ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An Orange County educator who broke barriers and became the first black president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association is sharing his story about teaching when schools were segregated and become integrated.
At 95 years old, Ulysses Floyd still has his same passion for teaching.
“I can’t remember to myself a time where I said, ‘I’m tired of teaching,’” said Floyd. “I just love the job I did.”
He’s retired now, but he’s earned tons of awards over his more than 30-year teaching career in Orange County, many of those years he said he faced adversity and roadblocks in the classroom.
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“The books we got were second-hand books. We didn’t get any brand new books,” said Floyd. “I didn’t like that, but I wanted to do something about it, but I didn’t know what to do.”
And he did - becoming the first black president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association back in 1974.
He retired from Sadler Elementary in 1990 and was also in Eatonville at Hungerford Elementary when the teaching staff became integrated.
He said that in 1968, he took part in the statewide teacher walkouts, protesting inequality in the public education system.
“We wanted to have a say-so on what’s going on in the schools,” said Floyd.
Floyd said he was a young teacher when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a crowd of people at then-Tinker Field, now known as Camping World Stadium, back in March 1964.
“Yes he did (inspire me to keep teaching) and to continue being an advocate,” said Floyd.
He comes from a family of educators, including his daughter — who is now retired — and his late wife. He is an Army veteran who served in Germany, where he was a first lieutenant, and is also a 1953 graduate from FAMU.
Today, he continues to motivate young teachers through his work with the Classroom Teachers Association and the Florida Education Association.
“Even nowadays I speak to them and say, ‘Why aren’t you a member of the day of the association,’ and I’m going to still do that until I pass away,” said Floyd.
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