For years, descendants of people who suffered the racist attacks in Rosewood and Ocoee have been able to attend college for free, through state-funded scholarships created by the Florida Legislature.
A Florida official tells WLRN those scholarships will continue, even as state schools are banned from using public funds on programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
“All scholarships created and funded by the Florida Legislature will continue,” said Cassandra Edwards, the Director of Communications for the State University System of Florida.
Democratic State Sen. Geraldine Thompson's district in Orange County includes Ocoee. She says the scholarships for descendants of Rosewood and Ocoee are meant to help restore what was taken from Black families who were driven out of their homes.
“There was no generational wealth that was passed on to the descendants of the victims,” Thompson said.
“This is a long-term investment in people to say if you, if your family, your ancestors were victims of these atrocities in the state of Florida, here's an opportunity. Here's a way to give you a leg up.”
A ‘model’ for reparations
Hundreds of Florida students have received free tuition to go to the state’s public colleges and universities because of the racist violence their families suffered.
The burning of the predominantly Black town of Rosewood in 1923 and the Election Day attacks on Black voters in Ocoee in 1920 are among the darkest chapters in the state’s history.
At least eight people died at Rosewood. It’s not known how many died in Ocoee, though some estimates put the number as high as 60, according to the Associated Press. In both instances, white mobs set fire to homes and forced Black residents out of their communities.
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The Florida Legislature created the Rosewood Family Scholarship in 1994, following a state-commissioned inquest into the burning of the town in Levy County. Rosewood was known as a prosperous community, with churches, general stores, a masonic hall and a community baseball team — the Rosewood Stars — until white vigilantes burned the town down.
Through the scholarship fund, each year up to 50 qualifying students who are descendants of Rosewood families can receive $6,100, (comparable to the cost of in-state tuition for one year) to attend Florida’s public colleges and universities.
The program is seen as a national model for reparations for racist violence perpetrated against Black families, according to reporting by the Religion News Service and the Washington Post.
“Rosewood was the model,” Dr. Maxine Jones told the Religion News Service.
“This is a long-term investment in people to say if you, if your family, your ancestors were victims of these atrocities in the state of Florida, here's an opportunity. Here's a way to give you a leg up.”Democratic State Sen. Geraldine Thompson
Jones is a Florida State University history professor and was the principal investigator of the state-commissioned report on the incident.
In 2021, the Florida Legislature created a similar scholarship fund for descendants of victims of the Ocoee massacre, in which a white mob terrorized the Black community after a Black man showed up at the polls to vote.
As with the Rosewood scholarship, each year up to 50 qualifying descendants of the Ocoee Election Day Riots — or current Black residents of the city — can get $6,100 to cover their in-state tuition.
Thompson is now working to expand the Ocoee scholarship to allow students to use it at private historically Black colleges and universities, not just public institutions. Florida only has one public HBCU, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.
“With the DEI prohibitions, some of the students do not feel comfortable on some of our campuses,” she said. “Giving them now this option, if they choose to attend an HBCU and to receive the scholarship, I think is a step in the right direction.”
State boards ban use of taxpayer funds to support DEI on campus
The scholarship programs are notable at a time when officials in Florida and other states are working to restrict the teaching of American history and the country’s track record of racism and discrimination.
Earlier this month, the state boards overseeing Florida’s public colleges and universities formally banned the use of state or federal funds to promote diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campus. The regulations codify a state law that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in 2023.
The regulation defines DEI as “any program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification."
A spokesperson for Florida’s university system told WLRN that “[a]ll scholarships” created and funded by the Legislature “will continue," pointing to a carveout in the regulation for “programs, campus activities, or functions required for compliance with general or federal laws or regulations.”
Florida's Office of Student Financial Assistance oversees a slate of taxpayer-funded scholarships created by state lawmakers to benefit students from minority communities and marginalized backgrounds.
Besides the Ocoee and Rosewood scholarships, funding is also available for "African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, and Native American students" through the Minority Teacher Education Scholars program. Students of Hispanic origin can also qualify for the José Martí Scholarship Challenge Grant Fund.
“It does seem inconsistent,” Thompson told WLRN. “But I'm glad that we are honoring the scholarships.”
Students can get more information on the state's scholarships and grant programs here.
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