Black abolitionist Jonathan C. Gibbs first introduced legislation to create the State Normal College for Colored Students in 1885, one year after being elected to the Florida Legislature.

[8] (Twelve publicly-funded junior colleges serving primarily the African-American population of Florida existed for different periods between 1949 and 1966.)

[9] The strike was a response to Governor Cary A. Hardee's attempts to eliminate the liberal arts program at the university and convert it to a purely vocational school.

Ultimately, the liberal arts program was restored after the end of Hardee's term and the appointment of J. R. E. Lee as the fourth president of the university.

[12][13] It closed in 1971, after then-Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, under federal pressure, started serving African Americans.

On May 26, 1956, Wilhemina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, two Florida A&M University students, were arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department for "placing themselves in a position to incite a riot" which led to the Tallahassee bus boycott which sought to end racial segregation in the employment and seating arrangements of city buses.

[19] In the fall of 1997, FAMU was selected as the Time-Princeton Review "College of the Year" and was cited in 1999 by Black Issues in Higher Education for awarding more baccalaureate degrees to African-Americans than any institution in the nation.

[24][25][26] In 2019, FAMU and other HBCUs developed a partnership with Adtalem Global Education and its for-profit Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados.

[27] In May 2024, FAMU administrators announced during a commencement ceremony that it had received a $237 million donation, the largest single personal donation to FAMU in its 136-year history and the largest gift ever to a HBCU, from Gregory Gerami, CEO of Batterson Farms Corporation.

In response to the public skepticism, FAMU paused the acceptance of the gift and initiated an external investigation to determine the soundness of the Gerami donation.

[33] In August 2024, FAMU released a final report prepared by Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney that concluded that the Gerami donation was of no real cash value.

[38] Florida A&M also has an honors program for high-achieving undergraduate students who meet the high performance criteria.

[57] FAMU's residential living community consists of eight on-campus residence halls housing over 2,500 students.

The university offers a diverse number of living options including traditional dorms, suite-style halls, and on-campus apartments.

The new library was officially dedicated during FAMU's 1949 annual Founders Day celebration in honor of civil leader Samuel H.

[62] The library of what was then the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students was located in the grandest building on the campus, Duval Hall, the former mansion of Florida governor William Pope Duval, which also held the university's administrative offices and cafeteria.

It no longer serves as a library, but instead houses the Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum.

Florida A&M University is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and participates in NCAA Division I-FCS.

FAMU offers men's sports in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis and track and field.

It offers women's sports in basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross country, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball.

When Gaither retired after 25 years of coaching in 1969, his FAMU teams had a 203-36-4 (wins-losses-ties) record, for a .844 winning percentage.

During his 25 years as head coach, FAMU won 22 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships.

Individuals part of the FAMU community are affectionately referred to as "FAMUly" or members of "Rattler Nation".

Likewise, Florida State students desiring to become Navy and Marine Corps officers may also enroll with FAMU's NROTC unit under a similar arrangement.