploring hidden Black history in Florida's Capital City.
February 18, 2025
Good morning!
There hasn’t been an overarching theme for the scavenger hunt, but this week, I want to explore some historic sites in Frenchtown, one of the oldest Black communities in Florida.
Like many other Black communities in Tallahassee and across America, Frenchtown has endured dramatic transformations in the name of “urban renewal" and “economic development.” But, as we’ll see this week, these transformations have emptied the neighborhood of its original soul and character, primarily for the benefit of a younger and wealthier demographic.
In answering the question, what does Black progress look like, we also have to keep in mind that it’s not progress if the intended beneficiaries are left behind. It’s planned erasure and obsolescence.
📍Today’s Clue: Still standing, but no longer in operation, find the hotel that specifically served the Black population during segregation.
📍 Day 17: Lincoln Academy
🕵🏽 Clue: Named after a respected President, visit the now-community center that used to educate Frenchtown residents.
In 1869, Lincoln Academy opened its doors in Frenchtown. It was Tallahassee’s first school for Black people, offering children of all ages an education.
Just three years later, in 1872, an accidental fire emerged, burning the building down. The City fire department refused to extinguish the fire due to "insufficient hoses". Lincoln was rebuilt, this time on the site of what is now Florida State University’s Kellogg Research Center. That building served students until 1906, when its final building (438 West Brevard Street) was constructed.
Although it was a high school, Lincoln served the entire community. A nursery was located on the property for children and at night, the school offered vocational classes such as tailoring, cosmetology, welding, Spanish, and nursing.
Lincoln Academy, and later High School, produced bright students who influenced the world around them. One notable alumni is Carrie Meek, who became the first Black woman elected to the Florida Senate.
The school closed down in 1962, when its students were required to migrate to the previously all-white schools and embrace integration.
See you tomorrow,
Shelby