Mandarin School House

Mandarin School House

Mandarin is the last remaining one-room schoolhouse in Duval County. St. Joseph’s Mission Schoolhouse for African-American Children invites you to delve into its storied past.

When the Civil War ended in 1865, black children had new opportunities for formal education --but because of racial prejudice, black and white students couldn’t be taught together.

The Sisters of St. Joseph, members of a Roman Catholic religious order from France, dedicated themselves to teaching black children in post-war Florida.

They founded their first Mandarin school in 1868 and built the Mandarin Schoolhouse in 1898 expressly for the education of black Mandarin children.

This unique building now highlights the history of the schoolhouse and others like it that no longer exist.