Original Lincoln High School

Lincoln School served as the primary public education institution for African Americans in Leon County from 1869 to 1969. Established in 1869 as one of only two Freedman’s Bureau schools in Florida to educate newly freed slaves, it was named after President Abraham Lincoln. The first school building, located at the corner of Lafayette and Copeland streets, burned down in 1872.

When the second building, located at the corner of Copeland Street and Park Avenue, was transferred to the Florida State College for Women in 1906, a new wood frame school was built at this site in Frenchtown, a well-established African American area. In 1929, the building was replaced by the present brick one, with some funding from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation.

As Lincoln High School, it offered a high school curriculum, vocational training, night school, and GED program. Students came from more than 40 schools in rural Leon County and surrounding areas. They either roomed in town or walked for miles to Lincoln. There were no buses for African American students until the 1950s.

The Lincoln High School name was transferred to the site of Griffin Middle School for two years, which allowed students to receive Lincoln diplomas until 1969.