Memorial Object

Plaque/Marker

Enslaver

Andrew Jackson

Stone memorializing Andrew Jackson

The “Walk of Fame” was created in 1929 by then-President Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures. The memorial is located in the center of campus around Mills Lawn.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), perhaps best known for his time as president of the United States, was a governor of Florida, an enslaver, and a senator. Jackson had 95 enslaved individuals on his plantation, the “Hermitage” in Tennessee. There he sold various cash crops (most prominently cotton) that were cultivated and harvested by enslaved laborers. During his time in the White House, he took 18 of these enslaved individuals with him to Washington, D.C. Under Jackson’s tenure, running water, the North Portico, and a new stable were constructed at the White House. Each of these projects involved the use of forced labor.

Between 1929 and 1939, Eugene Francis Reasor, an Orlando resident and life insurance salesman, donated the stone to the Rollins College Walk of Fame. The stone was procured with the permission of the Ladies' Hermitage Association of Nashville. Reasor lived in Tennessee for a number of years, which likely contributed to his decision to donate the stone. In addition, his wife was the Florida director of the Robert E. Lee memorial foundation, which assisted in restoring Lee's home in Virginia. Her father, Thomas Dixon, was an aid to Robert E. Lee during the Civil War and she was an active member of the Daughters of the Confederacy. Reasor was probably influenced by his wife’s prolific support of the Lost Cause when donating the stone to Rollins.

Holt, Hamilton

19" x 19"

Andrew Jackson
The Hermitage
Nashville Tenn.

Reasor, Eugene
Ladies' Hermitage Association of Nashville

1934

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Reasor, Eugene

Walk of Fame

Rollins College; Winter Park, Florida

Andrew Jackson

The Ladies Hermitage Association

The Hermitage

The Enslaved Household of Andrew Jackson