Janis Fontaine
Roosevelt High School’s final graduating class got their diplomas in 1970, and its proud alumni have been fighting to preserve the history of the all-Black school ever since.
What’s happening: Now the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties is reaching out to the public about the next phase of plans for the revered Roosevelt High School’s rebirth as the Roosevelt Full Service Center, which will house a long-dreamed-of African American Museum and Research Library.
To be transparent about the plans, and recognizing several groups have a stake in the drive to create a museum, the foundation is hosting a town meeting to build community consensus.
Foundation representatives did not return a call last week from Stet News seeking details about the meeting.
Backstory: Last year, a state task force set out to find a site for a new Florida Museum of Black History.
In February, Palm Beach County leaders asked the task force to consider Roosevelt for the museum.
- Representatives who spoke on behalf of the plan included Palm Beach County Commissioner Mack Bernard; County Administrator Verdenia Baker; Jennifer Sullivan, senior vice president of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County; West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James; and Palm Beach County School Board member Edwin Ferguson.
The other side: In March, Cora Studstill-Perry and other members of a group calling itself the Historic Roosevelt Unity Coalition, held a news conference opposing the county’s proposal for the state Black history museum.
“Any Black history museum under the auspices of the Florida Legislature and Governor which have enacted the ‘Stop WOKE Act,’ prohibiting and making illegal classroom instruction that would cause anyone to feel guilt, anguish, or any form of psychological distress due to their race, color, sex or national origin, is a Black Museum without Black history,” the group said in a statement.
The county did not apply by the deadline to be considered for the site, but it’s unclear if they just missed the deadline or intentionally withdrew because of community opposition.
In May, the task force voted to recommend St. Augustine/St. Johns County as the site for the Florida Museum of Black History.
“We have been working on this effort since 2005,” Studstill-Perry, who is president of the Roosevelt alumni association, said in January at the groundbreaking for the full service center.
What’s next: The town hall meeting for the planned museum was set for this week, but the expected storm has led the foundation to postpone it.
