Grace McAlister
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Florida Memorial University (FMU) is a private, historically Black university in Miami Gardens, Fla. It is a member of the United Negro College, which funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically Black colleges.
FMU is one of the oldest academic centers in Florida, having been founded in 1879 as the Florida Baptist Institute in Live Oak. The American Baptist Home Mission Society quickly gave the school its full support. The first regular school year began in 1880, with Reverend Joseph Fish serving as the school’s first president.
Racial tensions cast a shadow over the school shortly after it opened, despite its promising start. In April 1892, after an unknown group fired rounds into one of the school's buildings, the institute’s former President Matthew Gilbert and other staff members fled from Live Oak to Jacksonville, Fla., they founded the Florida Baptist Academy in the basement of Bethel Baptist Church. They began holding classes in May 1892, with Sarah Blocker of Live Oak as the main instructor. However, the school’s Live Oak location was still in operation.
Nathan W. Collier, President of Florida Baptist Institute, and Blocker combined the two institutions to found the Florida Normal and Technical Institute in 1896. Collier was president of the college from 1896 to 1941, and Blocker served as the Dean of Women and vice president from 1896 to 1944.
Florida Normal and Industrial Institute moved to St. Augustine, Fla., in 1918. The school was located on a tract of land on the site of the 110-acre "Old Hanson Plantation," which was operated with the forced labor of slaves.
The Live Oak and St. Augustine institutions merged in 1941, changing from a junior college to a four-year liberal arts institution, which graduated its first four-year class in 1945. The school's name was changed again in 1950 to Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial College, and in 1963, the name was changed to Florida Memorial College.
Concerned by race-related violence in St. Augustine in relation to the civil rights movement, in 1965, the college bought a tract of land in Dade County, Fla. In 1968, the college relocated to its present site and, by 1972, it graduated its first class at the new location.
In December 2004, the institution's name was changed to Florida Memorial College, with the announcement being made at the Founders' Convocation in March 2005.

Sarah Ann Blocker

Grace McAlister
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Sarah Ann Blocker, of Live Oak, completed her education and inspired a generation of Florida educators, despite economic and severe educational limitations for African-Americans in the South.
At only 22-years-old, Blocker founded Florida Memorial College (FMC).
Since its founding, FMC has been one of the most enduring testaments to Black education in Florida. Blocker’s fundraising, administrative and management skills substantially contributed to the growth and economic prosperity of the institution.
FMC named its classroom building Sarah A. Blocker Hall, and also issues the Sarah Blocker Meritorious Service Award as the highest honor conferred upon a female individual by the college.
In March 2004, during the 125th anniversary celebration of FMC, a posthumous Doctoral degree was awarded to Blocker.