Black Thursday

This post was written GeoPlan student employee Nikesha Medard.

It was the Spring of 1971 that brought an unexpected, yet revolutionary change to the University of Florida. The Black Student Union, established in 1968 on UF’s campus, had enough of the petty promises from a university that was doing the bare minimum to integrate Black students on campus. Coming 13 years after desegregation, the Black students on campus realized that they still occupied less than 1% of the enrollment on campus. Compiling a list of demands to present to then president of the university, Stephen O’Connell, the Black students led out a series of events on campus in a single day known as Black Thursday.