TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – During the Jim Crow era in Tallahassee, Lincoln High School served as a refuge for African Americans seeking to escape the discrimination they felt in nearly every area of ​​life.

This week’s Tally Back Then features a new collaboration with the Florida Civil Rights Museum, a virtual collection of civil rights pioneers with names both familiar and new.

Delaitre Hollinger is the museum’s co-executive director. He recently sat down with WCTV to name a few names that deserve recognition.

First name: Cecil H. Walker.

“He was principal of the original Lincoln High School from 1934 to 1939 when he died,” Hollinger said. “He was only 20 years old when he became principal.”

Despite his age, Walker quickly became a catalyst for change.

“As principal of what was then the only black high school, he took on a leadership role in the community,” Hollinger said.

“He specifically asked the black and white community to come and participate in the activities at the school. So he was really a pioneer of integration here in Leon County.”

A photo from the Florida Memory archives dates back to 1938 and shows Walker with assistant principal R. Frank Nims.

“This is one of the most iconic photos in local black education,” Hollinger said. “In the 1930s, Lincoln High School was considered the meeting place for the entire African-American community. Dances were held there, community meetings were held there. And the African-American educator was considered a role model, someone to look up to.”

Among those who graduated during Principal Walker’s time was Aquilina Casanas, who later became Aquilina Howell.

“She was the first woman to serve as assistant principal in the Leon County School System,” he said. “She was actually born and raised in Tallahassee and played a significant role in the desegregation of the school system.”

For Hollinger, studying Lincoln’s history is the key to understanding the resources available to a population that had very little room for growth and self-development during the Jim Crow era.

“This was the mecca for black education for multiple generations. It was also a safe haven for the community,” he said. “The Frenchtown community as a whole was a safe haven, but Lincoln High School served as the anchor for that.”

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