Challenging Racism and Anti-Catholicism: The Sisters of St. Joseph and Catholic Education in Early Twentieth-Century Florida

Anti-Catholicism entered into Florida politics in 1913, directly affecting the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, a teaching order. They came under scrutiny because of their employment in some of Florida’s public schools, and because some white sisters were teaching black students in the black parochial schools. The first question was resolved when the Attorney General of Florida ruled that the sisters’ teaching in the public schools violated the state constitution. The result was the expansion of Florida’s Catholic school system. The second case led to the arrest of three sisters in 1916 for violating a 1913 state law that prohibited whites from teaching blacks in a black school. The court vindicated the arrested sisters, saying that the law applied only to public schools. This article re-examines these events, coming to some new conclusions concerning the church’s response to these two cases and their legacy for Catholic education in the state.