Florida Black Football Pioneers
Civil Rights Trailblazers
In our modern era there are so many black athletes competing in high school, college, and professional sports that we often overlook a sad time in our past. Many people watching football games in Florida today don't realize that segregation was the norm in the state until well into the 1960s.
Florida had 42 segregated high schools for blacks only. None of the big southern football schools had blacks on their teams, and would not play teams that had black players. Think Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida State, LSU, and more. That was the law in most Southern states.