Collier-Blocker Junior College, located at 1100 N. 19th Street in Palatka, Florida, opened its doors in 1960.
But the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision of 1954 ruled that segregated facilities were unconstitutional.
The legislature founded new junior colleges to add access to the segregated higher education system in the state.
They wanted to demonstrate that a "separate but equal" higher education system existed in Florida for African Americans.
[17][18] A plaque on that wall reads: In the fall of 1960, Collier-Blocker Junior College was established under the leadership of President Albert Williams with the purpose of educating African-American students from Clay, Putman, and St. Johns Counties.
The name Collier-Blocker was chosen to honor two well-known African-American Northeasat Florida educators, Dr. Nathan W. Collier and Sara Blocker.
President Williams had been given the seemingly unsurmountable challenge of readying the College for full operation in only one month, but with the help of Dean Cleo Higgins, he was successful in meeting the goal and the College began meeting the educational needs of its inaugural class of 59 students in the fall of 1960.
At the end of the 1965-1966 academic year, the Collier-Blocker Center was dissolved and fully merged with St. Johns River Junior College.