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Principal G. L. Porter

“Mr. Porter was very stern, but I was never frightened of him.
He was always so proud of us.” Lessie Sanford

  
 


Principal G. L. Porter (1909-1995)
Principal of Lincoln High School from 1938-1954

Gilbert Porter, born in 1909 in Baldwin City, KS, served as principal of the Lincoln High School from 1938 to 1954. A graduate of Talladega College, Porter first taught in Sarasota, FL, as a science teacher before moving into administration at Tivoli High School in Defuniak Springs, FL.  After his long tenure as principal of Lincoln High School, Porter accepted the full time executive secretary position of the Florida State Teachers Association, fight for teacher rights and equal salaries and retirement benefits for African American teachers.  Porter would later serve as an assistant superintendent in Dade County, FL where, in 1995, he died.  An elementary school in Miami is named in his honor.

     
     

 

 

“Lincoln High was such an outstanding school and much of this was due to Mr. Porter. He was dignified and inspiring. When he told us to mind our manners, we did!” Lucille Brown

  


Lucille Brown

        
     

 
“Dr. Porter was a father figure. We were never afraid of him.
He represented the spirit of Lincoln High School.” Hazel M. Brown

        
 


Lorraine Footman Barnes

  

 

 “Coming from the country into Tallahassee, I was at first scared when I began attending Lincoln. But Dr. Porter was such a kind person and set such a nice tone—he truly cared about me, and he proved to be someone I needed in my life. He cared about the students and our success.”
Lorraine Footman Barnes
   


The school was guided by its gifted principal, G. L. Porter, who was closely aligned with national efforts in progressive education. A combination elementary and six-year high school, Lincoln enrolled over 450 secondary school students with a teaching staff of 19 teachers. Curricular planning attended to social, economic, health, and recreational goals with a strong guidance program for students and teachers. The Rockefeller Foundation's General Education Board program afforded the school the opportunity to study the needs and interests of students in order to develop a “Unified Functional Reading Program,” to use teacher-pupil planning in classroom activities, and to introduce the comprehensive evaluation of school activities.

 
“Not having a father at home, I saw Mr. Porter as a father figure. He cared not only about us getting a good education, but he cared about our health and welfare. For example, the school originally did not have kitchen facilities. But he started a lunchroom using the home economic classes to ensure that we had healthy lunches. There was no set price for lunch; however much money a student could put in, that was the cost. Mr. Porter was a father providing for his children.”
Anne Floyd Denefield

  

Anne Floyd Denefield
       


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