The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
Menu
Admin Sign-In

James Ellerbe and the Ellerbe Family of Florida Educators (1941)

In April 1941, an obituary notice published in the Atlanta Daily World documented James Ellerbe as “principal of the high school at Avon Park.”[adw-1941-04-05] That record identifies Ellerbe as a member of a distinguished family network of African American educators, journalists, and championship athletes whose careers shaped Black civic and educational institutions across Florida during the Jim Crow era.

Atlanta Daily World obituary for Edward A. Ellerbe

Obituary for Edward A. Ellerbe mentioning his brother James Ellerbe as principal of the high school at Avon Park. Atlanta Daily World / Library of Congress.[adw-1941-04-05]

The Ellerbe Family Network

The family originated in Hastings, St. Johns County, and adjacent Palatka in Putnam County. The 1941 dispatch marked the death of eldest brother Edward A. Ellerbe in Jacksonville, bringing together the achievements of six siblings serving across the state:[adw-1941-04-05]

  1. Edward A. Ellerbe (c. 1900–1941): Educated at Stanton High School and Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, with earlier studies at Florida A&M College in Tallahassee.[adw-1941-04-05] He became one of Jacksonville’s prominent Black journalists, serving as circulation manager of the Florida Sentinel before directing circulation and then editorial leadership for eight years as editor of the “Star Edition” of the Florida Times-Union, the dedicated edition serving Jacksonville’s African American community.[adw-1941-04-05][fwp-muse-ellerbe] He served as a sports official refereeing football contests throughout the Southeast, presided for seven years over the Local-Union of the Allen Christian Endeavor League in Duval County, and was an officer of Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Jacksonville.[adw-1941-04-05] He was survived by his widow, Azzie Lee Ellerbe, and son Edward A. Ellerbe, Jr.[adw-1941-04-05]
  2. Acie Ellerbe: Veteran public school teacher in Palatka, serving the segregated public schools of Putnam County.[adw-1941-04-05]
  3. Mrs. W. E. Harris (née Ellerbe): Teacher in the Hastings public school system, married to Walter E. Harris, the longtime principal of the Hastings colored school.[adw-1941-04-05] The institution was later renamed the W. E. Harris School in his honor, serving Hastings until desegregation, and survives as the W. E. Harris Community Center at 400 East Harris Street in Hastings.[sjc-harris-center]
  4. Mildred Ellerbe: Teacher at the Hastings school and recognized as one of Florida’s premier Black high school girls’ basketball coaches.[adw-1941-04-05]
  5. Mozell (Mozelle) Ellerbe: National collegiate track star and football player at Tuskegee Institute, known in contemporary sporting despatches as the “Pride of Hastings, Florida” and the “Tuskegee Flyer.”[adw-1941-04-05] Ellerbe won back-to-back National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships in the 100-yard dash in 1938 (9.7 seconds) and 1939 (9.8 seconds), and on 27 April 1940 captured the Penn Relays 100-yard dash, becoming the first male athlete from an HBCU to win a national championship title at the Penn Relays.[tuskegee-hof-ellerbe] After serving in the United States military during World War II, he returned to Tuskegee as a member of the coaching staff and was inducted into the Tuskegee University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974.[tuskegee-hof-ellerbe]
  6. James Ellerbe: Educator serving as principal of the Black school in Highlands County in 1941.[adw-1941-04-05]

The Secondary School Structure in Highlands County

The Atlanta Daily World’s reference to James Ellerbe as “principal of the high school at Avon Park” reflects the administrative reality of secondary education for African American youth under Florida’s constitutional dual school system.[adw-1941-04-05]

Under Article XII, Section 12 of the 1885 Florida Constitution, racial segregation was strictly enforced. Avon Park’s local Black facility—Hopewell School on Castle Street (now 100 Ernest E. Sims Street)—operated exclusively as an elementary center providing instruction through eighth grade.[census-1950-ed-28-8] Hopewell had no accredited four-year secondary department in state school board directories.[dpi-1934-1936]

To provide secondary education without building separate high schools in every town, the Highlands County School Board established a single consolidated secondary school in Sebring, known initially as the Highlands County Training School and later as E. O. Douglas High School.[dpi-1930-1932][dpi-1934-1936] During the 1931–1932 academic year, the John F. Slater Fund designated this institution under the joint title “Highlands — Sebring-Avon Park”, recognizing that it served pupils drawn from both municipalities.[dpi-1930-1932]

Every African American student from Avon Park who completed eighth grade at Hopewell and pursued a secondary diploma was bused ten miles south along US Highway 27 to Sebring.[census-1950-ed-28-8] In the 1950 census, Henry Austin of Castle Street was recorded as the dedicated county school bus driver operating this daily route.[census-1950-ed-28-8] In contemporary vernacular usage and statewide Black press reporting, the regional secondary administration serving Avon Park students was frequently styled as the “high school at Avon Park,” connecting James Ellerbe to the leadership of Highlands County’s secondary educational program in the early 1940s prior to Samuel C. Nixon Jr.’s appointment in 1946.[adw-1941-04-05]

Professional Mobility and Census Presence

Like many credentialed Black educators in early twentieth-century Florida, James Ellerbe moved between teaching and administrative appointments within the state’s segregated school systems. Hailing from Northeast Florida’s educational centers in St. Johns and Putnam counties, his tenure in Highlands County was localized to the early 1940s.

By the time of the 1950 federal census, the name Ellerbe no longer appeared in Highlands County enumeration records. In Avon Park, Hopewell Elementary was directed by elementary principal Howard L. Warner, while secondary instruction at E. O. Douglas High School was led by Samuel C. Nixon Jr., who directed the consolidated school until county-wide integration in 1970.

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Atlanta Daily World (Atlanta, Ga.), Obituary notice naming James Ellerbe, principal of the high school at Avon Park, Atlanta Daily World, 5 April 1941, page 3 (1941) · newspaper
  2. Viola Muse, ed. by University of North Florida Digital Humanities Institute, Viola Muse Papers: African American Newspapers and Journalists of Jacksonville, Negro Writers' Division, Florida Federal Writers' Project (2022) · archival
  3. Tuskegee University Athletic Hall of Fame, Mozell Ellerbe, Track and Field Inductee (Class of 1974), Tuskegee University Athletic Hall of Fame (1974) · official
  4. St. Johns County Parks and Recreation Department, W. E. Harris Community Center History and Facility Overview, Hastings, Florida (2024) · official
  5. Florida Superintendent of Public Instruction, Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Florida, 1930-1932: Table XV, Disbursed from Slater Fund (1932) · official
  6. Florida Superintendent of Public Instruction, Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Florida, 1934-1936: High School Directories and Vocational Funds (1936) · official
  7. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 Census population schedules, Florida, Highlands County, enumeration district 28-8 (Avon Park city), sheet 24 (1950) · official

Something here wrong, or incomplete? The Society would rather know. Tell a volunteer.

Have a question about this record?

← Back to collection

Ask A.P.

Ask the archive

    Try asking:

    0 / 500

    A.P. answers only from the Society's own archive and cites what it used. Questions are not linked to you; search history is stored on your device only (how it works).Ask a volunteer for anything it cannot answer.