Location: AC.1.B.3.1.1 - AC.1.B.3.3.7

The Florida A&M University College of Law opened in 1951, in response to an application by Mr. Virgil Hawkins, to the University of Florida College of Law. At that time, there was no access for African-Americans to graduate education of any kind in the state of Florida, and black applicants were routinely sent out of state to pursue graduate education. By the 1960s the idea that that there was no longer a need for a "separate but equal" law school in Florida was entertained by the Florida Board of Regents and eventually the college was close din 1968. After its closure, most of the FAMU law library collection was transferred to the Florida State University College of Law, which had opened in 1966. The original College of Law was closed in 1968, but it was reopened in 2002 and the collection re-donated to the new FAMU College of Law.