The Florida State Normal School, located in DeFuniak Springs, was founded in 1887 and was the principal state school for teacher training prior to the passage of the Buckman Act of 1905. It was also in 1887 that the Normal School for Negro Students, which would later become Florida A and M University, was formed in Tallahassee. Although the Florida State Normal School was coeducational, the majority of the students were women. Prior to 1901, however, women were not offered teaching scholarships. In that year, the legislature authorized one female scholarship a year for each county. All recipients of the scholarship were to attend the Florida State Normal School. When the school was abolished in 1905, female teacher education was undertaken by the Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee and men were directed to the University of Florida. The last principal of the school, Henry Eastman Bennett, became the first head of the Normal Department at the University of Florida.
From the guide to the Records of the Florida State Normal School, 1887-1905, (Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida)
