Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

The Ladies (of color)
Start Year : 1847
The Ladies (of color), in Frankfort, KY, are thought to have been free African American women. In 1847 the group held a fair for "benevolent purposes" at the home of Mrs. Rilla Harris. For more see A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: a history of American women told through food, recipes and..., by L. Schenone, p. 131.
Subjects: Bakers, Cooks and Chefs, Colored Fairs & Black Expos, Women's Groups and Organizations, Benevolent Societies
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

LaFrance, Helen
Birth Year : 1919
LaFrance was born in Graves County, KY. She is a self-taught folk artist who began painting when she was a small child. Her folk-art, called "Memory Painting," presents autobiography in visual images. Her work has been featured in galleries in Kentucky, Georgia, and Missouri. LaFrance's art gallery is located in downtown Mayfield, KY. For more see KET Productions' Kentucky Life Program 306, Artist Helen LaFrance; and B. Mayr, "The simple life - paintings reflect woman's experiences in rural Kentucky," The Columbus Dispatch, 06/17/2007, Features - Life & Art section, p. 7E.
Subjects: Artists, Fine Arts
Geographic Region: Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky

Laine, Joseph Fields, Sr.
Birth Year : 1879
Death Year : 1967
Joseph Laine, from Winchester, KY, founded the Laine Medical Clinic. He practiced in both Lexington and Louisville. Laine was a graduate of Berea College and Meharry Medical College. He was the husband of Mattie R. Laine. According to Laine's WWI Draft Registration Card, he was born in 1879. For more see Kentucky Encyclopedia 2000 [electronic version available on UK campus].
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lakeview Point
Start Year : 2004
Lakeview Point, a lakefront bed and breakfast resort, is located on Herrington Lake in Harrodsburg, KY. The inn opened in May 2004 and has been open year-round since the second season. The owners, Dorothy "Dot" Dunn and her son Brad, are Kentucky natives. Lakeview Point is currently the only African American owned and operated bed and breakfast in Kentucky. The Kentucky Bed and Breakfast Association voted the resort's ad the best print ad. For more information see "Getting away is closer than you think at B&B," Harrodsburg Herald, 08/11/2005, section B, p. B1; view the Dot Dunn interview [#218] on "Connections with Renee Shaw," 07/14/2007, at KET (Kentucky Educational Television); and contact Dorothy and Brad Dunn at 166 Lakeview Point, Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 40330 / (859) 748-8359.
Subjects: Bed & Breakfast, Hotels, Inns
Geographic Region: Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky

Lange, Laura J. Vance
Birth Year : 1879
Death Year : 1948
Reverend Lange was the first African American woman ordained an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church. She was born in St. Matthews, KY, and attended grade school in Jefferson County followed by three years at a private school. She was a graduate of Garrett Biblical Institute [now Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary] and was ordained a deacon in 1926 by Bishop Theodore Henderson in Cincinnati, OH, and ordained an elder by Bishop M. W. Clair in 1936. She was a pastor at various churches in Kentucky, including churches in the towns of Eddyville, Smithland, and Harned. Her death certificate gives the following information: she was the widow of Clarance Lange, daughter of Mary Humble and Alford Vance, Lange was a diabetic, and she died at the Red Cross Hospital in Louisville. For more information and Lang's picture see History of Lexington Conference, by Dr. D. E. Skelton.
Subjects: Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Saint Matthews and Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lanier, Shelby, Jr.
Birth Year : 1936
Lanier was born in Louisville, KY, and is a graduate of the University of Louisville. In 1971 he organized the Black Police Officers Organization and was its first president. In 1974 he organized the National Black Police Association and pushed for a discrimination suit against the Louisville Police Department. A consent decree resulted in compensation, hiring, promotions, assignments, and change in disciplinary practices, with $3.5 million awarded to 98 African Americans who had been denied employment. For more see African American Biographies 2: profiles of 332 current men and women, by W. L. Hawkins; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1992-2006.
Subjects: Corrections and Police, Court Cases
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lawrence, Jesse H.
Birth Year : 1900
Death Year : 1966
Jesse Lawrence was born in Anchorage, KY, the son of Reverend and Mrs. E. D. Lawrence. A graduate of Central High School, he earned his A.B. at Howard University and his M.S. at Indiana University. He was owner of Fannie L. Hobbs Funeral Home. In 1926, he married Julia Lessie Brown. Lawrence, a Republican, was the third African American in the Kentucky General Assembly, elected Representative of the 42nd District (Louisville) in 1950. Lawrence was also the alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention from Kentucky in 1960. One of Lawrence's many accomplishments was the introduction of an amendment to the Day Law to allow white and African American students to attend together public and private higher education schools in Kentucky, providing that a comparable accredited course was not available to African American students at Kentucky State University. For more contact the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission.
Subjects: Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Legislators, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Anchorage and Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lawson, Daniel C.
Birth Year : 1945
Lawson was born in Louisville, KY. After leaving his position as marketing sales manager at Gulf Oil Co., Lawson was appointed assistant transit administrator for the city of Houston by Houston, Texas, Mayor Fred Hofheinz. He left that post to become the first marketing manager for the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority. Lawson was later founder and president of Marketing and Sales Unlimited, Inc. and Lawson National Distributing Co. of Houston, Texas. He was also a noted football player at Oklahoma State University. For more see Profiles of Contemporary Black Achievers of Kentucky, by J. B. Horton.
Subjects: Businesses, Football, Migration West
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Houston, Texas

Lawson, Raymond A.
Birth Year : 1875
Death Year : 1959
Born in Shelbyville, KY, Lawson became a concert pianist. He completed his college courses in music and his B.A. at Fisk University. Lawson also received training in Munich, Germany. He was a soloist in the G-minor Concerto of Saint-Saens with the Philharmonic Society in 1911 and 1918. He also taught piano; his children were two of his students. His son, Warner, would become dean of the School of Music at Howard University. Lawson was honored in many cities in the U.S. and abroad and received a number of awards. For more see Dictionary of American Negro Biography, by R. W. Logan & M. R. Winston.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky

Lee, Everett, Jr. and Sylvia Olden
Everett Lee (1916- ), from Wheeling, WV, was the first African American to direct a white orchestra, the Louisville Philharmonic in 1953; the audience was integrated. Everett was also the first African American to conduct a Broadway show. He was the husband of Sylvia O. Lee (1917-2004), who was born in Mississippi. She was a pianist and vocal coach, the first African American professional musician at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Sylvia's paternal grandfather, George Olden, had served in the Union Army when he was a teen after running away from slavery at the Oldham Plantation in Oldham County, KY. Her father, Rev. J. C. Olden, was living in Louisville, KY, when he arranged for Everett to conduct the Louisville Philharmonic. For more see "Schiller Institute Dialogue with Sylvia Olden Lee, Pianist and Vocal Coach," 02/07/1998, [reprinted from Fidelio Magazine, vol. 7, issue 1 (Spring 1998)]; and W. M. Cheatham, "Lady Sylvia speaks," Black Music Research Journal, vol. 16, issue 1 (Spring 1996), pp. 183-213.
Subjects: Freedom, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Grandparents
Geographic Region: Wheeling, West Virginia / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Mississippi / New York / Oldham County, Kentucky

Lee, James (basketball)
Birth Year : 1956
Born in 1956 in Lexington, KY, Lee played high school basketball at Henry Clay in Lexington. The 6'5" forward played college basketball at the University of Kentucky from 1974 to 1978, participating in 116 games and scoring 996 total points, including the mighty dunk that ended the 1978 NCAA Championship victory over Duke. Lee was selected by the Seattle Supersonics in the second round of the 1978 NBA draft but was soon released; he played with teams in the Continental Basketball Association until 1983. For more see James Lee on the Big Blue History web page; and H. Raystaff, "What's up with... James Lee," Courier Journal (Louisville), 04/03/2005.
Subjects: Basketball
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Lee, Johnson C.
Birth Year : 1902
Death Year : 1993
Born in Versailles, KY, Dr. Johnson C. Lee was a dentist in Lexington, KY. He was the husband of Gladys Lee. In 1960 Dr. Lee became the first African American member of the Kentucky Dental Association. In 1983 he was the second African American dentist in Kentucky to receive the Kentucky Dental Association's award for having practiced dentistry for 50 years. Dr. Lee's office was located in the old Masonic Building on North Broadway. He was a graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Lee was also a World War II veteran of the African American 93 Infantry Division. He also owned a semi-pro baseball team. For more see "Dentist considers slowing down after 50 years: dentist starts to slow down after 50 years in practice," Lexington Herald-Leader, 09/26/1983, p. B1; and Johnson C. Lee in E. Duncan, "Obituaries," Lexington Herald-Leader, 12/05/1993, p. C2. See also the sound recording interview of Dr. Lee in the Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project, 1900-1989 at Special Collections and Digital Programs, University of Kentucky.
Subjects: Baseball, Medical Field, Health Care, Military & Veterans, Dentists
Geographic Region: Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Lee's Row and Davistown (Lexington, KY)
This area of Lexington is also referred to as Davis Bottom and Davis Bottoms. Writer J. Kellogg called Lee's Row an "antebellum Negro settlement." It is one of the oldest and poorest areas of Lexington; today the entire area is separated by the Versailles Road viaduct from the Irishtown neighborhood. Lee's Row and Davistown were developed by African Americans at the end of the Civil War on what was at that time the periphery of the city at the bottom of a steep hill along the railroad tracks. In 1880 there were 45 households in Lee's Row and 30 households in Davistown; when combined the neighborhoods made up one of Lexington's nine Negro neighborhood clusters. White families started to move into the area in the early 1900s, making up 50% of the population by the 1950s. Forty years later, whites constituted 65% of the residents. In 2003 plans were developed to raze the homes in lower Davistown in preparation for the extension of Newtown Pike and a 155-unit housing development, playgrounds, a park, and other development. For more see J. Kellogg, "The Formation of Black Residential Areas in Lexington, Kentucky, 1865-1887," The Journal of Southern History, vol. 48, issue 1 (Feb. 1982), pp. 21-52; "Negro Urban Clusters in the Postbellum South," Geographical Review, vol. 61, issue 3 (July 1977), pp. 310-321; "Live in 'The Bottom,' they stay because it feels like home, neighbors say," Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/15/1995; and "Neighborhood will be razed for road extension - Davistown meets Newtown Pike longtime residents anxious about changes," Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/15/2003.
Subjects: Communities, Railroad, Railway, Trains
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Letton, James Carey
Birth Year : 1933
Born in Paris, KY, Letton, a retired chemist, is a 1955 graduate of Kentucky State University who served as president of the Alumni Association from 1979-1984. He earned his Ph. D. from the University of Illinois in 1970 and returned to Kentucky State University to chair the Chemistry Department. After five years, Letton was hired at Proctor & Gamble Company as an organic chemist. Letton has a number of patents and was featured in Black Enterprise in 1990 when he was working on the fat substitute, Olestra. His research and publications have been in the areas of medicinal chemistry. Letton has received a number of awards, including being named the recipient of the 1989 Percy L. Julian Award "for significant contributions in pure and/or applied research in science or engineering." That same year he was awarded the distinguished alumni citation from the National Association for Equal Opportunities in Education. For more see Who's Who in the South and Southwest, 1975-1977; "Changing America's Diet," Black Enterprise, vol. 20, issue 7 (Feb. 1990), p. 106; and James Carey Letton in American Men & Women of Science, 1971-2007.
Subjects: Chemists, Education and Educators, Migration North, Researchers
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Cincinnati, Ohio

Lewis, Fountain
Birth Year : 1822
A barber living in Cincinnati, Lewis came to Covington, KY, in 1856 to cash a check written on the Farmers' Bank and was arrested and jailed. His arrest had nothing to do with the check or the bank but rather was a retaliation for all of the perceived injustices the people of Cincinnati had heaped upon Kentuckians concerning African Americans. The mayor of Covington recognized Lewis and authorized his release after a payment of $2. Lewis is listed as a freeman at 15 W. Cincinnati Township in the 1860 Federal Population Schedule. He is described as a mulatto who was born in Kentucky around 1822. In 1895, Fountain Lewis and his son, Fountain Lewis, Jr., were operating barbershops in Cincinnati, according to the Williams' Cincinnati Directory, 1895-96. For more see "Kentucky retaliation," New York Daily Times, 04/02/1865, p. 2.
Subjects: Barbers, Migration North
Geographic Region: Cincinnati, Ohio / Covington, Kenton, Kentucky

Lewis, Isaac
Birth Year : 1867
Isaac Lewis was born in Hutchinson Station, KY, the son of Henry and Mary J. Lewis. Isaac won the 1887 Kentucky Derby aboard Montrose. His exact birth year is given as 1867 in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census [others have given his year of birth as 1870]. He rode as a 17 year old jockey in the 1887 Derby. He had been around horses all of his life; both Issac and his older brother Garrett Davis Lewis were listed in the 1880 Census as being employed working with horses. In 1900, Isaac Lewis was a groom at the Harlem Jockey Club in Proviso Township in Cook County, Ill. He is listed in the U.S. Federal Census as living in the Harlem Village where several other African Americans from Kentucky also lived, they were employed at the Harlem Jockey Club as cooks, jockeys, grooms, trainers, and stable boys. In 1910, Lewis was living in Chicago, and was manager of a Turkish Bath. For more see the "Isaac Lewis" entry at African Americans in the Oaks, a Kentucky Oaks website: and Black Winning Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby by J. R. Saunders and M. R. Saunders.
Subjects: Jockeys, Horsemen & The Derby
Geographic Region: Hutchinson Station, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Chicago, Cook County, Illinois

Lewis, Meade Lux
Birth Year : 1905
Death Year : 1964
Lewis was a pianist and composer. He was either born in Louisville, KY, and raised in Chicago, or he was born in Chicago and raised for a brief period in Louisville. Meade was the son of Hattie and George Lewis. George was employed as a postal clerk and was also a Pullman porter. Hattie and George were Kentucky natives, and according to the U.S. Federal Census, in 1920 the family was living in apartment 29, a rear unit on LaSalle Street in Chicago. Meade Lewis's first instrument was the violin, which he learned to play when he was 16 years old. He taught himself to play the piano and developed a boogie-woogie style. His best known work is Honky Tonk Train Blues, recorded in 1927. Boogie-woogie was still a new sound. To supplement his income, Lewis was employed washing cars and driving a taxi. He played the piano at house parties, clubs, and after-hours joints. His fame is said to have begun in 1938 when Lewis performed in John Hammond's concert at Carnegie Hall. He is regarded as one of the three noted musicians of boogie-woogie. For more see the Meade Lux Lewis entry in the Afro-American Encyclopedia; and "Meade Lux Lewis pianist, is killed," New York Times, 06/08/1964, p. 18. A picture of Lewis and additional information are available in Men of Popular Music, by D. Ewen.
Subjects: Fathers, Migration North, Mothers, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Postal Service, Pullman Porters
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

Lewis, Sherman
Birth Year : 1942
Lewis was born in Louisville, KY. An All-State halfback on the Louisville Manual High School football team, he also earned letters in basketball and track and field. An All-American in college, he came in third in voting for the Heisman Trophy while playing at Michigan State University, where he also excelled in track and field. Lewis played professional football for a brief period for the Toronto Argonauts and the New York Jets. It was his dream to become a head football coach, but it never happened. For 14 years, Lewis was an assistant football coach at Michigan State (1968-1982). He was an assistant running backs coach with the San Francisco 49ers from 1983 to 1992, during which time the team won three Super Bowls. He was an offensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers (1992-2000); they also won a Super Bowl during his tenure. Prior to retiring in 2004, Lewis was also part of the coaching staff for Minnesota and Detroit. In 1994, Sherman Lewis was inducted into the Dawhares-Kentucky High School Athletic Association Sports Hall of Fame. In 2001, he was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame. For more see "Sherman Lewis: All-American halfback & longtime coach," 02/17/2007, at MSUSpartans.com; "Sherman Lewis: former Spartan football and track standout," 09/04/2001, at MSUSpartans.cstv.com; 1994 Dawhares-Kentucky High School Athletic Association Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class at KHSAA.org; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1990-2006.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Basketball, Football, Track & Field
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / East Lansing, Michigan

Lexington Conference (Methodist Episcopal Church)
Birth Year : 1869
Death Year : 1964
The Lexington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was established in Harrodsburg, KY, in 1869. It was the third missionary conference for African Americans [the first was the Delaware Conference and the second was the Washington Conference, both established in 1864]. The Lexington Conference was originally a part of the Kentucky Annual Conference; beginning in the spring of 1866, a few Negro preachers were admitted into the traveling connection as a trial. New members were added as the preachers met as a group over the next three years. At the annual session in Newport, KY, in 1868, the preachers forwarded a resolution asking for their own conference, named the Lexington Conference; the resolution was approved. The conference founders were Henry Hopkins Lytle (1802-1890), from Maryland; Israel Simms (1819-1912), from New Castle, KY; Zail or Zale Ross (1824-1892), from Georgetown, KY; William Lawrence (d. 1900 in Anchorage, KY); Marcus McCoomer (1834-1899); Peter Booth (d. 1873), from Kentucky; Hanson Talbott (d. 1870), from Harrodsburg, KY; Nelson Saunders (d. 1879 in Louisville, KY); Paris Fisher; Andrew Bryant (d. 1870 in Paris, KY); Adam Nunn (b.1820), from Oberlin, OH; George Downing (1807-1880), from Virginia; Willis L. Muir (d. 1911 in Louisville, KY); and Elisha C. Moore (d. 1871), from Alabama. The first Lexington Conference was held in the Jackson Street Church in Louisville in 1870, with the membership initially including churches in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The women's divisions of the conference were formed after the turn of the century: Women's Home Missionary Society (1900), Ladies Aid Society (1914), Minister's Wives (1919), and Women's Society of Christian Service. The Lexington Conference was held most often in a Kentucky location, and as the membership increased, it also shifted northward with the Great Migration, after which the conference was held more in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. In 1946 the membership was over 17,000, with close to half from the Chicago area. The Lexington Conference was held each year until June 1964 when the conference was merged into the Cleveland district of the North East Ohio Conference. For more see Forty Years in the Lap of Methodism: history of Lexington Conference, by W. H. Riley; History of Lexington Conference, by Dr. D. E. Skelton; Black People in the Methodist Church: Whither Thou Goest?, by W. B. McClain; and The Tapestry of Faith: the history of Methodism in the Cleveland District of the East Ohio Conference, by G. S. Moore and J. C. Trimble.
Subjects: Kentucky African American Churches, Migration North, Religion & Church Work, Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Indiana / Illinois / Ohio

Lexington Hustlers
Start Year : 1947
This Negro League Baseball team was formed in 1947. The team played against other Negro teams that had such players as Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, and Josh Gibson. Coach John W. "Scoop" Brown added player Bobby Flynn to the team in 1947; Flynn was white but had been rejected by the white teams because he was small. By 1949, white players made up one third of the Lexington Hustlers, the first integrated baseball team in the South. For more see Kentucky Life Program 907, "The Lexington Hustlers", which can be purchased at Kentucky Educational Television, The Kentucky Network.
Subjects: Baseball
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Lexington's Colored Orphan Industrial Home
Start Year : 1894
End Year : 1988
The Colored Orphan Home was incorporated with E. Belle Mitchell Jackson as president; Emma O.Warfield, vice president; Ida W. Bate [wife of John W. Bate] secretary, Priscilla Lacey, treasurer, and 11 other women members of the Ladies Orphans Home Society. Captain Robert H. Fitzhugh, who was white, was a professional philanthropist for the home. Support came from bequests, fund raising, and donations. The home was located on Georgetown Pike [Georgetown Street] in Lexington, KY. The board members served as matrons of the home and donated food and supplies. The home took in orphaned and abandoned children, a few elderly women, and half orphans (children with one parent). The parent of a half orphan was charged for the child's board at the home. Board members determined when a child would be returned to its parents, and there were a few adoptions and foster care placements, but the goal was to educate the children and teach them an industrial trade in preparation for adulthood. In addition to classwork, house chores, and gardening, the children were taught kitchen duties, cooking, carpentry, chair-caning, laundry, sewing - the children made all of the clothes and linen at the home, and did shoe-making and repairs - shoes were made for the children and also sold to the community. The home continued in operation until 1988 when it became the Robert H. Williams Cultural Center. For more see Lexington's Colored Orphan Industrial Home: building for the future, by L. F. Byars. See also Colored Orphan Industrial Home Records, 1892-1979 at the University of Kentucky Libraries.
Subjects: Orphans and Orphanages in Kentucky, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Shoes: Finishers, Makers, Repairers, Shiners, Stores
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Liberty Association - African American Baptists in Kentucky
Birth Year : 1868
The annual address of the 50th Anniversary of the Liberty Association is included in Jubilee History and Biographical Sketches of Liberty Association by G. R. Ford. The organization was established in 1868 by Rev. Peter Murrell, who was moderator of the first meeting held in Horse Cave, Ky, and Allen Allensworth was the secretary. Rev. Murrell would continue as an administrator of the association until the early 1900s. The meetings were held in the Hart, Barren, and Muhlenberg County areas of the state. In 1875, the Zion affiliation left the association. The year 1918 was also the 55th Anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was recognized during the Liberty Association meeting. It was estimated that there were 80,000 Colored Baptist in Kentucky.
Subjects: Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Kentucky

Library of Congress Collections
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The research arm of congress, it also makes resources available to the American people. It is an agency of the legislative branch of the U.S. Government. The library began in 1800 and is located in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. There are millions of items in the collections, including many items pertaining to Kentucky African Americans. Examples: the emancipation documents from Edmund Lyne that freed his slaves in the late 1790s; "The two ways," an 1896 sermon by Rev. J. W. Mayes, pastor of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in McGowan, KY; photographs of students and buildings at Berea College, collected by W. E. B. Dubois and Thomas J. Calloway for the American Negro Exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition; and the digital copy of the 1883 National Convention of Colored Men (held in Louisville, KY) program [available online]. Visit the Library of Congress and their website to find additional resources.
Subjects: Kentucky African American Churches, National Resources
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Washington, D.C. / McGowan, Caldwell County, Kentucky / Berea, Madison County, Kentucky / Paris, France / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lincoln Institute (Lincoln Ridge, KY)
Start Year : 1912
End Year : 1966
The Lincoln Institute was formed in response to the 1904 Day Law, which was upheld by the 1908 Supreme Court decision forbidding the education of whites and blacks in the same Kentucky school. The law was aimed at Berea College, which had been integrated since 1863. The Lincoln Foundation was founded in 1910; Lincoln Institute opened in 1912 in Shelby County, KY. It offered vocational instruction, unlike the classical education that had been offered at Berea. The first African American president was Dr. Whitney M. Young, Sr.; he led Lincoln Institute for over 40 years as it became a prominent boarding school for African American children. The campus is presently leased by the federal government for the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Job Corps Center. For more see the Lincoln Foundation history page; G. C. Wright, "The founding of Lincoln Institute," Filson Club History Quarterly, vol. 49, issue 1 (1975), pp. 57-70; and "The Faith Plan: a black institution grows during the Depression," Filson Club History Quarterly, vol. 51, issue 4 (1977), pp. 336-349. Primary sources are available at Kentucky State University Library. Over 70 audio and video interviews have been conducted by Dr. Andrew Baskin, Associate Professor of General and Black Studies at Berea College. The subjects are former Lincoln Institute students and some of the employees and their children. The recordings are available at Berea College Special Collections and Archives, where you will also find additional information on the history of Berea College.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Lincoln Ridge, Shelby County, Kentucky

Lion Tamers (Newport, KY, baseball team)
The Lion Tamers was a baseball team in Newport,KY. They were the champions of the Northern Kentucky Semi-pro Negro Baseball League, and were in high demand. In August 1936, the team was matched in an exhibition game against the J C Penny's Baseball Club in Lindenwald, OH, on Kellogg Field. The Lion Tamers were considered a very good team, so several new players had been added to the Penny's team to help give them a better chance at winning. For more see "Penny's meet Colored team at Lindenwald," Hamilton Daily News Journal, 08/27/1936, p.12.
Subjects: Baseball
Geographic Region: Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky / Lindenwald, Ohio

Little, Charles F., Jr.
Birth Year : 1949
Charles F. Little, Jr. was born in Memphis, TN. He graduated from Kentucky State University with a B.S. in Music Education, then earned his M.S. in Secondary Education at the University of Kentucky. He was a band director in the Fayette County Public Schools for 30 years and taught music to more than 4,500 students from 1971 to 2001. He was the band director/keyboard instructor at the Academy of Lexington, teaching 120 students classroom piano from 2001 to 2005. The Lexington Traditional Magnet School Band Room was named in his honor in 2001. To date, he has also provided private piano lessons to 175 students and organ lessons to five students of all ages in Fayette County and eight surrounding counties. He has been the musical director, pianist, and coordinator, of hundreds of programs, productions, and performances dating back to the 1960s. Most recently Charles Little was the musical director of the off-Broadway production of Crowns, Actors Guild of Lexington, Kentucky, 2005-2006. He has performed on programs with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rev. James Cleveland, Larnelle Harris, the Rev. Billy Graham (Subsidiary) Crusade, Dr. Bobby Jones and New Life, and Miss Albertina Walker. Charles Little has also received a number of awards, including the Teachers Who Made a Difference Award from the College of Education at the University of Kentucky in 2003. He is the author of Praise Him with the Gospel: Black gospel piano music arrangements, book 1 & 2, with accompanying sound cassettes. He was the developer and editor of Orchestrating the Perfect Meal, a cookbook published in 2000. Charles Little has recorded with the United Voices of Lexington on "Genesis" and the Wesley United Voices on "We've Come to Praise Him"; provided piano accompaniment on the Lexington musical "Madame Belle Brezing"; and performed on many other recordings. For more information see M. Davis, "Teacher's not changing his tune," Lexington Herald Leader, 03/23/03, City/Region section, B, p. 1; and the Resume of Charles F. Little, Jr.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration North, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Memphis, Tennessee / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Little Georgetown (Fayette County, KY)
Located on Parkers Mill Road in Fayette County, one version of the community's beginning states that a George Waltz gave land to ex-slaves following the Civil War. It has been debated as to whether the community was named after George Waltz or after a freeman named George Washington who owned a portion of the land and divided it into lots in 1877. At that time, the community had three other African American land owners: F. Smith, J. Edmunds, and M. Overstreet. The word "Little" was added to the name of the community to differentiate it from the city of Georgetown, KY. Over the years, Little Georgetown grew to include 90 residents on 34 acres. The expansion of the Lexington Bluegrass Airport nearly wiped out the community. A picture of the Little Georgetown Colored School, dated 1929, is available in the Kentuckian Digital Library - Images. For more see Negro Hamlets and Gentlemen Farms: a dichotomous rural settlement pattern in Kentucky's Bluegrass Region, by P. C. Smith; Historical Communities Near Lexington, a BCTC website; and J. Duke, "Rural Fayette communities cling to life of yesterday," Lexington Herald-Leader, 08/11/1985, Main News section, p. A1.
Subjects: Communities, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Little Georgetown, Fayette County, Kentucky

Livingston, Valinda E. Lewis
Birth Year : 1937
Born in Lexington, KY, Valinda E. Lewis Livingston was an educator in the Lexington schools for 37 years. She is a graduate of old Dunbar High School and one of the top academic achievers in the school's history. She graduated from Kentucky State University (KSU) with a bachelor's degree in elementary education, then earned a master's degree in elementary education from the University of Kentucky and principalship and supervision certificates from Eastern Kentucky University. Her teaching career began at Booker T. Washington Elementary School prior to the full integration of the Lexington city school system. She taught at two other elementary schools before being named head principal of Russell Elementary. Prior to her retirement, Livingston was a district administrator for six years, overseeing the students' at-risk programs. Her post-retirement career includes serving as a member of the Board of Examiners of Kentucky's Education Professional Standards Board, chair of the Board of Regents at Kentucky State University, President of the Baptist Women State Education Convention, vice-president of the Lexington Chapter of the KSU National Alumni Association, and Sunday School Superintendent and Music Committee Chair at Shiloh Baptist Church in Lexington, KY. Livingston is also a professional singer, a soprano with the Lexington Singers. She is also a key resource for historical researchers looking to make a connection to past events in the Lexington African American community with present day people. The Valinda E. Livingston Endowed Student Scholarship for Teacher Education Majors has been established at Kentucky State University. For more see "Retired educator leaves legacy for future educators," Onward and Upward, Fall - Summer 2005 - 2006, p. 3.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Historians, Kentucky African American Churches, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Women's Groups and Organizations, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Sunday School
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Livisay, Stacy A.
Birth Year : 1968
Livisay, born in Lexington, KY, is the daughter of Shirley and Charles H. Livisay, Jr., and the grand-daughter of Evelyn and Charles H. Livisay, Sr. She is a graduate of Bryan Station High School in Lexington, Berea College (B.S. in agriculture), the University of Kentucky (M.A. in animal Science), and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Ph. D. in food science). In 1999, Livisay was lead author of the patented method of adding calcium to grape products - patent #7033630 - and employed as a researcher and project developer at Welch's. She was later employed at The Campbell Soup Company, where she was responsible for adding vitamin E to V-8 Splash. Livisay is co-author of a number of articles in science journals and a book chapter. She lives in New Jersey. For more see M. Davis, "Learning fortifies character and juice," Lexington Herald-Leader, 07/06/2003, City&Region section, p. B1; and Calcium-fortified, grape based products and methods for making them at freepatentsonline.com.
Subjects: Migration North, Researchers
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / New Jersey

Local Sources
See also Source Index and Authors' entries.

Bardstown/Nelson County
From out of the dark past their eyes implore us: the black roots of Nelson County, Kentucky / research by Patricia Craven and Richard Pangburn, P. Craven and R. Pangburn, Bardstown, KY, 1996.

Bowling Green/Warren County
Warren County, Kentucky marriages (1866-1962): blacks, 2 volumes, compiled by Warren County Court Clerk's Office, Bowling Green, KY, 1992.

Mt. Moriah Cemetery: A history and census of Bowling Green, Kentucky's African-American cemetery, J. Jeffrey et al., Landmark Association, Bowling Green, KY, 2002.

Brooksville/Bracken County
African-American records: Bracken County, Kentucky 1797-1999 / compiled by African-American Records Committee; Caroline R. Miller, chairperson, funded by Kentucky African-American Heritage Commission and Kentucky Heritage council, Bracken County Historical Society, 1999.

Burlington/Florence/Boone County
African-American persons present at the time of the 1880 census in Boone County, Ky, T. M. Hartman, [S.l. : T.M. Hartman], 1993.

Calhoun/McLean County
McLean County, Kentucky, 1908 - 1914 African American marriages A. L. McLaughlin, Sacramento, KY, 1993.

Camp Nelson/Jessamine & Garrard Counties
The first free spot of ground in Kentucky: the story of Camp Nelson, P. A. Schechter, Honors Paper, Mount Holyoke College, 1986.

Casey County
Free African Americans in Casey County during the era of the Underground Railroad, D. Wilkinson.

Coe Ridge/Cumberland County
The saga of Coe Ridge: a study in oral history, W. L. Montell, University of Tennessee Press, 1970. See also Coe Colony.

Covington/Elsmere/Kenton County
Afro-American residents of Kenton County, Kentucky: the 1900 Kenton County, Kentucky census, T. H. H. Harris, Covington, KY, 1991.

Mary E. Smith Negro Cemetery, Elsmere, Kentucky, S. H. Meyer, New Port, Kentucky 1968.

Danville/Boyle County
Boyle County's black physicians, R. C. Brown, prepared for publication in the Advocate-Messenger, 1992.

Elizabethtown/Hardin County
The Bond-Washington story: the education of black people, Elizabethtown, Kentucky / as told by Lottie Offett Robinson, L. O. Robinson, [S.l.: s.n., c1983].

Eminence/New Castle/Henry County
Who's who among African-Americans of Henry County: past and present, sponsored by Kentucky African American Heritage Commission and First Baptist Church (Eminence, Ky.), [S.l.: s.n.], 1997.

Florence/Boone County
A brief history of slavery in Boone County, Kentucky: A paper read before a meeting of the Boone County Historical Society, Florence, Kentucky, June 2, 1957, by M. S. Caldwell. Florence, Ky.: The author, 1957.

Frankfort/Franklin County
A brief history of the colored churches of Frankfort, Kentucky, E. E. Underwood, Bugle Pub. Co., Frankfort, KY, 1906. See also Edward E. Underwood.

Community memories: a glimpse of African American life in Frankfort, Kentucky, W. L. Fletcher et al., Frankfort, Ky.: Kentucky Historical Society ; Lexington: Distributed by The University Press of Kentucky, 2003.

Georgetown/Scott County
Involvement of blacks in Scott County commerce during the postbellum period (1865-1918), A. B. Bevins, Prepared for Georgetown-Scott County Joint Planning Commission and Kentucky Heritage Council, 1989.

Glasgow/Barren County
Barren County, Kentucky: African-American male marriage index book, surnames A through L, 1799 through 1932, and female marriage index book (married to those with surnames A through L), 1799 through 1932, M. B. Gorin, Gorin Genealogical Pub., Glasgow, KY, 1995.

Greenville/Muhlenberg County
Muhlenberg County, Kentucky black marriage bonds, 1866-1875, G. R. Carver, Greenville, KY, 1993.

Henderson/Henderson County
Henderson Kentucky black births of the city, 1896-1910, Henderson County Historical and Genealogical Society, 2001.

Hopkinsville/Christian County
The dark side of Hopkinsville: stories, T. Poston, annotated by Kathleen A. Hauke, University of Georgia Press, c1991. See also Poston, Theodore R. A. M.

Jamestown/Russell County
Russell Co., Kentucky, Black marriages, C. L. Sanders, Blue Ash, Ohio, 1987.

Lebanon/Marion County
A history of Negro education in Lebanon, Kentucky, 1869-1956, K. Parks, Thesis, University of Louisville, 1956.

Lexington/Fayette County
Black marriage bonds of Fayette County, Kentucky, 1866-1876, Gwendolyn Garrison, Kentucky Tree-Search, Lexington, KY, 1985.

Kinkeadtown: archaeological investigation of an African-American neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky, N. O'Malley, Lexington, KY, University of Kentucky, Program for Cultural Resource Assessment.

Lexington, Kentucky, G. Smith, Arcadia, S.C., 2002.

Negro business directory and fair souvenir: a miniature list of trades, businesses and professions among the Negroes of Lexington, Kentucky, Standard Print Company, Lexington, KY, 1899.

The Negro population of Lexington in the professions, business, education and religion, L. Harris, Lexington, Kentucky, 1907.

Louisville/Jefferson County
African-American life in Louisville, B. M. Tyler, Arcadia, S.C., 1998.

Blacks in Louisville, Kentucky, 1890-1930, G. C. Wright, Thesis, Duke University, 1977.

Brick Yard Holler and a History of the Black Community of West Point, Kentucky, G. Goldsmith, 1999.

A history of Louisville Central High School, 1882-1982, T. C. Tilford-Weathers, General Printing Company, Louisville, KY, 1982.

Life behind a veil: Blacks in Louisville, Kentucky, 1865-1930, G. C. Wright, Louisiana State University Press, 2004, 1985.

The policies and purposes of black public schooling in Louisville, Kentucky, 1890-1930, B. F. Jackson, Thesis, Indiana University, 1982, 1976.

The Presbyterian colored missions: Louisville, Kentucky, 1909, J. Little, 1909.

Weeden's History of the colored people of Louisville, H. C. Weeden, Louisville, KY, 1897. See also Henry C. Weeden.

Madisonville/Hopkins County
A study of drop-out students in the colored high school of Madisonville, Ky., 1931-1937, W. E. Lee, Thesis, Hampton Institute, 1938.

Monterey/ Paris/ Bourbon County
"Archeological Investigations at Monterey," H. McKelway, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., Lexington, KY.

Owensboro/Daviess County
"...Born With a Purpose..." Interviews with African Americans in Owensboro, Kentucky, vol. 2, H. Hinton, N. Johnson, H. Midkiff, and C. Swift. A Project of the H. H. Neblett Center Work World Preparation Program, JTPA Summer Challenge '98 Program, Owensboro, Kentucky, 1998.

Interviews with African Americans in Owensboro, Kentucky, vol. 3; bridging our past to our future, H. Hinton, N. Johnson, L. Owens, K. Rowan, K. Taylor and D. Thames. A Project of the H. H. Neblett Center, Owensboro, Kentucky, 1999.

Pikeville/Pike County
Curriculum resources: African American history in Pike County, Kentucky, with emphasis on the historical African American section of the Dils Cemetery, M. F. Sohn and K. K. Sohn, Pikeville-Pike County Tourism Commission, Pikeville, KY, 1996. See also Dils' Cemetery.

Richmond/Madison County
Connections: the Richmond, Kentucky area African-American heritage guide, Richmond, Ky.: Richmond Tourism & Visitor Center, 1998.

First and last years of Richmond High School, R. K. Ferrell, 1998.

Russellville/Logan County
Colored marriage bonds, Logan County, Ky. to 1900, M. Vanderpool, Russellville, KY, 1985.
Subjects: Genealogy, History, Kentucky African American Churches
Geographic Region: Kentucky

Lockett Lynch Mob (Lexington, KY)
Start Year : 1920
The first resistance to a lynch mob by local officials and troops in the South took place in Lexington, KY. In 1920, 10-year old Geneva Hardman, a little white girl, was killed. Will Lockett, an African American World War I veteran, was the suspect. While he was in police custody and without council, Lockett confessed to the murder and other crimes. His trial was set in Lexington for February 9, which was also Court Day, when a large number of people would be in the city. Governor Morrow ordered out all law enforcement officers and state troopers. Several hundred people showed up for the trial. Lockett was sentenced to die in the electric chair. The crowd outside got rowdy, and there was an exchange of gunfire between the crowd and the troopers. Six people were killed and 50 injured. U.S. troops were sent to Lexington. A second surge was building and Brigadier General Francis C. Marshall declared martial law, which remained in force for two weeks. Four hundred troops escorted Lockett to Eddyville Penitentiary, and state guards were detached to nearby Leitchfield, KY, to guard against violence. Lockett died in the electric chair on March 11. Kentucky later became the first state to pass an anti-lynching law. For more see J. D. Wright, Jr., "Lexington's Suppression of the 1920 Will Lockett Lynch Mob," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 1986, vol. 84, issue 3, pp. 163-279.
Subjects: Lynchings, Military & Veterans, Court Cases
Geographic Region: Leitchfield, Grayson County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Logan, Greenbury
Birth Year : 1799
Death Year : 1880
Greenbury (or Greenberry) Logan was born in Kentucky, the son of David Logan, who was white. Greenbury may or may not have been a slave, though he was free when he left Kentucky for Missouri, where he was married and had five children. In 1831, Logan moved to Texas and became a blacksmith on the Bingham Plantation; he was one of the first African Americans to settle in Texas. He purchased the freedom of a slave name Caroline and married her. Logan fought at Velasco and later joined the Texas army and fought at Bexar, where he was wounded in the shoulder and lost use of one arm. No longer able to be a blacksmith, Logan and his wife opened a successful boarding house in Brazoria. The Constitution of 1836 stipulated that all freemen were to leave the Republic of Texas; Logan, like Nelson Kavanaugh, filed a petition with Congress, asking that he be allowed to remain in Texas. Whether the Texas Congress replied or not, the Logans remained in Texas, but their financial success began in decline in 1839. By 1845 they had lost all of their property. For more see Greenbury Logan, by N. Thompson, at The Handbook of Texas Online website; several articles in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, including H. Schoen, "The Free Negro in the Republic of Texas," vol. 41, issue 1, pp. 83-108; and In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, by Q. Taylor.
Subjects: Businesses, Migration West, Military & Veterans, Blacksmiths
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Brazoria, Texas

London (slave)
Death Year : 1778
London, who was killed during battle at Fort Boone, was the slave of Colonel Richard Henderson; they had come from Virginia to what was then known as the County of Kentucky. Henderson was associated with the Transylvania Company that had hired Daniel Boone to help settle the region (Kentucky). When London was killed, Henderson sent a petition to the Virginia General Assembly seeking compensation for the death of his slave; London had been given a gun and ordered by the commanding officer to take up a post outside the fort to help fight against the attack by Shawnee Indians. Henderson stated that if London had stayed in the cabin, rather than following orders to fight, he would not have been killed. Read the text of the petition in Petitions of the Early Inhabitants of Kentucky to the General Assembly of Virginia 1769-1792, by J. R. Robertson [available full view at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Early Settlers
Geographic Region: Fort Boone [Boonesborough], Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky / Virginia

Louisville Baseball Teams (African American)
Start Year : 1887
End Year : 1950
The first Louisville baseball team was the Louisville Falls City, which lasted for one week in 1887. The Louisville Cubs team also existed around the turn of the century, and another team, the Louisville White Caps team, played in the Negro League in 1930. The Louisville White Sox, in the Negro National League, lasted for one year, 1930-1931. The Louisville Black Caps, which also lasted for one year, 1932, was in the Negro Southern League, where they produced a 13-17 record. The sixth team out of Louisville, the Louisville Buckeyes (formerly the Cleveland Buckeyes), lasted one year in Louisville (1949), then returned to Cleveland. The team had an 8-29 record while in Kentucky. A long-lasting team, the Louisville Black Colonels, existed from the 1930s into the 1950s. Goose Tatum played with the team a couple of years, beginning around 1939, leaving after team owner Leonard Mitchell attacked Tatum and Tatum put Mitchell in a headlock. Mitchell began to faint and some of the players had to pry him free from Tatum's grip. Tatum later became a star on the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. For more see The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, by J. A. Riley; Spinning the Globe, by B. Green; and The Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball, by T. Loverro.
Subjects: Baseball
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Louisville Central High School/Central High School Magnet Career Academy
Previously known as Louisville Colored High School, the school opened in 1882 after leaders of the Louisville, KY, African American community appealed to the Louisville Board of Education for a high school for African Americans. The school was initially located at the corner of Sixth and Kentucky Streets, with J. M. Maxwell serving as the principal and C. W. Houser the only teacher. Funding initially came from African American taxes only. In 1952 the school was moved to the new Central High School building on Twelfth and Chestnut Streets. Career courses were part of the educational offerings. Central was the largest and most progressive high school in the state for African Americans; there were 1,400 students and 57 faculty members. Today, Central High School Magnet Career Academy, a four-year accredited comprehensive high school that offers a pre-college curriculum, is located at 1130 W. Chestnut Street in Louisville. For more see Central High School Magnet Career Academy website; This is Central High School (1953), by Central High School; and A history of Louisville Central High School, 1882-1982, by T. C. Tilford-Weathers.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Louisville Free Public Library Photograph Collection
Particularly notable in this collection are the photographs of the Louisville Orchestra in the late 1940s with conductor Robert Whitney (see also Robert S. Whitney Papers) at the library's recording studio, and views of activities at the Western Branch, a segregated library which was also home of the first training program in the United States for African American librarians. Available at the University of Louisville Libraries Photographic Archives.
Subjects: Photographers, Photographs
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Louisville (KY) African American Film and Video Festival
Start Year : 2005
The two day festival was first held May 28-29, 2005, at the Kentucky Theatre in downtown Louisville, KY. All of the films were independently produced. For more about the festival see L. Muhammad, "Black images: Festival focuses on African-American films," Courier-Journal (Louisville), 05/27/05, Metro section.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Louisville Municipal College for Negroes
Start Year : 1931
End Year : 1951
After 20 years of political work, the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes finally opened February 9, 1931, as a branch of the University of Louisville (U of L). Rufus E. Clement was named Dean of the school. Prior to the school opening, in 1920 U of L had presented a bond issue requiring a two-thirds affirmative vote. African American tax dollars would be used in the bond, but the plan was not to allow African Americans to attend U of L. There also were no plans for a college for African Americans; therefore, African American voter opposition prevented the passing of the bond. Compromises were made with the promise of sharing the bond proceeds for the building of an African American college, so the bond passed in 1925. Two U of L presidents died before plans got under way in 1929. Louisville Municipal College closed in 1951. For more see J. B. Hudson, "The Establishment of Louisville Municipal College: a case study in racial conflict and compromise," The Journal of Negro Education, 1995, vol. 64, issue 2; and J. B. Hudson's The History of Louisville Municipal College: events leading to the desegregation of the University of Louisville, 1981 dissertation. The Louisville Municipal College Photographs and Records are available at the University of Louisville Special Collections and Archives.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Louisville National Medical College
Start Year : 1888
End Year : 1912
Dr. Henry Fitzbutler, who came to Kentucky from Michigan, led the push for a medical college to train African American doctors. He was assisted in the endeavor by Rufus Conrad, W. A. Burney, of New Albany, Indiana, and W. O. Vance from Louisville, KY. The college was initially located in the United Brothers of Friendship Hall at Ninth and and Magazine Streets in Louisville and was later moved to Green Street. The first graduate was a woman. The training hospital was added in 1896. In total, 150 doctors graduated from the college before it was forced to close due to financial difficulties. The medical college had merged with Simmons University (Louisville) in 1907, and after it closed in 1912, the training hospital became the Simmons Nursing Department. For more see the "Louisville National Medical College" entry by J. Hardin in the Encyclopedia of Louisville; see the Louisville National Medical College records at the University of Louisville Libraries; and 1888 Sessions Law, Chapter 1234, Acts Passed at the...Session of the General Assembly for the Commonwealth [available full-text at Google Book Search]. For more on the training hospital, see the Citizen's Auxiliary Hospital entry in NKAA.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lovett, Wilson
Lovett was president of the First National Bank in Louisville, KY, which was established in 1921 with $50,000. In 1928 the bank had assets of over $600,000. Lovett was also a civil rights activist who was a member of the NAACP and a member of the committee that led to the African American voters' repeal of the first bond effort to expand the University of Louisville. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1927; and Who's Who in Colored America, 1928-29.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Bankers, Banks, Finance, Financial Advisors, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lowery, Perry G.
Birth Year : 1871
Death Year : 1942
It is thought that he was born in Kentucky and that his family later moved to Kansas. He was the first African American graduate from the New England Conservatory of Music. Lowery played the cornet and was a band leader, playing with a number of bands and in vaudeville and circuses, directing the side show of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Band. He is known for the band composition, Prince of Decora Galop. For more see Showman: the life and music of Perry George Lowery, by C. E. Watkins.
Subjects: Migration West, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Kansas

Lyles, Lenny E.
Birth Year : 1936
Born in Nashville, TN, and grew up in Louisville, KY, where he attended Central High School. Lyles became a track star, running back and defensive back at the University of Louisville (1953-1957). He holds school football records with 42 touchdowns and 300 points, and he led the nation in 1957 by rushing 1,207 yards. In 1958 he was drafted by the Baltimore Colts [now Indianapolis Colts] in the first round of the NFL draft. He played pro foobal for 12 years. A life-size bronze statue of Lyles was presented at Cardinal Park in Louisville in October 2000. The statue was created by Louisville sculptor Ed Hamilton. For more see Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines, vol. 11: Sept. 1976-Aug. 1979; Lenny Lyles at databaseFootball.com; Lenny Lyles Statue; and "Lenny Lyles, blazing a different trail" in Who's Who in Black Louisville, 2nd ed., p.59.
Subjects: Football, Parks
Geographic Region: Nashville, Tennessee / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Lynching in Wickliffe, KY
Start Year : 1903
Friday, October 16, 1903, Tom Hall's partially nude body was found hung in a tree in Wickliffe, KY. Hall was thought to be a man from Mississippi who had come first to Mayfield, KY, then on to Paducah, to work on the new Cairo division of the Illinois Central Railroad. A disagreement had occurred between two young white men and a group of African Americans at the Paducah-Cairo train depot platform, Sunday night, October 11. There was an exchange of gunfire. One of the white men, Crockett Childress, was shot in the chest, but survived, though rumors circulated that Childress was dead. Tom Hall was shot in the arm. [It was assumed he was a.k.a. Bob Douglas, who was wanted for a shooting in Mississippi.] Hall claimed he was innocent; he said that he was only a bystander who had gotten shot at the train depot. It was decided that there would be less disturbance if Hall were jailed in Wickliffe. On Tuesday, October 12, in response to the shooting, all African Americans were forced to leave Kevil, KY. Friday morning, about 1:15 a.m., a group of about 35 masked white men took Hall from jail and hanged him. For more see "Quickest of lynchings occurs at Wickliffe," Daily News Democrat (Paducah, KY), 10/16/1903, vol. 35, issue 12, front page; and "Kentucky Negroes forced to flee," Washington Post, 10/14/1903, p. 8.
Subjects: Lynchings, Rioting, Insurrections, Panics, Protests in Kentucky, Railroad, Railway, Trains
Geographic Region: Mississippi / Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / Cairo, Illinois / Wickliffe and Kevil, Ballard County, Kentucky

Lyons, Donald W., Sr.
Birth Year : 1945
Lyons was born in Lexington, KY, the son of Joseph B. and Sam Ella Lyons. He has been an educator, a librarian, and an athletic director. His teaching career began in Detroit, MI, in 1968, and continued in Kentucky in 1969. Beginning in 1971, he was hired as a librarian at Kentucky State University and became the library director in 1976. During his tenure as library director, Lyons also taught freshman classes and was a supervisor of the first-year teacher interns who were employed at various Kentucky schools. He left the library in 1989 to become Athletic Director at Kentucky State University, retiring in 1999. He is presently a Professor Emeritus. Donald Lyons is a graduate of the old Dunbar High School in Lexington, KY, and earned his A.B. degree in history and political science at Kentucky State University. He earned a masters of library science from the University of Kentucky (UK) in 1971, thus becoming the fourth African American graduate of the program [it was recently learned that Mrs. George O'Rourke graduated from the UK Library School in 1966.] In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Faith Grant College (formerly Daniel Payne College) for outstanding work for the cause of African-Americans and in the field of education. He has served in leadership positions on committees within the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He is a past president of the Gamma Beta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, and is Grammateus of the Delta Tau Boulé of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He was the 2008 recipient of the UK Libraries & School of Library and Information Science Lyman T. Johnson Torch Bearer Award. Lyons is an active member of community organizations and within his church. He is also presently a trustee of the Kentucky State University Foundation, serving as the treasurer and the executive secretary. Donald W. Lyons, Sr. is the husband of Myra L. Briggs Lyons, the father of Donald, Jr. and Reginald Lyons, and was a brother of the late Joseph B. Lyons, Jr. Information for this entry was taken, with permission, from the Donald W. Lyons biography.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Lytle, Elizabeth
Birth Year : 1873
Mrs. Elizabeth Ecton Lytle was born in KY, according to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. She was the second African American teacher in Gary, IN. She was hired in 1910, two years after Everett Simpson had been hired to head the 12th Street Avenue school for Negro children. The school system had a policy that married women could not be school teachers, but special consideration was given to Mrs. Lytle, who taught grades 1-3. There was not a large number of Negroes from Kentucky living in Gary in 1910, and Lytle was the only one who was a school teacher. Others who migrated to Gary were employed by the mines, mills, and industries. The school for Negro children was developed as a result of the growing Negro population. By 1930, there 825 Negroes from Kentucky living in Gary, and 21 of them had graduated from Roosevelt School by 1936, the same year that 39 students from Kentucky were enrolled in Gary Schools [kindergarten through senior class]. All of the 21 graduates had entered the school in 1929 and all of their fathers' were truck drivers. Lytle was retired from the Gary Schools by 1936. For more see A History of the Growth of the Negro Population of Gary Indiana (thesis) by J. F. Potts; Children of the Mill by R. D. Cohen; and Gary's Central Business Community by D. Millender.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Gary, Indiana