William N. Sheats
William N. Sheats | |
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| Born | 5 March 1851  |
| Died | 19 July 1922 (aged 71) |
| Occupation | Educator, superintendent |
William Nicholas Sheats (March 5, 1851 – July 19, 1922)
Sheats was born on a cotton farm near
Sheats was a paternalistic racist, insisting on segregation between Black and white students in all levels of education.[4] His beliefs led him to lobby the 1894 legislature for a new law to be passed. The Sheats Law, passed in 1895, prohibited white teachers from instructing Black students and forbid Black and white students from learning in the same classroom, even if the schools were privately operated.[5]
This law affected the only privately operated school in Florida that had integrated, the Orange Park Normal & Industrial School. The law led to the arrest of the school's principal, several educators and patrons, and a minister in 1896.[6] They were "charged with the crime of educating students at a desegregated school."
Sheats died in office in 1922. During his tenure, he fortified Florida's compulsory school attendance law as well as standardized teacher training and textbook selection.[7]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8078-3491-6.
- ISBN 978-0-252-00666-1.
- ^ National Education Association of the United States (1907). Fiftieth Anniversary Yearbook and List of Active Members of the National Education Association. National Education Association. p. 759.
- JSTOR 30146681.
- ^ "Historical Marker". The Florida Channel. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
- ^ "One man's war on Florida's desegregated schools". redefinED. 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
- ISBN 978-0-8078-3491-6.
External links
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