A Plant City attorney is pushing the University of Florida to erect an on-campus monument to Virgil Hawkins, who paved the way for African American students to attend the state's public universities.

  • Virgil Hawkins was denied entrance to UF's Law School in 1949 on the grounds of race
  • Hawkins took his fight to the U.S. Supreme Court and won
  • Attorney Harley Herman and other students believe Hawkins and the 1st African American students at UF deserve a campus monument

Plant City attorney Harley Herman has been fighting for nearly 30 years to preserve the legacy of Virgil Hawkins. The two used be adversaries in the courtroom in the later part of Hawkins’ career.

“He was encouraging me when his life was destroyed,“ said Herman. “How can you have your life touched by that without realizing this is an incredible man?”

Herman, the executive director of the Virgil Hawkins Historical Society, is working with University of Florida students to push for a monument in Hawkins’ honor at the University of Florida. Hawkins was denied entrance to the University of Florida’s Law School back in 1949 on the grounds of race.

He took his fight all the way to the United States Supreme Court and won.

“He’s the only one who not only had to fight for nine years to get it to happen, but at the end, he had to agree not to go to the university in exchange for an order that would admit other black students,“ said Herman.

Virgil's fight to become a lawyer didn’t end there. It wasn’t until he was 70 years old that the Florida Supreme Court allowed him to practice law in Florida.

His long fought for career was, however, short-lived.

According to his obituary, by age 77, he was accused of misappropriating funds. Rattled by old age, the complaints against Hawkins kept mounting, according to Herman. 

Hawkins eventually resigned from the Florida Bar three years before he died in 1988.

Herman believes Hawkins' victory in terms of his role in ultimately integrating Florida’s public universities, as well as the first students that could attend UF thanks to his efforts, should be honored with an integration monument.  He and a University of Florida student created an online petition demanding it.

“Funding, funding is no problem, “ Herman said, explaining that black lawyers across the state have agreed to write checks to pay for it.  

The petition, however, only has a few dozen signatures at this time.

It's important to note that there is already a plaque and visual displays on campus honoring Hawkins. Also, scholarships and the law clinics are named after him.

Bay News 9 reached out to the university, asking if it was even considering erecting a monument in honor of Virgil Hawkins. Janine Sikes, Assistant Vice President of Media Relations and Public Affairs wrote:

In his meetings with Harley Herman, President Fuchs shared his personal and the university's support of Mr. Herman's stated desire to establish a scholarship for UF students in Virgil Hawkins's name. Dr. Fuchs has offered to match with internal funds any external funding obtained for an endowed student scholarship honoring Virgil Hawkins. He believes that a scholarship to support students would be the most tangible way to further recognize Mr. Hawkins' role at UF.

This is in addition to the Virgil Hawkins Civil Legal Clinics and the visual displays explaining his role in UF's integration and in his honor on campus. There is also a plaque describing and honoring Virgil Hawkins' role in the integration of UF located at the entrance to Bryan Hall, now part of the College of Business and previously the location of the College of Law.

While we have a few statues on campus of football players, alligators and one former president, Dr. Fuchs is not supportive of erecting new statues of anyone on the University of Florida campus. He has expressed his willingness to work with Mr. Herman to raise funds for a scholarship that would honor Virgil Hawkins and tangibly help our UF students.

Harley Herman responded to the statement with the following:

“I respect football players but this man took on a team of the entire state of Florida. The judges, the legislature, law enforcement, and the Governor. And he won the game. And it’s not just his monument, it’s a monument to him and the black students who came after him and that’s a part of history that the university has to come to terms with and publicly recognize in a visible way.”

Herman has already been successful in getting a monument in Hawkins’ home town to honor him.