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Hazel Land

Hazel grew up in Brooksville prior to desegregation, graduating from Moton High School.

She taught school after graduating from Tuskegee University, then joined JFK’s call to the Peace Corps, serving in the Philippines and Nigeria.

After the Peace Corps, Hazel’s work with the NAACP led her to start a Brooksville Chapter. Her Civil Rights work inspired her to attend Law School so she could better assist the movement.

Hazel was the only black female in UF’s Law School program her first year (along with one black male student); before her time was over a dozen black students had joined the program.

Hazel said her graduation was attended by “half of Brooksville – the largest group at that time, and probably still today, to attend for one graduate.”

She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1974. She one of the first black women to be admitted to the Florida Bar.