Florida Memorial University, one of the oldest academic centers in Florida, was founded in 1879 as the Florida Baptist Institute in Live Oak. Soon after, the American Baptist Home Mission gave its full support and the first regular school year began in 1880.

In 1882 the Florida Baptist Academy was established in Jacksonville, Florida. The name was later changed to Florida Normal and Industrial Institute. It was there that two brothers, James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson (faculty member), wrote the words and music to what has become known as the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” in 1900.

In 1918 the school moved to St. Augustine on part of a 110-acre tract of land known as “Old Homes Plantation”, formerly one of the largest slave plantations in Florida. University historians state that this is where the famous bell, which now sits above the Susie C. Holley Chapel, was purchased. The bell was originally used to gather slaves to issue daily orders. It was also stated that this bell was cast at the same foundry as the Liberty Bell, which is enshrined in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1941 the school in Live Oak and the school in St Augustine merged, changing its limited offerings from a junior college classification to a four-year liberal arts institution that graduated its first four-year class in 1945. The College’s name was changed in 1950 to Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial College. In 1963 the charter was again amended to change the name to Florida Memorial College. In 1968 the College relocated to its present site in Northwest Miami and by 1972 graduated its first class at the Miami site. Florida Memorial College celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1979 and began a series of expansion projects of the 44-acre site.

In 1993 Dr. Albert E. Smith was appointed as the College’s tenth president, heralding another period of growth in the institution’s rich history. In December 2004, the institution’s name was changed to Florida Memorial University with the announcement being made at the Founders’ Convocation in March 2005. On July 3, 2006, Dr. Karl S. Wright became the eleventh president of Florida Memorial University.