Means Court School

Means Court School. . , Means Court School, 13th Street and Means Court , Sometime before 1920, St. Lucie County's only school for blacks moved to 13th Street and Means Court, and became known as Means Court School, providing classes through the eighth grade. Not long after, the school incorporated high school classes and became known as the Lincoln Park Academy. For a brief time in 1958, Zora Neale Hurston taught English at Lincoln Park Academy (at its present location, 1806 Avenue I, Heritage Trail Marker #2)., During the early 1900s, black families began a long campaign to obtain education for their children. The first school made available for blacks in St. Lucie County was a former tin storage shed located at North 8th Street. In 1906, the building next door was given to the black community for their school, which had no name. Sometime before 1920, the school moved to 13th Street and Means Court and became known as the Means Court School., The Means Court School hadn't been open a year when parents began working on plans to expand it, raising money to build the first black high school south of Palatka. Mothers sold 10-cent sandwiches to raise money for a basketball court. Volunteers fenced in the court so that tickets could be sold and the proceeds used to benefit the school expansion program. Enthusiastic parents recruited the highly recommended Principal James Espy away from a better paying job in Georgia. All this at a time in Florida when there was not a single cited black high school and only 18 black students in twelfth grade in the entire state., With Espy's assistance, parents convinced the school district to let them have a high school and pledged $1600 of their own money toward it. The community ended up paying more than $2600 in one term, and Lincoln Park Academy was approved as a senior high school. Espy kept academics at a high standard and insisted on degreed teachers, an unheard of luxury for black schools at the time., According to the informative book, Treasure Coast Black Heritage (1996). "When Lincoln Park Academy was accredited in 1928, it was among four Negro schools that had this distinction in the state. Students came from as far north as New Smyma and as far south as Delay Beach and across the state from Tampa to attend high school at Lincoln Park Academy.”, Today, we sometimes take education for granted. Lets instead remember the dedication of Ft. Pierce's early families to provide students with an excellent education. They encouraged children to “jump at de sun” and fulfill their dreams. , , (Captions) , In her 1942 autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, Zora shared her mother's encouraging words with the world: "Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground." , Art by Patrica McCarren, Hold on to Your Dreams , In a February 14, 1990 Ft. Pierce Tribune article, Zora's friend and local writer, Marjore Silver Alder, remembered that Zora still believed in her mother's words: What kept Zora going was her determination to tell blacks not to take (discrimination), not to bow down to it, not to accept it." Alder recalled Zora's own words of encouragement as well: "She told the children how valuable they were. Told them they could have wonderful thoughts and dreams, And she told them to hold on to their dreams." , Carl Van Vechton, photographer. Reproduced with permission of the Carl Van Vechton Trust., Florida’s bright Sun didn’t deter these youngsters from enjoying their school playground. The wooden buildings shown here were relocated from U.S. Navy facilities on the beach., Zora's Early Education , Zora spent her childhood in Eatonville, Florida, the oldest incorporated black town in the U.S. (Eatonville is north of Orlando). For her elementary school education, Zora attended Eatonville's Hungerford School, founded in 1889 on the Tuskegee model. Zora's mother died in 1904, and so at the age of 13, Zora left to live in Jacksonville. She was not able to complete the equivalent of high school until her late twenties. , Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Zora Neal Hurston Collection, George A. Smothers Libraries, University of Florida, Department of Special Collections.