Florida Board of Control

The Florida Board of Control was created by the 1905 legislation known as the Buckman Act. The act reorganized Florida's public higher education system into three institutions, segregated by race and gender, as follows:

• State Normal College for Colored Students (now known as Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University) for African Americans
• Florida State College for Women (now known as Florida State University) for Caucasian women
• University of the State of Florida (now known as the University of Florida) for Caucasian men

The gender separation aspect of the Buckman Act was overturned by the Florida Legislature in 1947 when Florida State University was returned to coeducational status and the University of Florida was made coeducational. The Legislature also determined it necessary to make room for the World War II veterans who wished to use the GI Bill of Rights to pursue their educational endeavors. While the racial segregation aspect of the Buckman Act was overturned by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Florida State University and the University of Florida began accepting African American undergraduates in 1961-1962. The State Normal College for Colored Students changed their name to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes in 1909, and in 1953 the name was again changed to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

• University of South Florida (1956)
• Florida Atlantic University (1961)
• Florida Technological University (1963)
• University of West Florida (1963)

• Henry Holland Buckman