A historically black junior college in West Palm Beach that served African-American students from 1958 to 1965.
Roosevelt Junior College was authorized to award the Associate of Arts degree and offered a range of programs including General Education (with majors in Science, Pre-Medical, and Pre-Dental), General Business, Pre-Teaching, Pre-Law, and Secretarial studies. Terminal programs were also available in General Education and Business. The college was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Established in 1958, Roosevelt Junior College was one of 11 black junior colleges founded in Florida under the Minimum Foundation Program Law to demonstrate that 'separate but equal' higher education was available for African Americans, effectively resisting Brown v. Board of Education. Named after the adjacent Roosevelt High School (itself named for President Theodore Roosevelt), the college operated for only seven years before being abruptly closed in 1965 by the Palm Beach County Board of Public Instruction. The closure was controversial; according to President Britton G. Sayles, only six faculty members were transferred to Palm Beach Junior College, while the rest lost their jobs.
None of Florida's 11 black junior colleges founded for this purpose survive today. In 2005, surviving alumni and staff held a reunion luncheon to commemorate the college's legacy. Palm Beach Community College honored the institution's first and only president, Britton G. Sayles, by naming a building after him in 2003 and dedicating the renovated Britton G. Sayles Social Science Building in 2006.