Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

Yarbrough-Jumoke, Nailah
Yarbrough-Jumoke is a writer, poet,  and activist. In 1999 she was the first African American candidate for governor of Kentucky. She ran on the Natural Law Party (NLP) ticket and received a little more than 1% of the vote. In 2000 she won the Preservation Award from the Louisville Historic League for developing the Harriet Tubman Culture Center. For more see "Ex-candidate fosters culture," Lexington Herald-Leader, 02/18/200, p. B3.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Poets, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

York
York, a slave whom William Clark inherited from his father, was the first African American to cross North America. York came to Jefferson County, KY, with Clark to live on the family plantation, Mulberry Hill. In 1803 York accompanied Clark on the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806); he was known as Big Medicine to the Indians. A while after the expedition, York was freed; the date and place of his death is not known. For more see In Search of York by R. Betts; The Encyclopedia of Louisville, ed. by J. E. Kleber; and Buffalo Dance, the journey of York, by F. X. Walker.
Subjects: Explorers, Inheritance
Geographic Region: Jefferson County, Kentucky

Young, Billy
Birth Year : 1860
Death Year : 1913
Young may have been born in Kentucky, he grew up in Cincinnati. He and D. W. McCabe owned a minstrel company, one of the few owned by African Americans. The duo teamed up in the 1870s. They played to audiences around the country, including the southern states and even Cuba. Young was equally talented at singing, dancing, and comedy and tragedy, and he also wrote the script for a number of performances. In 1892, McCabe ditched the company in Mexico, took off with the money, and was not heard from again until 1894 as head of a new company. McCabe died in 1907. Young, who liked his rye and bourbon, continued to perform until 1913 when he developed lung problems and died a few months later. For more see Out of Sight: the Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895, by L. Abbott and D. Seroff; and Father of the Blues, an autobiography, by W. C. Handy.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Cincinnati, Ohio / Cuba / Mexico

Young, Coleman Milton, III
Birth Year : 1930
Dr. C. Milton Young, III was the first African American to enroll at the University of Louisville in 1950. He went on to earn his medical degree at Meharry Medical College, and was the first African American intern at Louisville General Hospital, 1961-62. In addition to having a private medical practice, Young was the founder and director of the Louisville Methadone Treatment Program, 1968-72. He was the editor of the journal Louisville Medicine, founded the Louisville Black Pages, and founded and edited the Black Scene Magazine. Young is a veteran of the U.S. Army and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. He was born in Louisville, KY, the son of Hortense Houston Young and Colman Milton Young, Jr. For more see C. Milton Young, III, M.D. in Who's Who of Black Louisville, 3rd ed., p.169; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1996-2009.
Subjects: Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Medical Field, Health Care, Military & Veterans, Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Young, Herman A.
Birth Year : 1929
Young was born in Memphis, TN. He was a professor of natural sciences at the University of Louisville. Prior to that, Young had been head of the science department at Lincoln Institute. He had also been the first African American owner and president of an electronic manufacturing plant in Kentucky, Tubetek, Inc. He had been a chemical engineer with Dumont Labs and Thomas Electronics, Inc. Young and his wife, Barbara, co-authored Scientists in the Black Perspective. For more see Who's Who Among Black Americans, 1st-10th ed.
Subjects: Authors, Businesses, Education and Educators, Engineers
Geographic Region: Memphis, Tennessee / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Young, A. Howard
Raised in Louisville, KY. Young is the first African American to be named President of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Louisville. A graduate of Morehead State University, he is employed as a loan officer of GMAC Mortgage, a certificate-holder in the General Motors Family First Program. For more see HR141.
Subjects: Bankers, Banks, Finance, Financial Advisors
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Young (Love), Eleanor
Birth Year : 1922
Death Year : 2006
Young was born at Lincoln Ridge, KY. She held many academic positions, including librarian at Lincoln Institute. In 1955, she became the first African American librarian at the University of Kentucky and later was the first African American dean at the University of Louisville. Young received her library science degree from Atlanta University [now Clark Atlanta University], her M.Ed. from the University of Louisville, and her D.Ed. from the University of Illinois. In addition to being a librarian at Lincoln Institute, she was a librarian at Florida A & M University and Bergen Jr. College. She was the daughter of Laura R. Young and Whitney Young, Sr. For more see Notable Black American Women, book II, ed. by J. C. Smith; and Profiles of Contemporary Black Achievers of Kentucky, by J. B. Horton. The Eleanor Young Love oral history recordings and transcript are available online at the University of Louisville Digital Collections.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries
Geographic Region: Lincoln Ridge, Shelby County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Young, Whitney M., Jr.
Birth Year : 1921
Death Year : 1971
Young was born in Lincoln Ridge, KY. He was the executive director of the National Urban League, and through this organization he pushed for equal opportunity, housing, education, and economic well being for African Americans. Young was a graduate of Lincoln Institute, Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] and the University of Minnesota. He was dean of social work at Atlanta University [now Clark-Atlanta]; the Whitney M. Young Jr. School of Social Work was named in his honor. He and Florence V. Adams co-authored Some Pioneers in Social Work: brief sketches; student work book (1957). In 1969, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award for civilians, by President Johnson. He was an adviser to Presidents Johnson, Kennedy, and Nixon. Young was married to Margaret B. Young and was the son of Whitney Young, Sr. and Laura Young. For more see Militant Mediator, by D. C. Dickerson.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Education and Educators, Appointments by U.S. Presidents/Services for U.S. Presidents, Urban Leagues
Geographic Region: Lincoln Ridge, Shelby County, Kentucky / Atlanta, Georgia

Yowell, Samuel [Petersburg Colored School]
Birth Year : 1791
Death Year : 1872
Samuel Yowell [also spelled Youell] was a property owner in Petersburg, KY. He was born in Virginia and is listed in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census as a freeman who was a weaver. Included in his household was Jane Yowell, born in 1810 in Virginia. In the 1870 Census, Samuel Yowell's occupation is listed as a fisherman, and there are two children living with him and Jane: 12 year old Mat Yowell and 5 year old Amanda Yowell, both born in Kentucky. Samuel Yowell died in Petersburg in 1872 without any heirs, so his property, lots 172 and 173, became the property of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In 1882, the Kentucky Legislature passed "An Act for the benefit of the colored schools in Petersburg, Kentucky," granting that lots 172 and 173 be used for the schools. Petersburg was established in 1800 and is an unincorporated community in Boone County, KY. In 1880, the population was 1,377 with 98 African Americans. For more see "Laws of Kentucky," Acts Passed at the...Session of the General Assembly for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Chapter 1019, pp. 464-465 [available full-text at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Migration East, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Virginia / Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky

YWCA Subcommittee on Colored Work
Start Year : 1915
The YWCA's first Conference on Colored Work was held in Louisville, KY, in 1915, with both African American and white women in attendance and seated together during the programs. It was the first integrated conference by the YWCA, an experiment to see if it would work in an agreeable fashion. Louisville was considered a safe enough testing ground in the not too deep South. African American women from throughout the South who headed YWCA branches attended the conference, along with leaders from other women's organizations who wanted to establish African American YWCAs in their communities. A previous conference, held in Asheville, NC, in 1907, to discuss the YWCA's work in southern African American communities, was attended by 60 white women. The national meeting in 1913 was held in Richmond, VA, with African American student attendees seated in the balcony. It soon became obvious that more African American women were attending the YWCA conferences and establishing branches; therefore, in 1913 the Subcommittee on Colored Work was formed to respond to the work with African American women in urban areas, which was the fastest growing development. Stationed in New York, Eva Del Vakia Bowles, an African American from Albany, OH, was hired as secretary of the subcommittee, with the responsibility of helping the National YWCA to accommodate the African American members without detriment to the white membership. The 1915 conference attendees in Louisville are remembered for three areas of consensus: 1) The National Board appointed an interracial committee to promote the college associations, city associations, and new branches; 2) Training for African American staff and volunteer members would be paid for by the National Board; and 3) African American branches of the YWCA were to become branches of the local white associations or the National Board. The placement of the African American branches under the control of the local white YWCAs was protested, but to little avail. Also, African American student conferences were held annually in the South, with a white YWCA member in attendance. The YWCA Council on Colored Work was disbanded during World War I when the War Work Council was formed; work with African Americans shifted more toward the enlisted men. For more see the YWCA of the U.S.A. Records, a Five College Archive and Manuscripts Collections website; The Afro-American Woman, by S. Harley and R. Terborg-Penn; and Organizing Black America, by N. Mjagkij.
Subjects: Women's Groups and Organizations, YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association)
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky