Miami Gardens, Florida · Founded 1879 · Lions
“South Florida's only HBCU, born in 1879 from two Baptist schools and rebuilt from nothing twice — once after shots fired in Live Oak, once when a band director built the ROAR from zero instruments.”
FMU's official documentary on the ROAR's 2023 Paris performance at Bandafolie's — Beckford's full-circle return to the city where he marched as a FAMU student in 1989.
4K footage of the show that won ESPN's inaugural Division II/NAIA Band of the Year honor in the band's third year of existence.
The ROAR at the December 15, 2023 Band of the Year celebration in Atlanta alongside Jackson State, NC A&T, and Virginia State.
Bethune-Cookman's Marching Wildcats vs. FMU's ROAR in a stand battle at the 2026 National Battle of the Bands — Florida HBCU rivalry at full volume.
The ROAR in the stands against Edward Waters in 2021 — the Big Cat Classic energy from the band's perspective.
The ROAR playing "Mean Ole Lion" from The Wiz — a signature stand tune that ties the band to its lion identity.
The 2025-26 ROAR's fifth-quarter battle at Clark Atlanta — the post-Beckford band holding its place in the national HBCU band conversation.
The ROAR's 2025 fall-season performance of "Lemonade" at Clark Atlanta under new director Brian Snell.
The ROAR performing "B.O.S.E" at Clark Atlanta in fall 2025 — early evidence of the band's post-Beckford era.
Oral-history documentary on campus life at Florida Memorial College during the civil-rights-era St. Augustine years — from an alumnus who attended in the late 1960s.
A Miami history feature on FMU — the 1892 shooting and flight from Live Oak, the 1968 move, and the composition of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" on its campus.
Greek life at FMU homecoming 2014 — Delta Sigma Theta sorors celebrating after the homecoming game.
At 23, became the youngest person and first Black pilot to fly solo around the world (2007); magna cum laude FMU aviation graduate, 2009; founded the Flying Classroom STEM curriculum and Experience Aviation nonprofit.
Educator, civil rights organizer, and NAACP leader in Brevard County and across Florida; assassinated with his wife Harriette on Christmas night 1951 — one of the earliest martyrs of the modern civil rights movement.
Soul and gospel singer who built a national recording career under the name Freddie Lee.
Politician from Saint Maarten, extending FMU's reach into Caribbean public life.
Entrepreneur and community advocate, Class of 1987; first alumnus to serve as FMU's president (15th president, 2025–present).
Class of 1986; pastor of New Birth Baptist Church Cathedral of Faith in Miami and a member of the FMU Board of Trustees.
Co-founder of the Florida Baptist Academy (1892) and of the merged institution (1896); served as dean of women and vice president, 1896–1944 — one of the founders of Black women's higher-education leadership in Florida.
Taught and wrote at FMU's predecessor school; with his brother composed 'Lift Every Voice and Sing,' authored The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, and became a defining figure of the Harlem Renaissance.
FMU faculty member in 1900 who composed the music for 'Lift Every Voice and Sing'; a composer, performer, and pioneering figure in Black musical theater.
Taught at the school in 1942 during her prolific period of folklore and anthropology work; author of Their Eyes Were Watching God and Mules and Men.
The Florida Baptist Institute was chartered in Live Oak, Florida, by the Black Baptists of Florida — one of the oldest academic centers in the state. The American Baptist Home Mission Society threw its full support behind the school, and the first regular school year opened in 1880 with the Reverend J. L. A. Fish as its first president. From the start the mission was industrial education, teacher training, agricultural and mechanical instruction, and religious training for Black Floridians.
Racial tensions caught up with the young institute. In April 1892, after unknown persons fired shots into one of the school's buildings, then-president Matthew Gilbert and several staff members fled Live Oak for Jacksonville. There, in the basement of Bethel Baptist Church, they founded the Florida Baptist Academy and began classes in May 1892, with Sarah Ann Blocker of Live Oak as the main instructor. The Live Oak campus kept operating anyway — the school had effectively become two institutions.
Nathan W. Collier, president of the Florida Baptist Institute, joined forces with Sarah Ann Blocker of the Florida Baptist Academy to found the Florida Normal and Technical Institute. Collier would lead the institution from 1896 to 1941 — forty-five years of fundraising, land acquisition, and enrollment growth — while Blocker served as dean of women and vice president from 1896 to 1944. Collier modeled the school on Booker T. Washington's educational aims, and his signature contribution was the training of Black teachers across Florida. The Nathan W. Collier Library still bears his name.
J. Rosamond Johnson, a faculty member at the Florida Baptist Academy in Jacksonville, set his brother James Weldon Johnson's poem to music — creating what would become the Negro National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." It was first performed by a choir of Jacksonville schoolchildren at a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The NAACP would adopt it as the Negro National Anthem in 1919, and the Johnson brothers are remembered as two of the most important figures in Black American letters and music. Both brothers later became members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, a bond that ties FMU's story to the Divine Nine to this day.
The school relocated to St. Augustine, Florida, on a 110-acre tract that had been the "Old Hanson Plantation" — land worked by enslaved Black labor, one of the state's largest slave-holding plantations. There it took the name Florida Normal and Industrial Institute. Through the 1920s and 1930s the campus added new buildings and dormitories, and in 1931 it earned accreditation from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Florida Department of Education — a major milestone for a Black school in the Jim Crow South.
The two surviving junior-college branches merged for good and became the Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial Institute, moving from junior-college classification to a four-year liberal arts institution. It graduated its first four-year class in 1945. The merger closed the 50-year arc that began when shots fired in Live Oak split the school in two — everything that had been scattered was brought back under one roof, on one campus.
The young author Zora Neale Hurston — already known for her anthropology and folklore work, and not yet the legend she would become — taught at the school in 1942. She lived on the second floor of a two-story house at 791 West King Street, just east of the St. Augustine campus. Her brief stay is one more thread in a campus history that keeps intersecting with the biggest names in Black American culture.
Royal W. Puryear became president of what was then a two-year Florida Normal and Industrial College, and the school took the name Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial College. Puryear — an art educator with degrees from Howard and Indiana University — spent the next two decades building it into a four-year, Southern Association-accredited senior college. In 1963 the charter was amended to rename the school Florida Memorial College, and in 1965, as the civil rights-era St. Augustine movement brought race-related violence to the city, Puryear and the trustees bought a tract of land in rural Dade County and began developing an entirely new campus.
The college relocated to its present site in what is now Miami Gardens, leaving St. Augustine after fifty years. The new campus was built from the ground up — entirely new buildings, equipment, and furnishings — and the move doubled the school's enrollment. The 300-mile relocation was guided by Puryear with help from Miami dignitaries, and it put a historically Black college in the heart of South Florida's growing Black community. The first class graduated at the Miami site in 1972, and the city of Miami Gardens itself was incorporated in 2003.
Florida Memorial College celebrated its 100th anniversary and launched a series of expansion projects on its 44-acre campus in Miami Gardens. The centennial came just over a decade after the move from St. Augustine — the school that had twice been rebuilt was now planning for permanence in South Florida.
Dr. Albert E. Smith was appointed as the college's tenth president, and he directed another period of growth in the institution's history. Smith's presidency carried the school through the 1990s into the university era, stabilizing enrollment and expanding academic offerings.
On July 3, 2006, Dr. Karl S. Wright became the eleventh president, and the institution changed its name to Florida Memorial University — a recognition of its expanded graduate offerings, with 41 undergraduate degree programs and graduate programs in education and business administration. The name had shifted five times over 127 years: Florida Baptist Institute, Florida Baptist Academy, Florida Normal and Industrial Institute, Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial College, Florida Memorial College — and finally Florida Memorial University.
At age 23, Florida Memorial student Barrington Irving Jr. landed back in Miami after flying solo around the world in a custom-built Columbia 400 called Inspiration — 97 days, 130 hours in flight, 26,800 miles. He became the youngest person and the first Black pilot to fly solo around the world. Congress honored him with a resolution, and he went on to graduate magna cum laude from FMU's aviation program in 2009 and found the Flying Classroom STEM curriculum and the nonprofit Experience Aviation. He remains the school's most famous living alumnus.
Dr. Henry Lewis III, a former pharmacy dean at Florida A&M, was named FMU's twelfth president in November 2010 and took office February 1, 2011, unveiling an ambitious Vision 2020 plan — 40 objectives including growing enrollment from 2,000 to 3,500 students and building 360 new dorms. But he lasted less than a year; after submitting a letter of resignation, the board terminated his employment immediately in 2012, and Mary A. O'Banner — the university's chief of staff since 1989 — was named acting president. The turbulence ended when Roslyn Clark Artis, an attorney and former provost, was named interim president in June 2013 and became the 13th president in 2014 — the first woman to lead the school in its then-138-year history. She left in 2017 to become Benedict College's first female president.
Dr. Jaffus Hardrick became president in 2019 and spent his five-year tenure fighting for the school's survival: in June 2021 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed FMU on probation for good cause, and Hardrick responded by cutting 18 academic programs and reducing salaries to bring the school back into compliance. The probation was lifted and accreditation maintained. He also built partnerships with the Miami Dolphins and the Lennar Foundation for a Certificate Program in Construction Trades and a free-tuition STEM scholarship for Miami high school graduates. He stepped down in June 2024 for health reasons.
FMU restarted its football program after a 62-year hiatus (the Lions had last played from 1946–1958), hiring Tim "Ice" Harris as head coach and joining the Mid-South Conference. The same year, Dr. Richard Beckford — a FAMU Marching 100 tuba player with 15 years leading Blanche Ely High School's band — was recruited to build a marching band from absolute zero: no instruments, no uniforms, no infrastructure. He named it The ROAR, after the lion mascot, called the practice field the Serengeti, and the dance team LionEssence. Within three years it would be winning national honors.
On October 23, 2021, the Lions won their first football game since the program's reinstatement, beating Union College of Kentucky 41–17 — the first FMU football victory in 63 years. Two weeks later, on November 6, FMU played its first-ever homecoming football game at Nathaniel "Traz" Powell Stadium, hosting Webber International. Until then FMU had held homecoming in the spring, culminating in a basketball game; the return of football moved the entire celebration to the fall.
In the first HBCU classic of the 2022 season, FMU beat Edward Waters 39–34 in a wild game — defensive back Darius Conley sealed it with an interception with five seconds left — giving head coach Bobby Rome his first career victory at FMU. Antoine Williams threw for 382 yards and three touchdowns, and George Young rushed for 134 yards and three scores. The game cemented the Big Cat Classic — FMU vs. Edward Waters — as the school's signature annual football rivalry, played in front of a national HBCU audience.
In its third year of existence, The ROAR won ESPN's inaugural Division II/NAIA HBCU Band of the Year honor, beating out bands at the celebration in Atlanta on December 15, 2023. That same year Beckford led the band to Paris, France, for the 26th edition of Bandafolie's — a full-circle moment: he had performed in Paris himself as a FAMU Marching 100 student in 1989. Beckford and his associate director Brian A. Snell also launched the HEAT HYPE Band in partnership with the Miami Heat, giving FMU musicians a professional-stage pipeline.
Both the men's and women's basketball teams won Sun Conference championships and reached the 2025 NAIA National Championship Tournament — the women's second national appearance in three years. Latavous Mitchell was named Sun Conference Player of the Year for the men and Kamesha Moore for the women, with Kevin Herod named Coach of the Year. The men upset St. Thomas 65–61 in the conference final. Meanwhile, William C. McCormick Jr. — board chairman turned interim president and an FMU alumnus — was named the 15th president in August 2025, the first alumnus to lead the university in its 146-year history. Eight board members and the alumni association president immediately published a letter calling the appointment illegal, "a well-thought-out coup," and alleging bylaws violations — a governance fight that played out in the Miami Herald. The choir made its Carnegie Hall debut on June 21, 2025, celebrating 50 years of musical excellence.
FMU announced a partnership with Miami-based developer Redwood Dev Co on a multi-phase campus transformation costing between $500 million and $1 billion — six residential buildings of 300 units each for workforce housing, 1,000 new dormitory beds for students, and upgraded campus facilities. Interim-turned-permanent president McCormick told the Miami Herald the plan was born of necessity: FMU kept losing top faculty candidates because they couldn't afford South Florida housing. In September 2026 the Knight Foundation added support to protect the long-term value of the now-62-acre campus and fund more housing and athletic facilities, with a stated vision of growing enrollment to 5,000.
Dr. Richard Beckford, the founder of The ROAR, died on December 24, 2025, at age 59, after a long illness — and the HBCU band world poured out tributes to the program-builder who had created an ESPN champion from nothing in four years. In 2026 FMU named his associate director Brian A. Snell as the new Director of University Bands, promoting from within the program he had helped build. The ROAR carried on into the fall 2025–26 season with new stand battles — including a BCU vs. FMU showdown at the National Battle of the Bands in Boca Raton — and fifth-quarter performances at Clark Atlanta that kept FMU's name in the national HBCU band conversation.
FMU's signature rivalry — Lions vs. Tigers — dates to the relaunch of FMU football in 2020, when Edward Waters was named FMU's first opponent. The 2022 meeting became the first HBCU classic of the season and an instant legend: FMU survived 39–34 behind Darius Conley's game-sealing interception with five seconds left. The 2021 meeting in Jacksonville was a 24–20 EWU thriller in their brand-new Nathaniel Glover Stadium. The schools have split recent meetings, with Edward Waters taking the 2024 matchup 31–21 and the 2026 meeting 42–28.
The cross-town Sun Conference rivalry — FMU's Lions vs. St. Thomas's Bobcats — is the neighborhood fight. In basketball it has decided championships: FMU's men upset St. Thomas 65–61 in the 2025 Sun Conference final. In football, St. Thomas is the annual Miami Gardens showdown every October (2023: October 14). The two schools also compete for the same local recruits and the same Miami Gardens fans.
A Sun Conference football and basketball rivalry from Lake Wales. FMU's 2022 football team hung a record 49–22 win on Warner at Betty T. Ferguson Stadium, setting the program's single-season win record in the new era. In basketball, Warner denied FMU a 2017 conference title with a 79–63 championship-game win.
🥁 The ROAR Marching Band · since 2020
The ROAR is one of the youngest HBCU bands in America and one of the fastest to national prominence: named #1 band in its division by ESPN in its first year and Division II/NAIA Band of the Year by 2023. The band field is known as the Serengeti and the dance team as LionEssence. Before 2020, FMU had no marching band program at all — Beckford's program was the school's first. The band represents the United States internationally, including a 2023 performance in Paris at the 26th edition of Bandafolie's.
Founded The ROAR from zero — no instruments, no uniforms, no infrastructure. A Miami Carol City High graduate and FAMU Marching 100 tuba player who spent 15 years at Blanche Ely High School; he named the band for the lion mascot, called the field the Serengeti, and the dance team LionEssence. Won ESPN's inaugural Division II/NAIA Band of the Year, performed in Paris, and launched the HEAT HYPE Band with the Miami Heat. Died December 24, 2025, at 59; mourned across the HBCU band world.
Promoted from Associate Director of Bands and Director of Operations, where he served since arriving with Beckford in 2020. A Florida A&M graduate tasked with honoring Beckford's legacy and carrying the program forward.
All nine Divine Nine organizations are on FMU's official Active Organizations list alongside multicultural orgs Gamma Beta Chi and Lambda Beta Chi, with an NPHC council. FMU's official channels salute Founders' Days from Phi Beta Sigma to Iota Phi Theta. The Phi Beta Sigma tie runs especially deep: the Johnson brothers, who composed 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' while connected to FMU's predecessor school, were both Sigmas.
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Royal W. Puryear oversaw the construction of an entirely new campus in what is now Miami Gardens — new buildings, new equipment, new furnishings — replacing the 50-year-old St. Augustine campus. The 300-mile move doubled enrollment and gave South Florida its only HBCU.
For the school's 100th anniversary, FMU launched a series of expansion projects on its 44-acre Miami campus — the first major capital growth since the 1968 move.
The main library, named for the school's 45-year president, houses 120,000 volumes, special collections (the Rev. I. C. Mickins Theological collection and the Dr. Laban Connor Black Collection), and — since March 2012 — the Trayvon Martin Foundation, established by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin to support families who have lost a child to gun violence.
The Lou Rawls Center anchors FMU's performing arts life on campus and hosts the annual DanceAfrica Miami showcase each August — Delou Africa's celebration of Black dance and culture that draws the whole region.
President Henry Lewis III's 40-objective Vision 2020 plan called for growing enrollment from 2,000 to 3,500 students, building 360 dorms and new classroom buildings, and constructing a new wellness center beginning in 2014 — an ambitious capital program cut short by his abrupt departure.
The historic archway from FMU's St. Augustine campus — funded by Abraham Lincoln Lewis, the region's first African-American millionaire, and the most lasting physical reminder of the school's time there — was relocated and rededicated at Collier-Blocker-Puryear Park in West St. Augustine, honoring the school's founders and presidents.
The football program's reinstatement after a 62-year hiatus brought the Lions to play at Nathaniel "Traz" Powell Stadium and the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex (which also hosts track and field) — the first on-field infrastructure FMU had needed in over six decades.
FMU partnered with Miami developer Redwood Dev Co on a multi-phase project reported by the Miami Herald: six residential buildings (300 units each) for workforce housing, 1,000 new dormitory beds for students, and upgraded campus facilities. The plan uses unused land near campus to solve the housing crisis that was costing FMU faculty hires — South Florida's median rent and home prices had priced out the school's own recruiting.
The Knight Foundation backed FMU to protect the long-term value of its now-62-acre campus, funding independent real estate advisory support and growth plans including new student housing, workforce housing, and athletic facilities — with enrollment growth to 5,000 as the stated goal.
FMU's faculty includes the lineage of the music department — J. Rosamond Johnson on the faculty in 1900, and Zora Neale Hurston teaching in 1942. The modern athletic staff turned the 2020 football relaunch and the 2025 dual basketball championship runs into the school's highest athletic profile in decades. The football program's first coaches were Tim "Ice" Harris (2020), who rebuilt the program from nothing, and Bobby Rome (2022–2023), who won the first Big Cat Classic. Greg Stanback coached women's basketball in the early relaunch years.
15th president and first alumnus to lead FMU; entrepreneur with 35 years of business experience, Class of 1987.
Named in 2026 after serving as associate director since 2020; FAMU graduate carrying forward the ROAR program.
Earned his first FMU win in the 2025 home opener, a 24–19 victory over RV Cumberland; the Lions' first full-time football rebuild leadership since Bobby Rome.
Named 2025 Sun Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Lions to the conference championship and the NAIA national tournament.
FMU's annual jazz festival is named in his honor; a fixture of the music department that fed the ROAR program.
Deceased December 24, 2025; built the ROAR into an ESPN Band of the Year winner in four years.
FMU is a small, tight campus of about 1,700 students in Miami Gardens where the ROAR Marching Band, football Saturdays, and basketball championships give it a big-school feel. The student body is about three-quarters Black, with students from South Florida, the Caribbean — especially Jamaica and the Bahamas — and across the South. Because it's the only HBCU in South Florida, FMU functions as the region's Black college experience: homecoming, the fish fry, the step show, and the ROAR's fifth-quarter battles are the cultural calendar for thousands of South Floridians who never attended.