About the Institution
One of the oldest academic centers in Florida, the university was founded in 1879 as the Florida Baptist Institute in Live Oak, Florida. Soon after, the American Baptist Home Mission gave its full support and the first regular school year began in 1880. In 1882, the Florida Baptist Academy was established in Jacksonville, Florida. The me was later changed to Florida Normal and Industrial Institute. It was there that two brothers, James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson (faculty member), wrote the words and music to Lift Evry Voice and Sing (known as the Negro tiol Anthem), in 1900