Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

1878 Abdallah Park "Colored" Fair (Harrison County, KY)
Start Year : 1878
"I wonder how many who read this will remember when our colored citizens gave a fair at Abdallah Park? Along about 1878, I put it, and I was there. My father allowed his stable boy to show some stock and sent me along to act as kind of fiduciary agent." For more about the fair and additional history, see "African-American Life in Cynthiana - 1870 - 1940," Harrison Heritage News, February 2004, vol. 5, no. 2 (published monthly by Harrison County Historical Society. PO Box 411, Cynthiana, KY 41031).
Subjects: Colored Fairs & Black Expos, Parks
Geographic Region: Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky

African American Blacksmiths in Kentucky
Start Year : 1880
A discussion of the number of African American blacksmiths in the U.S. can be found in the Negroes in the United States (1904), by W. E. B. DuBois, pp. 63-64 [available full-text at Google Book Search]. DuBois noted that there were 10,988 African American blacksmiths in 1890; the numbers had decreased to 10,100 by the year 1900. The total was moving toward that of 1880 when the U.S. Federal Census listed 8,130 African American blacksmiths, of which 642 had been born in Kentucky and 521 lived in Kentucky.
Subjects: Blacksmiths
Geographic Region: Kentucky

African American Schools and Students in Fulton County, KY
Start Year : 1875
End Year : 1905
There was a Colored School as early as 1875 in Fulton County, KY. In 1887, Steve L. Brooks founded the Brook's Chapel School. He was the school teacher, as well as the pastor of Brook's Chapel. The school was burned by Night Riders in the 1920's, and afterward, classes were held in the chapel. Today Brooks Chapel Baptist Church is located at 230 Brooks Chapel Road in Fulton, KY. A picture of the Brook's Chapel School and the students, taken in 1888, is on p.13 in Fulton by E. R. Jones. There were other African American schools and teachers in Fulton. In 1890, the Kentucky General Assembly authorized the payment of $127.28 to teacher Mrs. Daisy E. Harvey. The Fulton County Superintendent had refused to pay Harvey her salary because she had missed the teachers civil government exam due to an illness in her family. Harvey was a teacher in Colored common school district number six in Fulton County. For more see Chapter 64, pp.110-11 of the Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1890 [available full view at Google Book Search]. From 1899 to 1901 the average attendance at the Fulton Colored Schools was 261 to 271 students, and for that same period, teachers earned an average monthly salary between $33.81 and $36.12. There were three teachers that taught in the districts that held classes for at least five months. The Colored common school graduates for July 1897- July 1900 were Aida Williner, William Thompson, Mary Plunemer, Beatrice Nichols, Roy Atwood b.1883 (brother to Rufus Atwood), Ora McCutchen, Alvin Barksdale b.1884, D. H. Anderson, Ernest Henry Nichols, Lou Anna Lauderdale b.1886, Blanche Lee Atwood b.1885 (sister to Rufus Atwood), Pinky Lee Alexander, Nannie Milner, Disune Smith, and Lillian Metta Wright. For more see the Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, July 1899-June 1901 [available full view at Google Book Search]. Beginning In 1910, the Fulton Colored School was the only location in Kentucky that served as a Traveling Library Station for African Americans. In 1911, J. L. Northington was the custodian of the collection. The first high school for African Americans, built in 1905, was the result of fund raising by D. H. Anderson. For more see p.6 of the Bulletin, vol.1 by the Kentucky Library Extension Division [available at Google Book Search]; and Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky by R. F. Jones.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Fulton County, Kentucky

African American Shoe Makers from Kentucky
Start Year : 1880
The following is a list of African American shoe makers who were born in Kentucky and lived in other states. The information comes from the 1800 U.S. Federal Census. [See also Kentucky shoe makers and Lexington, KY, shoe makers.]

Illinois

• George T. Smith (b.1834) was a shoe maker who lived in Paris with his wife Jennie Smith (b.1861 in MS).

Indiana

• F. M. Green (b.1844) was a boot and shoe maker who lived in Evansville. He was a widower with four children, and a boarder lived with them on 5th Street.
• James Lee (b.1840) was a shoe maker who lived in Jeffersonville with his wife Amy (b.1846 in KY), their two children, and James' mother. The family lived on Broadway.
• Anthony McDougal (b.1843) was a shoe maker who lived in Jeffersonville. He was the husband of Elizabeth McDougal (b.1852 in KY). The family of five and two boarders lived on Indiana Avenue.
• Henry Patton (b.1858) was a shoe maker who was a prisoner in Michigan City.

Kansas

• James Bradley (b.1845) was a shoe maker who lived in Atchison City on 3rd Street. He was the husband of Sina Bradley (b.1849 in KY).
• John Page (b.1850) was a shoe maker who lived in Leavenworth with his parents Richard and Anna Page who were both born in Virginia. The family lived on Miami Street.

• Peter Fisher (b.1859 in KY) was a shoe maker who was the son of William (b.1815 in KY) and Harriet Fisher (b.1818 in KY). The family of six lived in Greenfield.

Mississippi

• Tom Broadwaters (b.1841), a shoe maker, was the husband of Laura Broadwaters (b.1852 in LA). The family of three lived in Vicksburg.
• Thomas Monday (b.1855) was a shoe maker who lived in Wilkinson County with his wife Nancy (b.1858 in MS) and their five children.
• Thomas Payne (b.1825) was a shoe maker who lived in Vicksburg with his wife Eliza Barnett (b.1839 in MS). They shared their home with an orphan and three boarders.

Missouri

• George Brenson (b.1816) was a shoe maker. He was the husband of Judy Brenson (b.1813 in KY), and the family of five lived in Pierce City.
• Newton Harden (b.1847) was a shoe maker who lived in Jefferson City.
• Samuel Lewis (b.1857) was a shoe maker who lived in Jefferson City.
• Jefferson Pierce (b.1840) was a shoe maker who lived in Joplin with his wife Sarah (b.1841 in KY), their six children and a boarder.
• Presley Steward (b.1821) was a shoe maker. He lived in Linneus with his wife Ellen (b.1836 in MO) and their seven children.

Ohio

• Joseph Grubbs (b.1828) was a shoe maker who lived in Xenia with his wife Eliza (b.1832 in VA). The couple lived on Lexington Street.

Tennessee

• Charles Bailey (b.1822), a shoe maker, was the husband of Emily Bailey (b.1825 in TN). The family of six lived in Montgomery County.
• Thomas Ball (b.1828) was a shoe maker who lived in Milan with two nieces.
• A. J. Cox (b.1831) was a shoe maker. He was the husband of Mary Cox (b.1836 in TN). The family of eight lived in Murfreesborough.
• Ben Henderson (b.1844) was a shoe maker who lived in Chattanooga with his wife Hanah (b.1852 in NC), their three children, Hanah's mother, and a boarder.
• David Masterson (b.1850) was a shoe maker who lived in Roane County. He was the husband of Charlotte Masterson (b.1856 in TN). The family of five lived on Lowly Street.
• Daniel Settles (b.1829) was a shoe maker who lived in Nashville. He was a widower and lived on Cherry Street.

Washington, D.C.

• Edward Bean (b.1851) was a shoe repairer who lived on 21st Street, N.W.

Agricultural and Mechanical Association of the Colored People of Bourbon County
Start Year : 1874
On January 16, 1874, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky passed an act for the benefit of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association of the Colored People of Bourbon County. The act, referring to the organization's colored fair, prohibited booths and the selling of refreshments or liquor within a half mile of the fairgrounds while the fair was in progress. The fair was held in Millersburg, KY. For more see Chapter 58 of the Laws of Kentucky in Acts Passed at...Session of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth, printed in 1874 at the Kentucky Yeoman Office in Frankfort, KY [available full view via Google Book Search] .
Subjects: Colored Fairs & Black Expos
Geographic Region: Millersburg, Bourbon County, Kentucky

Baker, David
Birth Year : 1881
Born in Louisville, KY, Baker invented scales that were used in elevators to prevent overloading. He was also co-inventor of the streetcar transom opener in 1913, the high water indicator for bridges in 1915, and a number of other inventions. For more see Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915; and The Pride of African American History: inventors, scientists, physicians, engineers..., by D. Wilson and J. Wilson.
Subjects: Inventors
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Barbour, J. Bernie
Birth Year : 1881
Barbour was born in Danville, KY, and died in New York, his death date unknown. Barbour was an 1896 music education graduate of Simmons University (KY), and he graduated from the Schmoll School of Music (Chicago) in 1899. Both he and N. Clark Smith founded a music publishing house in Chicago in 1903; it may have been the first to be owned by African Americans. Barbour also worked with other music publishing companies, including the W. C. Handy Music Company. He was a music director, and he played piano and sang in vaudeville performances and in nightclubs and toured with several groups. He composed operas such as Ethiopia, and spirituals such as Don't Let Satan Git You On De Judgment Day. He assisted in writing music for productions such as I'm Ready To Go and wrote the Broadway production, Arabian Knights Review. Barbour also organized the African American staff of Show Boat. For more see Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816-1960, by B. L. Peterson; Who's Who in Colored America, 1928-1929; and "J. Berni Barbour" in Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, by E. Southern.
Subjects: Businesses, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Migration North, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky / New York, New York

Barnes, Margaret Elizabeth Sallee
Birth Year : 1879
Death Year : 1947
Barnes, born in Monticello, KY, later moved to Oberlin, OH. She was editor of the Girl's Guide and of the Queen's Gardens, official publication of the Ohio Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. The organization was developed in the early 1930s by Barnes, who also served as the president. Barnes also was in charge of a million dollar drive for funds at Wilberforce University; in 1939 she had been appointed a trustee at Wilberforce by Ohio Governor John Bricker. A building on the campus was named in her honor and Barnes received an honorary doctor of humanties degree. She was a leader among African American women in the Republican Party and was a delegate-at-large for the Republican State Convention in 1940. The Margaret Barnes Welfare Club, established in 1930, was named in her honor. The club belonged to both the national and the Ohio Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. One of the organization's efforts was to provided college scholarships for the outstanding African American student in the graduating class at Elyria [Ohio] High School. The Margaret Barnes Welfare Club was the oldest African American women's club in Elyria and was still functioning in the 1990s. Margaret E. Barnes was a 1900 graduate of Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University], and taught school for four years in Harrodsburg, KY, before marrying James D. Barnes and moving to Oberlin, OH, in 1904. She was the mother of five children, one of whom was Margaret E. Barnes Jones. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1941-44; Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 1895-1992, part 1, ed. by L. S. Williams (.pdf); and C. Davis, "Barnes club helps black youngsters achieve goals," Chronicle Telegram, 06/05/1990, p.9.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Migration North, Mothers, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Women's Groups and Organizations, Association of Colored Women's Clubs
Geographic Region: Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky / Oberlin, Ohio

Berryman, John Leroy
Birth Year : 1880
Death Year : 1940
Dr. J. L. Berryman was a dentist in Lexington, KY, and was prominent in the African American community. He and Dr. W. T. Dinwiddie were two of the earliest African American dentists in Lexington. Dr. Berryman was born in Jessamine County, KY, attended school in Lexington, and was a graduate of Meharry Medical and Dental School [now Meharry Medical College, School of Dentistry]. He was a member of the Bluegrass Medical Association. Dr. Berryman opened his dental office in Lexington in 1906 and continued his practice until his death in 1940. He was the husband of Edith Berryman, and the father of Grace, Elanor, and Carolyn Berryman, according to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Dr. Berryman was a Sunday School teacher at St. Paul A.M.E. Church, a member of the Progressive Club and the IBPOE of W, and treasurer of Lexington Lodge #27. For more see "Dr. Berryman passes; veteran Negro dentist," Lexington Leader, 04/04/1940, p. 20.

**[IBPOE of W = Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World]

**[Progressive Club = social organization that assisted in addressing community problems and needs.]
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Medical Field, Health Care, Fraternal Organizations, Sunday School, Dentists
Geographic Region: Jessamine County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Blanton, John O.
Birth Year : 1885
J. O. Blanton was born in Versailles, KY. He was president of the American Mutual Savings Bank in Louisville, KY. The building was built by Samuel Plato in 1922, the same year that William H. Wright launched the business. Blanton was also director of the Mammoth Building and Loan Association and a professor of mathematics at Central High School in Louisville for 12 years. Blanton was also involved with the Louisville Urban League, which was founded in 1959. His wife was Carolyn Steward Blanton; they were the parents of John W. Blanton. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Bankers, Banks, Finance, Financial Advisors, Education and Educators, Fathers, Urban Leagues
Geographic Region: Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Bowles, Eva Del Vakia
Birth Year : 1875
Death Year : 1943
Bowles was born in Albany, OH, the daughter of John H. and Mary J. Porter Bowles. Her first employment was teacher at the Chandler Normal School in Lexington, KY; Bowles was the first African American teacher at the school. She was secretary of the YWCA Subcommittee on Colored Work when the first Conference on Colored Work was held in Louisville, KY, in 1915. Bowles was a leader in the YWCA. For more see the Eva Del Vakia Bowles entry in Black Women in America [database].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration South, YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association)
Geographic Region: Albany, Ohio / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Boyd, Francis A.
Birth Year : 1844
Death Year : 1872
Francis A. Boyd was born in Lexington, KY, to Nancy and Samuel Boyd, free African Americans. Reverend Francis Boyd was author of Columbiana: or, The North Star, Complete in One Volume (Chicago: Steam Job and Book Printing House of G. Hand, 1870). His biography and criticism can be found in Early Black American Poets, pp. 76-77. For more see Black American Writers Past and Present: a biographical and bibliographical dictionary, by Rush, Myers, & Arta.
Subjects: Authors, Freedom, Poets
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Brady, St. Elmo
Birth Year : 1884
Death Year : 1966
St. Elmo Brady was born in Louisville, KY. He was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States, earning his degree at the University of Illinois (UI) in 1916 for work in Noyes Laboratory [at UI]. He taught at Tuskegee University, Howard University, Fisk University, and Tougaloo College in Mississippi. He was the first African American admitted to the chemistry honor society, Phi Lambda Upsilon. For more see Chemistry at Illinois, and Blacks in science and medicine, by V. O. Sammons.
Subjects: Chemists, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Britt, Hardin B.
Birth Year : 1871
Death Year : 1963
Born in Brownsville, KY, Britt was a trained gospel singer. He was the son of Thomas and Julia Britt. After attending the Negro common school in Edmonson County, Hardin Britt graduated valedictorian from State University [Simmons College, Louisville], and he also graduated from Eckstein Norton University. He was the leading soloist at the Baptist World's Congress held in London England; Hardin's performance was reviewed in the Christian Herald, July 1905, "A Sweet Colored Singer." By 1920, Britt had settled in Louisivlle, Kentucky. According to the U.S. Census, he lived on Finzer Street where he boarded with Lucy Burton, a cook, and her niece, Rosa Stone, a school teacher. Britt was earning a living as a gospel singer, he died in Louisville in 1963. For more see Who's Who Among the Colored Baptists of the United States by S. W. Bacote.
Subjects: Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Bownsville, Edmonson County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Brown, Lee L.
Birth Year : 1879
Lee L. Brown was born in Spring Station, KY. He was owner of a stenography school in Louisville, KY, and also owned Brown's Leather Shop. Brown was a correspondent for Dobson's News Service and editor and an organizer of the Louisville News. He was a representative of the Negro Press Association of Chicago. Brown was a two-time candidate for the Kentucky State Legislature, once in 1913 and again in 1935. For more see Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915; and Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37.
Subjects: Businesses, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections
Geographic Region: Spring Station, Woodford County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Brown, William W.
Birth Year : 1814
Death Year : 1884
William Wells Brown was born in Lexington, KY. His mother, Elizabeth, was a slave; his father, George Higgins, was white. Since his mother was a slave, Brown too was a slave. He eventually escaped and made his way north, where he participated in abolitionist activities. He wrote a play, poems, songs, and books, including Clotel, the first novel published by an African American. Brown was also a historian and practiced medicine. For more see From Slave to Abolitionist, by W. W. Brown and L. S. Warner; Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave. Written by Himself [full-text at UNC University Library Documenting the American South]; and William Wells Brown, a self-liberated historian, an African American Registry website.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Freedom, Historians, Medical Field, Health Care
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Burnette, Arp C.
Birth Year : 1881
Burnette, born in North Carolina, was the first African American employed by the University of Kentucky Agricultural Extension Service, where he began work in 1919 and retired in 1944. He was in charge of Negro extension work in Kentucky. Burnette was a 1903 graduate of North Carolina A&M College [now North Carolina State University], and taught at the school for a few years after his graduation. Burnette had several other jobs before he arrived in Kentucky just prior to the building of Lincoln Institute. He helped clear the fields for the construction of the school, and once the school was in operation, he taught agriculture for six years. He left the state for a brief period then returned to head the Kentucky State College Agricultural Department [now Kentucky State University] for three and a half years before becoming an agent with the UK Agricultural Extension Service in 1919. He was hired by Dean Thomas P. Cooper. Burnette had an assistant in Madison County. Among his many responsibilities, Burnette assisted with the development of 4-H for Negro youth, which grew to have more than 5,000 members. He organized the Negro Club in Madison County, KY. Also during his tenure, the number of meat cattle owned by Negro farmers more than tripled and food crop production doubled. After his retirement, Burnette was replaced by John Finch. In 1947, A. C. Burnette Day was held in Hopkinsville, KY. In 1952, there were three African American agricultural agents and six home demonstration agents, all serving 32 counties. In those counties with few Negro farmers, all farmers were served by the white county agent. For more see J. T. Vaughn, "Farm agent fears work cut life span from 100 to 80," Lexington Leader, 06/16/1952, p. 8. See also The College of Agriculture and Home Economics, University of Kentucky, by J. A. Smith; and the Thomas Poe Cooper Papers at the University of Kentucky's Special Collections Library.
Subjects: Agriculturalists, Education and Educators, Migration West
Geographic Region: North Carolina / Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky

Caldwell, Charles
Death Year : 1875
Caldwell, a blacksmith, was born in Kentucky and later became an elected state senator in Mississippi. He was the husband of Margaret Ann Caldwell. In 1868, Charles Caldwell and the son of a judge were involved in a shootout that left the judge's son dead. Caldwell was tried by an all-white jury and found not guilty; he was the first African American in Mississippi to kill a white man and be found not guilty by the courts. Caldwell continued as a state senator and helped write the state constitution. He would later command an African American militia troop in Clinton, MS, and try unsuccessfully to prevent a race riot. The riot lasted for four days, and on Christmas Day, 1875, Caldwell was gunned down by a gang of whites. For more see A People's History of the United States: 1942-present (2003), by H. Zinn; and "Charles Caldwell, State Senator," in Great Black Men of Masonry, 1723-1982 (2002), by J. M. A. Cox.
Subjects: Blacksmiths, Migration South, Riots and Protests Outside Kentucky, Legislators (Outside Kentucky)
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Clinton, Mississippi

Catlettsburg Colored Common School District (Boyd County, KY)
Start Year : 1873
End Year : 1912
The Catlettsburg Colored Common School District was established by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1873. The district included the area beginning at the Ohio River at the mouth of Horse Branch. There was a poll tax on every male 18 years old or older within the district, and widows with children were also taxed. The tax was not to exceed $2. Students attending the school had to live in the specified district and be at least 5 years old and not over 25 years old. In 1887, the school term was five months. An African American minister, the Reverend John R. Cox of the AME Church, was the first truant officer in Catlettsburg. Cox was a former slave born in Catlettsburg in 1852. The school district existed for 38 years before an act was established in 1912 to repeal the act that had established the Colored Common School District in Catlettsburg. Four Colored families were counted in Catlettsburg in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, most of whom did not have children. The number of children had more than doubled by 1920. The Colored school district was discontinued, but the Colored school of Catlettsburg operated as part of the Ashland Colored school system. In the 1937 Polk's Catlettsburg City Directory, Daisy Keeton is listed as principal of the Catlettsburg Colored School at 170 E. Panola Hill. The school was still listed in the directory as late as 1944. For more see "Chapter 653" in the 1873 Acts Passed at the...session of the General Assembly for the Commonwealth, pp. 193-194 [full-text available at Google Book Search]; and Common School Laws of Kentucky: 1922, by the Kentucky Department of Education.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Catlettsburg and Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky

Chenault, Lawrence E.
Birth Year : 1877
Chenault was born in Mt. Sterling, KY, and his family later moved to Cincinnati, OH, where he was a soloist at the Allen Temple Church. Chenault joined Al G. Field's Negro Minstrels in 1895 and two years later was a featured tenor and character, "Golden Hair Neil," with A. G. Field's Darkest American Company. He was also in Black Patti's Troubadours and a number of other groups. He performed with Ernest Hogan in the M. B. Curtis Minstrels, touring America, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Hawaii. On the return to the U.S., Chenault spent time performing in San Francisco before rejoining Hogan on the Smart Set. He would become the first leading man with the Lafayette Players Stock Company. He performed in Black films, appearing in more leading roles than any other actor in silent films: 22 films between 1920 and 1934 [filmography]. For more see "Lawrence E. Chenault" in Blacks in Blackface, by S. T. Sampson.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky

Clark, John T.
Birth Year : 1883
Death Year : 1949
John T. Clark was born in Louisville, KY, the son of John R. and Sallie Clark. He graduated in 1906 from Ohio State University with a focus in sociology and economics. Clark returned to Louisville, where he was an instructor at Central High School (1907-1913). He left Louisville to become housing secretary in New York City (1913-1916). He was a contributing author to the 1915 collection, "Housing and Living Conditions among Negroes in Harlem." Clark held a number of posts with the National Urban League and its state chapters from 1916 to1949, including bringing the National Urban League to Pittsburgh in 1917 and becoming executive secretary of the St. Louis Urban League, beginning in 1926. Also a member of the American Social Workers Association, Clark was elected the third vice president of the National Conference of Social Work in 1940. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37; and Who's Who in Colored America, 1950. The John T. Clark files of the Urban League of St. Louis are available at the Washington University of St. Louis Library.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Migration North, Migration West, Social Workers, Sociologists & Social Scientists, Urban Leagues
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / New York City, New York / Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / St. Louis, Missouri

Clayter, Henry
Birth Year : 1875
Death Year : 1952
Henry Clayter was the son of Lizzie McGee and John Clayter. In 1906, Henry Clayter, described as a mulatto with white skin, attempted to elope with 15 year old Ora Gardner, a white hotel waitress. They had been seeing each other secretly at the hotel for two years. Clayter was about 30 years old and an Army veteran who, according to the U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, had served in the 24th Infantry, 1901-1904. He had just returned from the military when he took up with 13 year old Gardner. Interracial dating relationships in Kentucky had led to the lynching of African American men. Marriage between Blacks and whites was illegal in Kentucky for all involved, including the licensing clerk and the minister or judge. Clayter and Gardner attempted to get a marriage license in Illinois in 1906 but were denied because Gardner was underage. They were living together in Chicago at 563 State Street when both were arrested and taken to Louisville, KY. The authorities feared that Clayter would be lynched if returned to Irvington, KY, where he was to stand trial. The news of the couple's return to Kentucky had led to threats of violence between whites and Blacks in Irvington, and there was fear of a race riot. The whole affair of Clayter and Gardner was described as sensational and extraordinary in the newspapers. With extra security in place, Clayter was tried in Irvington and found guilty of carnal knowledge of a female less than 16 years old. He was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in prison, but the sentence was later commuted by the governor; Clayter was released from Eddyville Prison in 1911. He married Mary Miller in Indiana in 1915 and died a widower in 1952 in Louisville, according to the Kentucky Death Records. Gardner was placed in a reform school and at the age of 18 was living at her parents' home in Hardinsburg, KY, according to the 1910 U.S. Federal Census. For more see chapter 2, "Race Relations" in A History of Blacks in Kentucky, by M. B. Lucas and G. C. Wright; "Negro lover," The Breckinridge News, 08/01/1906, p. 8; and A. Avins, "Anti-miscegenation laws and the Fourteenth Amendment: the original intent," Virginia Law Review, vol. 52, issue 7 (Nov. 1966), pp. 1224-1255.
Subjects: Military & Veterans, Interracial Marriage and State Laws
Geographic Region: Hardinsburg and Irvington, Breckinridge County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Clement, Emma C. Williams
Birth Year : 1874
Death Year : 1952
Emma Clarissa Williams Clement lived in Louisville, KY. At the age of 71, she became the first African American to be named Mother of the Year. The recognition was made on Mothers Day, May 12, 1941, after Clement was select for the honor by the Golden Rule Foundation. Clement, born in Providence, RI, was the wife of George Clement, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Louisville, and the mother of Rufus E. Clement and Ruth E. Clement Bond. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; and "News from our file: fifty years ago," Marysville Journal-Tribune, 05/02/1996, p. 4.
Subjects: Kentucky African American Churches, Mothers, Migration South
Geographic Region: Providence, Rhode Island / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Colored Statue Performer
Start Year : 1885
It was reported in the New York Clipper newspaper that Charles "Barney" Hicks, manager of Kersands' Colored Minstrels, introduced the first colored statue performer, Apollo, on the minstrel stage in Louisville, KY. Hicks was the first African American to organize a company of African American minstrels; in 1865 the group of ex-slaves was known as the Georgia Minstrels. For more about the statue performer see the New York Clipper, 6/20/1885. For more on Charles Hicks see The Ghost Walks; a chronological history of blacks in show business, 1865-1910, by H. T. Sampson.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers, Theater Companies, Education, Exhibitions, Performers, and Performances in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Conley, Nellie
Birth Year : 1873
Death Year : 1959
Nellie Conley was born in Louisville, KY. She went by the name Madame Sul-Te-Wan, acting in early films such as Birth of a Nation and later films such as Carmen Jones and Tarzan and the Trappers. Prior to moving to California and acting in films, Conley had moved from Louisville to Cincinnati, Ohio. While there, she formed "The Black Four Hundred," an acting company that employed 16 performers and 12 musicians. The company was successful, as was a minstrel company that Conley established. Conley soon married and eventually moved to California. Two years later, she had just given birth to her third son when her husband left her. Her money was gone, so for a period of time Conley had to rely on charity. Times got better when she was hired by Kentucky native D. W. Griffith for the movie The Clansman; her pay was three dollars a day. [It has also been written that Conley was the mother of Ruby Dandridge (1900-1987) and the grandmother of Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965).] For more see Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines, vol. 18: Sept. 1992-Aug. 1993; Directory of Blacks in the Performing Arts, 1st ed., by E. Mapp; and The Negro Trail Blazers of California, by D. Beasley.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Businesses, Migration North, Migration West, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Grandparents, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Cincinnati, Ohio / California

Cox, Johnson D.
Birth Year : 1875
Cox, born in Kentucky, was a teacher at Governor Street School in Evansville, Indiana. He was the husband of Eugenia D. Cox (b.1879 in Indiana) and the father of Elbert Frank Cox (1895-1969), the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics. Elbert began his teaching career at the Colored high school in Henderson, KY in 1917. He taught mathematics and physics for a year before leaving to join the Army during World War I. Elbert would go on to become a great educator. He was married to Beulah Kaufman, whose father, Lewis Kaufman (b.1853 in Indiana), had been a slave in Kentucky. Once freed, Lewis Kaufman left Kentucky for Princeton, Indiana, where he owned a blacksmith shop. For more see J. A. Donaldson and R. J. Fleming, "Elbert F. Cox: an early pioneer," The American Mathematical Monthly, vol.107, issue 2, (Feb., 2000), pp. 105-128. See more on Elbert F. Cox at African American Registry website.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Fathers, Migration North, Blacksmiths
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Evansville and Princeton, Indiana

Cunningham, James C.
Birth Year : 1787
Death Year : 1877
Cunningham was a free-born Caribbean violinist, band leader and dance teacher. He came to Louisville, KY, in 1835 and formed a band that played at various events, including a ball for President-elect Zachary Taylor. Cunningham also played a role in the underground railroad. He was born in the West Indies and served in the British Navy. He was the father of James R. Cunningham. For more see The Encyclopedia of Louisville, ed. by J. E. Kleber: and History of the United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, by W. H. Gibson, Sr.
Subjects: Freedom, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Appointments by U.S. Presidents/Services for U.S. Presidents, Underground Railroad: Conductors, Escapes, Organizations, Research
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / West Indies

Dean, Dora [Dora Dean Babbige Johnson]
Birth Year : 1872
Death Year : 1949
Dean, whose birth name was Dora Babbige, was born in Covington, KY. She was known in vaudeville as "The Black Venus." She was married to Charles E. Johnson, and they performed as a couple, often billed as the creators of the Cake Walk dance. Dean and Johnson were a stylish and graceful dance team who perfected the Cake Walk into a high-stepping swank. They also performed soft shoe and wing dancing; they were stars of "The Creole Show," emphasizing couples dancing. Dean and Johnson were the first African American couple to perform on Broadway. They were also the first to perform in evening attire; they were the best dressed couple on stage. Dean was described as possessing a plump, striking figure; she posed for German painter Ernest von Heilmann, and the painting was unveiled in 1902 at the coronation of King Edward VII and exhibited at the Paris Expo. The couple was also the first to use steel taps on their shoes and the first to use strobe lighting. Beginning in 1903, they lived and performed mostly in Europe and some in Australia and the U.S. They returned home in 1913. The couple had divorced in 1910, and once back in the U. S. they continued performing but did not perform together for a long while. In 1930, Dean had an acting role in the film Georgia Rose, an all African American talkie by white director Harry Gant. Dean and Johnson reunited as a team and a couple in 1934, and both retired by 1942. They spent the remainder of their lives in Minneapolis, MN. For more see Tap Roots, by M. Knowles; "Dora Dean" in the Biographical Dictionary of Dance, by B. N. Cohen-Stratyner; and vol. 2 of the African American National Biography, edited by H. L. Gates, Jr. and E. B. Higginbotham.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Migration West, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky / Europe / Australia / Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dorsey, William "Billy"
Birth Year : 1880
Death Year : 1920
Dorsey was born in Louisville, KY, where he received his musical training. He was a bandleader and music arranger in vaudeville performances and was most noted in Chicago. In 1915, Dorsey traveled to England with a troupe that included his wife, Lizzie; they remained there for four years. He returned to the U.S. due to health problems and settled in Arizona. For more see William "Billy" Dorsey in Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, by E. Southern.
Subjects: Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Arizona

Dunbar, Joshua
Birth Year : 1817
Death Year : 1885
An escaped slave from Shelby County, KY, Dunbar served with two Massachusetts Colored Regiments during the Civil War. He separated from his wife, Matilda Dunbar, in 1874. He was the father of Paul L. Dunbar. Johshua Dunbar was born in Garrard County, KY. He was a slave who last lived in Shelby County, prior to joining the Union Army. He received an honorable discharge in October 1865, and was employed as a plasterer. Dunbar was admitted to a U.S. National Home for Disabled Veterans in Dayton, OH, in 1882. According to the Home's records, Joshua Dunbar died August 16, 1885. He is buried on the grounds of the Veterans Affairs Center on West Third Street in Dayton, Ohio. For more see L. Dempsey, "Dunbar's dad may rest with dignity," Dayton Daily News, 01/25/04, Local section, p. B1.
Subjects: Fathers, Freedom, Migration North, Military & Veterans
Geographic Region: Garrard County, Kentucky / Shelby County, Kentucky / Dayton, Ohio

Early Schools for Negro Deaf and Blind Children
Start Year : 1884
In 1884, the Kentucky School for Negro Deaf was established in Danville, KY, as a division of the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb. The Colored Department was managed by Morris T. Long, William J. Blount, Frances Barker, and Mabel Maris. The first African American student, admitted in 1885, was 25 year old Owen Alexander from Owenton, KY; he remained at the school for one year. He had become deaf at the age of 3 after having scarlet fever. The Kentucky Institute for the Education of the Negro Blind was located in Louisville, KY, in 1886. Both schools are listed in Adjustment of School Organization to Various Population Groups, by R. A. F. McDonald [full view available via Google Book Search]. For more about the early years of the Danville school, see volume 1 of Histories of American Schools for the Deaf, 1817-1893, edited by E. A. Fay.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Blind, Visually Impaired
Geographic Region: Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky / Owenton, Owen County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Elizabethtown (KY) Emancipation Day
Start Year : 1882
The 1882 celebration held in Elizabethtown, KY, was joined by African Americans from southern Illinois. The event is noted as the first recorded Emancipation celebration for southern Illinois. For more see S. K. Cha-Jua, America's first Black town: Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830-1915, p. 104.
Subjects: Freedom, Emancipation Day / Juneteenth Celebrations
Geographic Region: Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky

Elzy, Robert James
Birth Year : 1884
Death Year : 1972
Born in Lexington, KY, Elzy was a 1909 graduate of Fisk University and completed his graduate work at Columbia University and New York University. He was assistant principal and a teacher at Joseph K. Brick School in North Carolina, then taught for a year at State Normal School for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University]. Elzy left Kentucky to practice social work in Brooklyn, New York. He was the founder and executive secretary of the Brooklyn Urban League, chaired the Colored Case Committee of the Bedford and Ft. Green districts of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities, and was treasurer of the Brooklyn Social Service League. Robert J. Elzy was the husband of Louise Voorhees Elzy. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1928-29 and 1950; and "Robert Elzy of Urban League, champion of Black welfare, dies," New York Times, 02/20/1972, p. 68.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Welfare (Social Services) Organizations, Migration North, Social Workers, Migration East, Urban Leagues
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / North Carolina / Brooklyn, New York

Fouse, Elizabeth R.
Birth Year : 1875
Death Year : 1952
Fouse was an advocate for African American women's opportunities and equal rights. A schoolteacher who was active in social and religious activities, she served as president of the Kentucky Federation of Colored Women and was founder of the Phillis Wheatley YWCA in Lexington, KY. In 1944 Fouse was appointed by Governor Simeon Willis to serve on the Kentucky Commission for the Study of Negro Affairs. She was married to W. H. Fouse. For more see Kentucky Women and the Fouse Family Papers in the Kentuckiana Digital Library.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Women's Groups and Organizations, Appointments by Kentucky Governors, YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association), Association of Colored Women's Clubs
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Franklin Colored Benevolent Society No.1 (Franklin, KY)
Start Year : 1874
The Act to incorporate the organization was passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in February 1874, with R. R. Burnley as president; William Butts, vice president; John H. Perdue [or Purdue], secretary; and King Boisseau as treasurer. The organization purpose was "intellectual, moral, and social improvement of its members, and works of benevolence and charity." [John H. Purdue may be the great great grandfather of John J. Johnson. See the ky.gov press release, 08/23/2007.] For more see Chapter 486 of the 1874 publication Acts Passed at the...Session of the General Assembly, pp. 543-544 [available at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Fraternal Organizations, Grandparents, Benevolent Societies
Geographic Region: Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky

George, S. H.
Birth Year : 1878
Death Year : 1936
S. H. George was considered a wealthy physician, politician, and business man in Paducah, KY. He was born in Kentucky. His mother died when he was three years old, and S. H. George was forced to earn his way at an early age. He was a school teacher for several years, and later graduated from Walden University (TN) and Meharry Medical College. He returned to Paducah and opened his medical practice, and is listed in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census. He was the husband of Nettie McClaine (1889-1935), who was born in Decatur County, TN. Nettie was a trained nurse. The couple shared their home with Nettie's mother Susan Jobe Hoskin, according to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Dr. George was involved in several businesses, including a skating rink. August 1909, during the Emancipation Day celebration, Dr. George charged Daniel Hopwood with trying to pass a bad dollar at the Paducah Colored Skating Rink, located at 10th and Broadway; the rink was in financial trouble in 1909. The counterfeiting case against Hopwood was dismissed from the Paducah courts due to insufficient evidence. Several years later, Dr. George was a Kentucky delegate to the Republican National Convention. His first term was in 1920; the Kentucky Republican State Convention had been undecided as to which African American would be a delegate-at-large, and after a four hour discussion, Dr. George was selected. Also in 1920, Dr. George was co-owner of the newly incorporated Home Drug Company in Paducah. The other two owners were John W. Egester and C. M. Bolden. That same year, Dr. George was owner and manager of the Hiawatha Theater, a picture house at 432 S. 7th Street in Paducah. He paid $10,000 for the business. In 1927, in Washington D.C., Dr. S. H. George was re-elected Grand Esteemed Leading Knight of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order Of Elks of the World (IBPOEW); he was a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Pythian, a member of the Court of Calanthe, and vice president of the Pythian Mutual Industrial Association of Kentucky. In 1928, he was again a Republican National Convention delegate. Dr. S. H. George died June 23, 1936, his death notice is on p.155 in An Economic Detour by M. S. Stuart. Dr. George was a founding member, a stockholder, and a 21-year elected member of the board of directors of the Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company. For more see "Pick Kentucky delegates," New York Times, 03/04/1920, p.17; "No conviction in counterfeiting cases," The Paducah Evening Sun, 08/17/1909, p.3; see "S. H. George..." on p.16 in NARD Journal, v.30, 1920; African American Theater Buildings by E. L. Smith; "J. F. Wilson re-elected head of Negro Elks," The New York Times, 08/26/1927, p.14; and see S. H. George in The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race edited by C. Richardson [available online at Internet Archive].
Subjects: Businesses, Insurance Companies, Insurance Sales, Medical Field, Health Care, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Fraternal Organizations, Pharmacists, Pharmacies, Skating Rinks, Theater Companies, Education, Exhibitions, Performers, and Performances in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Glass, James G.
Birth Year : 1884
Death Year : 1962
Dr. Glass was one of the longest practicing physicians in Henderson, KY, where he practiced for 50 years. Glass was a physician and surgeon. He was born in Hopkinsville, KY, the son of Edward W. and Sallie E. McReynolds Glass. He graduated from Clark Embalming School, Walden University, and received his M.D. from Meharry Medical College in 1906. Prior to opening his practice, Glass was in the undertaking business with his father, Edward Glass. He practiced medicine for a year in Hopkinsville, 1908-1909, then moved his business to Henderson, KY. He was the husband of Ora H. Kennedy Glass, a community leader in Henderson, KY. For more see the James Garfield Glass entry in Who's Who of the Colored Race by F. L. Mather [available full view at Google Book Search]; and Dr. James G. Glass on p.84 of Journal of the National Medical Association, vol.55, issue 1, January 1963 [available online].
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care
Geographic Region: Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky / Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

Green, Emma Cason
Birth Year : 1884
Death Year : 1983
Green, born in North Middletown, KY, was the daughter of James and Rebecca Cason. Her husband was Charles Green, also from Bourbon County. Emma Cason Green attended Kentucky Classical and Business College in North Middletown and later moved to Indiana. A dressmaker who also wrote poetry, she had some of her poems published in Attempting to Express My Thoughts, compiled by J. Curtis. She also wrote the History of the Second Christian Church, North Middletown, Ky. Emma Cason Green has a headstone in the Prescott Pike Cemetery in North Middletown, KY, that gives her birth year as 1886. The Emma Cason Green Papers are housed at the Indiana Historical Society. For more see "Emma Cason Green" in Guide to African-American History Materials in Manuscript Collections at the Indiana Historical Society.
Subjects: Authors, Migration North, Poets
Geographic Region: North Middletown, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Indiana

Hampton, Pete George
Birth Year : 1871
Death Year : 1916
Born in Bowling Green, KY, Hampton was the first African American to be recorded playing a harmonica. According to his 1905 passport application, Hampton was also a variety actor, and he had an artificial right eye. He recorded as a banjo soloist and singer, the recordings were made in Britain and Germany between 1903-1911. He recorded, toured and lived in Europe with his wife, Laura Bradford Bowman. It is said that he recorded more than any other contemporary African American. In 1913 Hampton, his wife, and her father returned to the United States, where Hampton died three years later. For more see Who was the first blues harp player to record? by Pat Missin; and the Laura Bowman entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / Europe

Harris, Emma E. "The Mammy of Moscow"
Birth Year : 1875
Death Year : 1937
Harris, an actress and singer, told others that she was from Kentucky, but she gave Augusta, GA as her birth place on her 1901 U.S. Passport Application. She was to return to the U.S. in two years, but Harris lived much of her life in Moscow, Russia. She left the U.S. from Brooklyn, NY, where she had been a church choir director. She left with the "Louisiana Amazon Guards [or Gods]", a six-woman theater troupe, with a seventh woman as a reserve. The group toured Germany. Harris later became a member of the "Six Creole Belles" [which may have been the same group under a different name and management]; they toured Poland and Russia before disbanding, and all but two members returned to the U.S. in 1905 because of the revolutions taking place in Russia. Harris then formed the "Emma Harris Trio," a singing group that continued performing in various European cities. Years later, the trio broke up and Harris was stuck in Siberia, where she taught English for a living before returning to performing as a concert soloist in Russia. Harris had studied voice at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. She also served as a nurse in the Ukraine during the Civil War, worked with the American Relief Association, and later was a speaker for the International Red Aid. Harris remained in Moscow with her husband and manager, Ivanovitch Mizikin. She knew Stalin and was a friend of Maxim Gorky's. She spoke fluent Russian and gave speeches against the Scottsboro Boys case when she was over 60 years old. Harris was also an excellent cook of culturally diverse meals and liked to entertain; she had many connections for getting food during the period when food was rationed in Moscow. Harris returned to the U.S. in 1933 and died in Brooklyn in 1937. For more see "The Mammy of Moscow" in The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, vol. 9: Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs, by L. Hughes, et al.; and R. E. Lotz, "The Louisiana Troupes in Europe," The Black Perspective in Music, vol. 11, issue 2 (Autumn 1938), pp. 133-142.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Actors, Actresses, Bakers, Cooks and Chefs, Education and Educators, Migration North, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada, Nurses, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Augusta, Georgia / Moscow, Russia / Brooklyn, New York City, New York

Henson, Josiah
Birth Year : 1789
Death Year : 1883
Henson was brought to the Riley Plantation in Owensboro, KY, as a slave, escaped to Canada and returned many times to lead his family and others to freedom. He spoke at abolition meetings. Henson is believed to have been portrayed as the Uncle Tom character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. For more see The Life of Josiah Henson, by J. Henson; and American Biographies, by W. Preston.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Freedom, Migration North
Geographic Region: Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky / Canada

Hopkinsville College of the Bible (Hopkinsville, KY)
Start Year : 1883
The school was founded in 1883 during a meeting of the First District Baptist Association at the Green Valley Baptist Church in response to the need for a training center in the area for more African American teachers and preachers. The school was initially called Male and Female College, then reopened as Southwestern Kentucky Institute before becoming Hopkinsville College of the Bible. The school remains open today. For more information see the Kentucky Encyclopedia 2000 and contact the Hopkinsville College of the Bible.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

Hueston, William C., Sr.
Birth Year : 1880
Death Year : 1961
Hueston was born in Lexington, KY; his family later moved to Kansas City, Kansas. He was a graduate of the University of Kansas and an active community leader in Kansas City. He also lived part-time in Gary, Indiana. He served as president of the National Negro Baseball League, beginning in 1927, after Rube Foster was committed to the Kankakee Asylum in Illinois. In Gary, Indiana, Hueston served as magistrate judge and helped establish the African American-owned Central State Bank. He was appointed by President Hoover to the National Memorial Commission for the building of the National Museum of African American History and Culture that was to have been built in 1929. He left Indiana in 1930 for Washington, D.C. to become Assistant Solicitor with the U.S. Post Office. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37; The Josh Gibson Foundation website; Take up the Black Man's Burden: Kansas City's African American Communities, 1865-1939, by C. E. Coulter; M. Strimbu, "Library exhibit depicts Gary's rich, varied history," Post-Tribune, 07/24/1997, Gary Neighbors section, p. NB4; and "William C. Hueston, 81, Government Attorney," Washington Post, 11/27/1961, City Life section.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Bankers, Banks, Finance, Financial Advisors, Baseball, Civic Leaders, Lawyers, Migration North, Migration West, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Postal Service, Judges, Appointments by U.S. Presidents/Services for U.S. Presidents
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Kansas City, Kansas / Gary, Indiana / Kankakee, Illinois / Washington, D.C.

Hughes, James Nathaniel
Birth Year : 1871
Death Year : 1934
Hughes was born in Charlestown, Indiana. He was the father of Langston Hughes and the son of James H. Hughes, a former slave whose mother was a slave and whose father was Silas Cushenberry, a Jewish slave trader from Clark County, KY. James H. Hughes' wife's mother had also been a slave; her father was Sam Clay, a distiller from Henry County, KY. It is not known when the Hughes family left Kentucky, but for a period their son James Nathaniel Hughes lived in Louisville, where he passed the postal civil service exam but was not hired by the post office. He eventually moved on to Oklahoma, where he married Carrie Langston in the late 1890s. After their first child died in 1900, and Langston Hughes was born in 1902, James left his family. He settled in Mexico, never to return to the United States, he remarried, practiced law, and was a land owner. For more see F. Berry, Langston Hughes, pp. 1-2; Langston Hughes of Kansas, by M. Scott [excerpt from Kansas History, vol. 3, issue 1 (Spring 1980), pp. 3-25]; The big sea: an autobiography, by L. Hughes; and The Life of Langston Hughes, vol. I: 1902-1941, by A. Rampersad.
Subjects: Fathers, Lawyers, Mothers, Postal Service, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Charlestown, Indiana / Clark County, Kentucky / Henry County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Oklahoma / Mexico

Importing Negro Miners/Strikebreakers from Kentucky
Start Year : 1874
End Year : 1899
Negro strikebreakers were first employed in 1855 by the steamship company Morgan Line. In the late 1800s, when white coal miners would go on strike, there were several instances when mine owners imported non-union Negro miners from Kentucky and other southern states as replacements. According to authors Greene and Woodson, importing Negro strikebreakers had increased the number of Negro mine workers; there was a demand for experienced miners, this was especially true during the 1922 coal strike, and Negro miners were drawn to the higher wages. In spite of the labor demand and the promise of higher wages, the arrival of Negro miners/strikebreakers many times led to confrontations with striking miners and union leaders. Below are a few instances of Negro miners from Kentucky being imported to other states during the late 1800s.

• Hocking Valley, OH - 1874 - when the regions white miners went on strike due to lower wages and unfair company policies, mine owners could not break the strike and Negro miners were brought in from the South. It was the first time that a large number of Negro miners had been used to break a strike. The 400-500 men came from the mining districts of Memphis, Louisville, and Richmond. For mine operator John Martin, bringing in the Negro miners was the "great triumph over Trades-Unions." When news of the Negro miners circulated through Nelsonville, New Straitsville, and other nearby communities, the Negro miners were confronted by the striking miners and their families. More than 100 Negro miners crossed the picket line to join the striking miners, and once funding was provided, they left Nelsonville. Those who remained were resented, as were the mine operators. Some of the white miners went back to work, and there were fights between the white miners and the Negro miners, and as a result, more Negro miners left the area. For more see H. G. Gutman, "Reconstruction in Ohio: Negroes in the Hocking Valley Coal Mines in 1873 and 1874," Labor History, vol 3, issue 3, pp.243-264, quote on page 256.
• Chicago, IL - June 1877 - Wilmington & Vermillion Coal Company at Braidwood - Alanson Sweet, champion wage cutter, cut the wages of Braidwood miners twice in 1876, and announced another cut for spring of 1877, followed by a cut in the winter of 1877. Fifteen hundred miners stuck for higher wages. The coal company hired armed guards, and Sweet announced that the striking miners would not be paid for their last month of work. June of 1877, Sweet imported Negro miners from Kentucky and West Virginia. "With the mines filled with colored men, it is believed that the Company will not be burdened with the expense of another strike for many years." In retaliation, the strikers ran 400 Negro miners and their families out of town. Two Illinois militia regiments escorted them back into town. By November, several hundred striking miners returned to work and accepted the cut in wages. Most of the Negro miners returned home, while a few continued working in the Braidwood mine. See 1877: Year of Violence by R. V. Bruce, quote on page 384.

1. Nilson Clark (b.1859)
2. George Collins (b.1855)
3. Benjamin Cox (b.1840)
4. Hanson Edwards (b.1855)
5. George Ewbanks (b.1858)
6. James Harris (b.1835)
7. George Hulbart (b.1857)
8. William Jones (b.1849)
9. Amos Rogers (b.1850)
10. Charles Smith (b.1857)

• Terre Haute, IN - December 1897 - Cabel Mining Company - the Indiana state labor commissioners criticized the company for declining the proposal from their striking miners and importing 100 Negro miners from Kentucky (75 from Hopkins County), and for posting armed guards at the mine. In spite of the condemnation, the Cabel Mining Company imported even more Negro miners from Kentucky to take the place of the striking miners. See p.18 in First Biennial Report of the Indiana Labor Commission, 1897-98 [available at Google Book Search]; "Indiana labor commissioners severely critici[s]e importers of Colored miners," Alton Telegraph, 12/09/1897, p.5; and "More Negro miners," The Indiana State Journal, 12/08/1897, p.2.
• Mansfield, AR - April 1899 - federal court Judge Rogers issued an injunction that prevented striking miners at Huntington, AR, from interfering with the Negro miners imported from Kentucky for work in the mines owned by the Kansas and Texas Coal Company. The governor of Arkansas had instructed the sheriff of Huntington to stop all future transports of Negro miners from being unloaded within the state. Judge Rogers had the U.S. Marshals serve the sheriff with an injunction. See "Clash over Negroes," Hutchinson News, 04/25/1899, p.2.
• Arkansas and the Indian Nation Territory - March 1899 - the miners went on strike for better wages and working conditions, and when the mine managers could not convince them to return to work, the coal companies came together and organized a group of agents who were dispatched to Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama to gather both white and Negro strikebreakers. The coal companies were the Choctaw Coal and Railroad Company, Southwestern Coal and Improvement Company, Kansas and Texas Coal Company, Central Coal and Improvement Company, and Western Coal and Mining Company. For more see A History of the Coal Miners of the United States by A. Roy.
• Evansville, IN - June 1899 -Sunnyside Mine - 30 Negro miners were approaching the mine when they were ambushed by armed striking miners. Armed guards returned fire. Two Negro miners were expected to die from their wounds, while the rest were sent back to Kentucky the following day. See "Strikes Elsewhere," The Independent (NY), June 29, 1899, vol.51, issue 2639; and "Battle at a mining camp," New York Times, 06/22/1899, p.2.

Jacobson, Harriet P.
Birth Year : 1879
Death Year : 1928
Jacobson was born in Lexington, KY, the daughter of Nannie Price and Robert Johnson. A teacher and poet, she taught in Oklahoma rural schools from 1893 to 1896 and in Kansas and Oklahoma city schools from 1897 to 1935. She was an advisory teacher from 1935 to 1947. Jacobson organized the East Side Culture Club in Oklahoma City in 1907 and assisted in the organization of the State Training School for Negro Boys in Boley and the Training School for Girls in Taft. She was the founder and first president of the Oklahoma Federation of Negro Women's Clubs, 1910-1915. She received an award for her 42 years of teaching. Jacobson was author of a number of published poems in publications such as Anthology of Poetry by Oklahoma Writers (1938) and The Poetry Digest Annual (1939), and in 1947 she published a book of poems, Songs in the Night. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950; and Black American Writers Past and Present. A biographical and bibliographical dictionary, by T. G. Rush, et al.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Migration West, Poets, Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Oklahoma City, Oklahoma / Kansas

Johnson, Lillian E. Russell Bakeman
Birth Year : 1872
Johnson was born in Kentucky and moved to Detroit, Michigan. She was the daughter of Wilbur L. Russell. After attending high school and business college in Detroit, she became a bookkeeper and stenographer. She was married to George Bakeman around 1895, and they were divorced by 1910 and Lillian was living with her father, according to the U.S. Federal Census. Her name was Lillian E. Johnson by 1920 and she was once again living with her father; Lillian had remarried and was a widow, and was employed as a stenographer at a law office. She was considered a member of the middle class within the African American community in Detroit, and was selected as a board member of the Detroit Urban League; at the time she was employed as a bookkeeper for a physician. She was one of the early African American members of the Detroit Urban League's integrated board at a time when the organization worked hand-in-hand with its financier, the Employer's Association, to supply Detroit industries with African American laborers from the South. The Detroit Urban League was established in 1910. Bakeman's brief biography is included in the Michigan Manual of Freemen's Progress, compiled by F. H. Warren [available full text online in .pdf format on the Western Michigan University website]. For more about the Detroit Urban League Board when Bakeman was a member, see Internal Combustion: the races in Detroit, 1915-1926, by D. A. Levine.
Subjects: Accountants, Bookkeepers, Certified Public Accountants, Stenographers, Employment Services, Migration North, Urban Leagues
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Detroit, Michigan

Jones, Eugene K.
Birth Year : 1885
Death Year : 1954
Contrary to popular belief, Eugene Kinckle Jones was not from Kentucky; he was born in Richmond, VA, the son of Joseph and Rosa Jones. Both parents taught at Virginia Union College [now Virginia Union University]. Eugene Jones came to Louisville, KY, to teach (1906-1909). He then left Kentucky for New York, where he became the first Chief Executive of the National Urban League and founded the organization's magazine, Opportunity. Jones also organized the first three Alpha Phi Alpha chapters and was appointed the adviser on Negro Affairs for the U.S. Dept. of Commerce in 1933. Eugene Jones was a graduate of Virginia Union College (B.A.) and Cornell University (M.A.). For more see The Talented Tenth: the founders and presidents of Alpha, by H. Mason; Eugene Kinckle Jones and the Rise of Professional Black Social Workers, 1910-1940, by F. Armfield (thesis); and the Eugene Kinckle Jones entry in African-American Social Leaders and Activists, by J. Rummel.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Urban Leagues
Geographic Region: Richmond, Virginia / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / New York, New York

Jones, James Henry "Jim"
Birth Year : 1873
Death Year : 1944
Jim Jones, from Bullitt County, KY, was the son of Nelson and Sallie Jones. He moved to Louisville, KY, in the 1890s and was a servant for the family of Judge F. Fox, father of famous cartoonist and illustrator Fontaine Fox. Jim Jones was later employed by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company as chef on the business car, which served as the private car for the Old Reliable presidents [L & N was nicknamed Old Reliable]. Jones was chef for almost 50 years, serving four company presidents: Milton H. Smith, Wible L. Mapother, Whitefoord R. Cole, and James B. Hill; Jim Jones had what was considered for the time period a very good job for an African American man. He also served as president's office messenger. Jones had been sick for several months prior to his death on November 27, 1944. His funeral services were held at 5th Street Baptist Church, where Jones had been an active member. He was buried in the Louisville Cemetery. He was the husband of Annie E. Jones, and the couple lived at 530 S. 16th Street, according to Jim Jones' death certificate. For more see "Widley known chef dies," The Louisville and Nashville Employe[e]s' Magazine v.20-21, 1944, p.17.
Subjects: Bakers, Cooks and Chefs, Railroad, Railway, Trains
Geographic Region: Bullitt County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Joplin, Florence G.
Birth Year : 1841
Death Year : 1881
Florence Givens Joplin was born free in Kentucky around 1841; her family moved to Texas when she was a child or teen. It is believed that she was the daughter of Milton and Susie Givens (or Givins). Florence was the wife of Giles (or Jiles) Joplin, and the mother of composer Scott Joplin, the second of her six children. Florence Joplin was a banjo player and singer. For more see In Black and White. A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups, 3rd ed., supp., ed. by M. M. Spradling; and Ragging it: getting Ragtime into history (and some history into Ragtime), by H. L. White.
Subjects: Freedom, Migration West, Mothers, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Texas

Kentucky State Colored Educational Convention
Start Year : 1868
End Year : 1877
African Americans from Kentucky and neighboring states would come together at a number of meetings to plan for the educational future of the race. A convention had been held in 1868 in Owensboro, KY, where Marshall W. Taylor was named president. The 1869 convention was held in Louisville, KY, at Benson's Theater. Seven hundred delegates were in attendance with Reverend H. J. Young of Louisville serving as convention president. A convention was held in Fayette County in 1875, led by African American ministers and Reverend E. H. Fairchild, President of Berea College. The purpose of these meetings was not only to address educational needs but also to coordinate the issues and present them to the Kentucky Legislature to encourage better funding for Negro schools and teachers. The result was the development of the state-recognized Colored Teachers' State Association and the State Colored Educational Conventions, the first of which was held in Frankfort, KY, in 1877. The organization name would later become the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, and from 1916 -1929, the conventions would be recorded in the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association. For more see Kentucky State Colored Educational Convention, held at Benson's Theater, Louisville, Ky., July 14, 1869; A History of Blacks in Kentucky: from slavery to segregation, 1760-1891, by M. B. Lucas; Proceedings of the State Colored Educational Convention held at Frankfort, Kentucky, August 22, 1877; and Proceedings of the State Colored Educational Convention (1800s).
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin 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

Lewis, George Garrett
Birth Year : 1862
Death Year : 1880
In 1880, Lewis won the Kentucky Derby riding Fonso. The industry's first foul was claimed after the race. Lewis died a few weeks later at his home in Hutchinson Station, KY; he had been injured in an accident that occurred while he was racing in St. Louis, Missouri. George Garrett Lewis was the brother of jockey Oliver Lewis. For more see African Americans in the Oaks, a Kentucky Oaks website; African-Americans in the Thoroughbred Industry, a Paris-Bourbon County Public Library 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 / Saint Louis, Missouri

Louisville's Colored Orphans' Home
Start Year : 1877
End Year : 1908
Prior to the formation of the Kentucky Home Society for Colored Children, African American churches established and supported another orphanage in Louisville, KY. Louisville's Colored Orphan's Home was located at the Taylor Barracks on Third and Oak Streets. The home was moved to Eighteenth and Dumesnil Streets in 1878, continuing operations solely with the support of the African American community until 1908. For more see "Colored Orphans' Home" in The Encyclopedia of Louisville. See also the entry Kentucky Home Society for Colored Children.
Subjects: Orphans and Orphanages in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson 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

Macon, Theresa
Birth Year : 1874
Macon was born in Louisville, KY, and is remembered for her work with the Colored women's clubs in Illinois. She was president of the Illinois and the Chicago Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, and a chartered member of the Ida B. Wells Club. Macon was recording secretary of the National Association of Colored Women. She was mentioned in the book, Lifting as They Climb, as one of the officers and committee members from Illinois who have contributed liberally to the national projects of the National Association of Colored Women. Theresa Macon was the wife of William Macon, who was a porter. The couple and Theresa's aunt, Ellen Rush, lived on W. 56th Street, according to the 1910 U.S. Federal Census. For more see the Theresa Macon entry in Toward a Tenderer Humanity and a Nobler Womanhood by A. M. Knupfer.
Subjects: Migration North, Women's Groups and Organizations, Association of Colored Women's Clubs
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

Marble, Harriett Beecher Stowe
Birth Year : 1885
Death Year : 1966
Marble was the first African American woman pharmacist in Lexington, KY. She as born in Yazoo City, MS, the daughter of Solomon [or Saul] and Leah Ann Molette Marble. Harriett came to Lexington, KY, in 1921. Her pharmacy was located at 118 North Broadway, along with doctors' offices and an apartment on the third floor where Marble lived. Marble owned the building, which she had had renovated; the previous owners were Henry Ross and Jacob Speer, who owned the building when it had contained the People's Pharmacy, which opened in 1910. Today there is a KY Historical Marker at the building site. Several of Marble's family members also resided in Lexington: her sister Priscilla Marble Ford (1886-1924) died in Lexington, and her sister Lillie Marble Ray (b. 1883) owned a home at 170 Old Georgetown Street. Lillie deeded the home to Harriett in 1953. Harriett Marble was a graduate of Meharry Medical College. She made the top score on the test administered by the Mississippi State Board of Examiners in 1908 when she qualified for her pharmacy license. She was a pharmacist in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute [now Tuskegee University] in Alabama, prior to coming to Kentucky. Marble and several family members are buried in the Cove Haven Cemetery in Lexington. This entry was submitted by Yvonne Giles. For more see M. Davis, "First female black pharmacist no longer forgotten," Lexington Herald-Leader, 02/08/2009; and the Harriett Beecher Stowe Marble entry in Who's Who of the Colored Race 1915.
Subjects: Businesses, Medical Field, Health Care, Migration North, Pharmacists, Pharmacies
Geographic Region: Yazoo City, Mississippi / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Masonic Lodge Rubicon #27 (Warsaw, KY)
Start Year : 1871
The lodge was established in 1871 in Warsaw, KY. The officers were Gleming Cousins, E. J. Burton, Nelson Jack, W. F. Cousins, and C. Robinson. For more see Chapter 4 of The History of Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Ohio, by C. H. Wesley.
Subjects: Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Warsaw, Gallatin County, Kentucky

McCoy, Alexander Francis
Birth Year : 1884
Alexander Francis McCoy was born in Centerville, KY, the son of Jacob H. and Mattie Sparks Mccoy. Dr. McCoy was a general practice physician from 1911-1920, with an office in Nicholasville, KY. He then became an ENT (ears, nose, and throat) Specialist in 1920. Specialty training was a rarity for African Americans at that time. The American Board of Ophthalmology was founded in 1917 and incorporated in 1924. For more see Who's Who in Colored America 1950, and American Academy of Otolaryngology - African American Education.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care
Geographic Region: Centerville, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Kentucky

McElroy, Hugh
Birth Year : 1884
Death Year : 1971
McElroy was born in Springfield, KY, the son of Sarah and Thomas McElroy. Though under age, McElroy enlisted in the 10th Cavalry and served in Cuba during the Spanish American War. He also fought in the Philippines Insurrection, the border campaigns in Mexico in 1916, and in Europe during World War I. During World War II, he was head janitor at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. He was the first African American to be pictured in advertisements for war bonds. For more see Black Defenders of America, by R. E. Greene; and R. A. Burns, "Hugh McElroy" in The Handbook of Texas - Online.
Subjects: Migration West, Military & Veterans
Geographic Region: Springfield, Washington County, Kentucky

Merritt, Mary Eliza
Birth Year : 1881
Death Year : 1953
Born in Berea, KY, the daughter of Thomas and Josie Merritt. Mary Merritt was the first African American nurse licensed in Kentucky. She had received her nurses training at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C. She received the Mary Mahoney award for distinguished service in 1949 and was awarded a certificate of merit by President Wilson. For more see Mary Merritt and Her Dream at kentuckytales.com; and The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care, Appointments by U.S. Presidents/Services for U.S. Presidents, Nurses
Geographic Region: Berea, Madison County, Kentucky

Merry, Nelson G.
Birth Year : 1824
Death Year : 1884
Merry was a Kentucky slave who moved to Nashville, TN, with his master and at the age of 16 was willed to the First Baptist Church, which freed him in 1845. Merry was a preacher at the First Colored Baptist Church and in 1853 was the first ordained African American minister in Nashville. The First Colored Baptist Church became the largest church in Tennessee with more than 2,000 members. Merry founded several African American churches and the Tennessee Colored Baptist Association. For a year, he was editor of The Colored Sunday School Standard. He was the husband of Mary Ann Merry, b.1830 in TN. In 1860 the family of seven lived in the 4th Ward of Nashville, TN. For more see "History of Nelson G. Merry," The Tennessee Tribune, Spirituality & Issues section, vol. 17, issue 49 (Dec 14, 2006), p. D5; and the "First Baptist Church, Capitol HIll, Nashville" by B. L. Lovett in The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture [online version].
Subjects: Freedom, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Religion & Church Work, Migration South, Sunday School
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Nashville, Tennessee

Mollie McCarty vs Ten Broeck (horse race)
Start Year : 1878
On July 4, 1878, one of the greatest horse races of all times took place in Louisville, KY, when African American jockey William "Billy" Walker, Sr., riding Ten Broeck, defeated the western racehorse champion, Mollie McCarty. Thoroughbred mare Mollie McCarty [or McCarthy], owned by Theodore Winters, was undefeated prior to the July 4th race in Louisville, and was also thought to be the first California-bred horse to travel east to compete in a race. She was carried by a special train from California to Louisville, arriving early to prepare for the race. Ten Broeck was the eastern champion, owned by Frank B. Harper from Lexington, KY. The horses ran four mile heats at Churchill Downs on a muddy track [it had rained the night before] for the sum of $10,000 [some sources say $20,000]. The arrangements were made by the Louisville Jockey Club. The race is said to be the last of the great races for long distance contests. There are several songs memorializing the race, one titled Mollie and Tenbrooks by The Del McCoury Band with Vince Gill on vocals [viewable on YouTube]. For more, see "Ten Broeck" in The Horse-breeder's Guide and Hand Book, by S. D. Bruce; and The American Thoroughbred, by C. E. Trevathan [both available full-text at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Jockeys, Horsemen & The Derby
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / California

National Colored Press Association/American Press Association, 1881-1909; National Negro Press Association, 1909-1939
Start Year : 1881
End Year : 1939
The first organizational meeting of African American editors and publishers was held in Louisville, KY, in 1881. The next two meetings, held in Washington, D.C., resulted in the formation of the National Colored Press Association. In 1887 the organization's annual meeting was again held in Louisville, the proceedings covered by the Courier Journal, beginning August 9. The organization's name was eventually changed to American Press Association (APA). John "J.Q." Adams, from Louisville, KY, was the first president of the APA. This first APA became defunct. In 1909 the National Negro Press Association (NNPA) was organized, and its first convention was held in Louisville. Members were African American editors and journalists coming together to strengthen the influence of the African American press. The Negro Business League had inspired the association, which became an affiliate member of the league. In 1940, the National Negro Press Association was coming to an end when the National Newspaper Publishers Association (also NNPA) was established. For more see The Negro Press in the United States, by F. G. Detweiler; A History of the Black Press, by A. S. Pride & C. C. Wilson II; the National Newspaper Publishers Association website; and "Minutes of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Session of the National Negro Press Association Held in Louisville, KY, April 11-14, 1928," available in the Black Culture Collection, by Micro Photo Division, Bell & Howell Co., 1972.
Subjects: Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Negro Business League
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Nicodemus Company
Start Year : 1877
The seven-member company formed to develop the town of Nicodemus in 1877. S. P. Roundtree, the company's secretary, was an African American minister from Kentucky; he was branded on one cheek when a boy because the master's son had taught him how to read. W. R. Hill, the company's treasurer, was a white man from Indiana who had experience developing towns. W. H. Smith, the company's president, was an African American born in Tennessee. Ben Carr, vice president, was an African American. The others were Jerry Allsap, Jeff Lenze and William Edmona, all from Kentucky. W. R. Hill and W. H. Smith later became business associates in the development of the Hill City Town Company. For more see The Origins and Early Promotion of Nicodemus, by K. M. Hamilton.
Subjects: Communities, Migration West, Nicodemus, Exodusters [African Americans migrating West around Reconstruction Era]
Geographic Region: Nicodemus, Kansas / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Indiana / Tennessee / Hill City, Kansas

Olden, James Clarence "J.C."
Birth Year : 1884
Death Year : 1967
James C. Olden was a Baptist minister and a civil rights leader in Louisville, KY. He was born in Murfreesboro, TN, the son of George Olden who had been a slave in Oldham County, KY, before running away to join the Union Army during the Civil War. Rev. J. C. Olden came to Kentucky around 1949 and developed the Militant Church Movement (MCM) in Louisville. MCM was a civil rights organization that led in many protest campaigns, including the Interracial Hospital Movement that initiated the desegregation of Kentucky hospitals in 1953. Rev. Olden also led in the 1953 effort to bring Everett Lee, Jr. [Sylvia Olden Lee's husband] to Louisville, where he become the first African American to direct a white orchestra, and the first orchestra director to perform before an integrated audience in Louisville. Rev. Olden had been a civil rights activist prior to coming to Kentucky; in 1948, while a visiting minister at Salem Methodist Church in Harlem, NY, he led a national campaign against segregation in transportation. J. C. Olden was a graduate of Fisk University, where he sung in a quartet with Roland Hayes, Lem Foster, and Charles Wesley. He was a second tenor in Hayes' Apollo Quartet in 1910. In 1913, Olden married Sylvia Alice Ward (b.1889 in New Orleans, LA), a pianist and vocalist; they had met while students at Fisk. Sylvia Ward had turned down a singing position with the Metropolitan Opera in 1913, because the job came with the stipulation that she not tell anyone that she was Colored. Many years later, the first African American with the New York Metropolitan Opera would be Sylvia Olden Lee (1917-2004), musician, vocalist, and vocalist coach; the daughter of Sylvia and Rev. J. C. Olden. Sylvia O. Lee grew up in Washington, D.C. where her father was pastor of the Plymouth Colored Congregational Church. The Oldens were also international travelers. In 1926, Rev. Olden and his wife returned to the U.S. from Southampton, England, aboard the ship Majestic, according to the New York Passenger Lists. For more see To Stand and Fight by M. Biondi; and "Schiller Institute Dialogue with Sylvia Olden Lee, Pianist and Vocal Coach" 02/07/1998, [reprinted from Fidelio Magazine, vol. 7, issue 1 (Spring 1998)].
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Civic Leaders, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Religion & Church Work, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Murfreesboro, Tennessee / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Oldham County, Kentucky / Detroit, Michigan

Perpetual Motion Machine (Franklin, KY)
Start Year : 1874
In 1874, the New York Times repeated a story from the Franklin Patriot newspaper about an African American man who had invented what he referred to as a "perpetual motion" wagon. The machine was to be shown at the fair in September, but a few days before the fair, the inventor was taking his machine to be registered and was thrown from the apparatus and killed. The machine was not damaged in the accident, and it was still scheduled to be shown at the fair. Perpetual motion had been a scientific fascination for centuries, and the African American in Franklin, KY, was not the first to be killed by his invention; James Bagby, a Virginia pioneer from Scotland, had also died while working with his perpetual motion machine. For more see "A Kentucky Story," New York Times, 09/14/1874, p. 5. For more about the Bagby Family, see the Emmett Wooten Bagby entry in History of Kentucky, by Kerr, Connelley, and Coulter [available full-text at Google Book Search]. See also Perpetual Motion, by W. J. G. Ord-Hume and H. A. Ord.
Subjects: Inventors
Geographic Region: Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky

Pittman, William Sidney
Birth Year : 1875
Death Year : 1958
Pittman was the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington. He was born in Alabama and was a graduate of Tuskegee Institute (1897) [now Tuskegee University] and Drexel Institute (1900) [now Drexel University], where he earned his architecture and mechanical drawing degrees. He would become one of the most accomplished architects in the United States. In 1909, Pittman designed two buildings at Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University]: the Trade School Building and Hume Hall, which is still standing and houses the President's Office. The Trade School Building, renamed Hathaway Hall during President Atwood's tenure, was used for mechanical and trades classes, workshops and exhibits, and the printing office; it also housed an electric dynamo that provided light to the campus. The building was razed in 1967 and replaced with a new Hathaway Hall. At the completion of his work at Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons, Pittman received a letter of endorsement from the Kentucky Superintendent of Education. Pictures of the buildings and more information are available in the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute Annual Catalogues and the R. B. Atwood Papers at CESKAA, Kentucky State University. Additional information provided by B. Morelock at CESKAA. For more on Pittman, see Pittman, William Sidney at The Handbook of Texas Online website; William Sidney Pittman: Drexel's Class of 1900, a Drexel University website; and the Booker T. Washington Papers [online] at the University of Illinois Press.
Subjects: Architects
Geographic Region: Alabama / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Plymouth Congregational Church (Louisville, KY)
Start Year : 1877
The Plymouth Congregational Church was established in 1877; members initially met in a home in Louisville until an older Jewish synagogue was purchased on Jefferson Street. In 1891, Rev. Everett G. Harris became pastor, and the American Missionary Association purchased land at the corner of Seventeenth and West Chestnut Streets, where a church was constructed in 1902. In addition, the Plymouth Settlement House was completed in 1917; it was a social welfare agency that served children, had a dormitory for young women new to the city in search of work, and provided services to the community. The Plymouth Congregational Church was a meeting place for African Americans of the middle and upper classes. A new church was constructed in 1930, referred to as the "New Plymouth." It has been said that the church was the most exclusive Negro church in Louisville. For more see B. D. Berry, Jr., "The Plymouth Congregational Church of Louisville, Kentucky," Phylon, vol. 42, issue 3, pp. 224-232.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Settlement House Movement in Kentucky, Kentucky African American Churches, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Porter, Arthur D., Sr.
Birth Year : 1877
Death Year : 1942
Porter was born in Bowling Green, KY, the son of Fannie Allen Porter and Woodford Porter, according to his death certificate. He was the owner of the A. D. Porter & Sons Funeral Home in Louisville, KY, which was founded in 1907. He had moved to Louisville to attend Central High School. In 1921, Porter became the first African American to run for mayor; he ran as a member of the Lincoln Independent Party. He was the husband of Imogene Porter, and the father of Woodford R. Porter Sr. According to the U.S. Federal Census, the family lived on South Fifteenth Street in Louisville in 1910, and on Chestnut Street in 1920. For more see The Encyclopedia of Louisville, J. E. Kleber, ed.; and Life Behind a Veil, by G. C. Wright.
Subjects: Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Undertakers, Cemeteries, Coroners, & Obituaries
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Poston, Mollie Cox
Birth Year : 1873
Death Year : 1917
Poston was born in Oak Grove, KY, the daughter of Joseph and Hattie Peay Cox. She taught in the county and city schools in Kentucky and was one of the first appointed supervisors of the Negro industrial schools in the state (1913). Mollie Poston was a graduate of Roger Williams University in Nashville, TN, and M. & F. College and Hopkinsville Industrial School, both in Hopkinsville, KY. She was the mother of Robert, Ulysses and Ted Poston, and the wife of Ephraim Poston. For more see the Mollie Poston entry in Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915 [available full view at Google Book Search]; and Dark Side of Hopkinsville, by T. Poston.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Mothers, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Oak Grove, Christian County, Kentucky / Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

Priest, James M.
Death Year : 1883
Priest was the slave of Jane Anderson Meaux, who was born 1780 in St. Asaph [later Fort Logan], Lincoln County, District of KY, and died in Jessamine County, KY, in 1844. Prior to her death, she educated and freed one of her slaves, James Priest. She sent Priest to Liberia, Africa, to evaluate the situation of the former slaves. When he returned, Priest was sent to school, 1840-1843; he graduated to become an ordained Presbyterian minister. He returned to Liberia and was the first foreign missionary from McCormick Theological Seminary at New Albany [Indiana]. Priest would become the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, 1864-1868. Jane Anderson Meaux stipulated in her will that all of her slaves were to be freed under the condition that they go to live in Liberia. For more see p.205 of History of Kentucky, edited by C. Kerr et al.; p.9 of A History of the McCormick Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, by L. J. Halsey; and pp.562-63 of Maxwell History and Genealogy, by F. A. W. Houston et al. [all available full-text at Google Book Search]; and see Settlers to Liberia "April 1843" at The Ships List website. A daguerreotype portrait [online] of Priest is available at the Library of Congress.
Subjects: Early Settlers, Freedom, Liberia, Liberian Presidents & Diplomats, Religion & Church Work, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Saint Asaph [Stanford], Lincoln County, Kentucky / Jessamine County, Kentucky / Liberia, Africa

Russell, Alfred F.
Birth Year : 1821
Death Year : 1884
Born in Bourbon County, KY, Russell was referred to as a white slave; it was believed that Alfred was the son of a fair-skinned slave named Milly and a white father, John Russell, who was the son of Mary Owen Todd Russell Wickliffe, the richest woman in Kentucky. With the help of Mary Wickliffe, Alfred and his mother left Kentucky for Liberia in 1833. Alfred later served as Vice President, then became the ninth President of Liberia (1883-1884) when he completed A. W. Gardiner's term. For more see Letters from Liberia to Kentucky; Howard's Grove Cemetery; and The Political and Legislative History of Liberia, by C. H. Huberich.
Subjects: Liberia, Liberian Presidents & Diplomats, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Bourbon County, Kentucky / Liberia, Africa

Sample, Prince A.
Birth Year : 1878
Born in Mt. Sterling, KY, Prince Albert Sample was one of the founders and organizers of the Pullman Porters Benefit Association of America, Inc. and served as its comptroller. He was an investigator and welfare worker for the Pullman Co. in New York City at the Penn Terminal. He had also been president of the Jersey City NAACP Branch and a member of the Odd Fellows. Sample was assistant editor of the Wisconsin Advocate and special correspondent for the Evening Wisconsin. He was also a candidate for the New Jersey Legislature, and was a WWI veteran. Prince and his wife Bertha, from North Carolina, lived at 101 Virginia Avenue in Jersey City in 1930, according to the U.S. Federal Census. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37; and K. McCray, "Pullman Porters: the best job in the community, the worst job on the train" [pdf], a James Mason University website.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Pullman Porters, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky / New York City, New York / Jersey City, New Jersey / Wisconsin

Shipley, Reuben
Birth Year : 1811
Death Year : 1873
Shipley was born around 1811 in Kentucky, according to the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, and later moved to Missouri with his master. While there, he married a slave woman with whom he had two boys who became the property of his wife's owner. Around 1850, Shipley left Missouri and traveled to Oregon with his master. He became a free man and attempted to buy the family he had left in Missouri. But Shipley learned that his wife had died, and her owner refused to sell Shipley his sons. Shipley remained in Oregon and purchased 80 acres of land in Corvallis. He married Mary Jane Holmes, and they had six children. Shipley deeded two acres of his land to the county for a cemetery on the condition that African Americans would also be buried there. The land transfer for the Mt. Union Cemetery was completed in 1861. Shipley, his wife, and her second husband, R. G. Drake, are all buried in the cemetery. For more see chapter 6, "A few Colored men in Oregon: Blacks in Oregon 1850-1900" in A Peculiar Paradise, by E. McLagan; and "Reuben Shipley and Mary Jane Holmes" at the End of the Oregon Trail website.
Subjects: Early Settlers, Migration West, Undertakers, Cemeteries, Coroners, & Obituaries
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Missouri / Corvallis, Oregon

Simms, James N.
Birth Year : 1871
Simms was born 1871 in Port Royal, KY. A lawyer, he compiled Simm's Blue Book of National Negro Business and Professional Directory, published in Chicago in 1923. A photo of Simms can be viewed at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37.
Subjects: Authors, Lawyers
Geographic Region: Port Royal, Henry County, Kentucky

Smith, Effie Waller
Birth Year : 1879
Death Year : 1960
Smith was born in Pike County, KY, the daughter of Sibbie and Frank Waller, a blacksmith. Smith earned her teaching certificate at Kentucky Normal School for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University]. She was a school teacher in Pike County and was well-read in classical literature; she published three books of poetry, and her poems also appeared in literary magazines. She stopped publishing her work in 1917 at the age of 38. Her husband, Deputy Sheriff Charles Smith, had been killed in 1911 while serving a warrant; they had been married two years. Effie W. Smith left Kentucky for Wisconsin in 1918 and is buried in the city of Neenah. A Kentucky Historical Marker [#1959] was placed at the police department in Pikeville in honor of Effie Waller Smith. For more see The Collected Works of Effie Waller Smith; Kentucky Women, by E. K. Potter; Kentucky Encyclopedia 2000 [electronic version available on the University of Kentucky's campus and off campus via the proxy]; "State honors Black poet...," Lexington Herald Leader, 12/11/01, p. B3; and "Effie Waller Smith: An Echo Within the Hills," The Kentucky Review, Vol. 8, issue 3 (Autumn 1988), pp. 26-46.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration West, Poets, Corrections and Police, Blacksmiths
Geographic Region: Pike County, Kentucky / Neenah, Wisconsin

Smith, James E. "J.E."
Birth Year : 1883
Death Year : 1969
Smith was elected State Representative for the 42nd District, serving 1964-1968, and was a delegate to the 1964 Democratic Presidential Convention. He was president of the National Negro Insurance Association and co-founder of the Domestic Life and Accident Insurance Company. Smith graduated from Jacksonian College in Jackson, Michigan. He was the husband of Vera Smith and father of Charlotte McGill. The family lived in Louisville, KY. For more see the Smith/McGill Family Papers, 1879-1987 at the University of Louisville; and contact the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission.
Subjects: Businesses, Insurance Companies, Insurance Sales, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Legislators, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Spencer, Moses
Death Year : 1877
Spencer was listed as a free person in William's Lexington [Kentucky] Directory, City Guide, and Business Mirror, Volume I, 1859-60, compiled by C. S. Williams, Lexington, [Kentucky]: Hitchcock & Searles, 1859. At one time, he was Lexington's most successful African American businessman. Spencer was a secondhand furniture dealer whose business was located on Main Street. He owned a slave. After the Civil War, he sold the furniture business and opened a new store on Short and Market Streets. For more see Lexington, Heart of the Bluegrass, by J. D. Wright.
Subjects: Businesses, Freedom, Free African American Slave Owners
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Stewart, Fannie B. C.
Birth Year : 1877
Death Year : 1957
Fannie Belle Caldwell Stewart was from Louisville, KY. In 1898, she married George P. Stewart, who co-founded the Indianapolis Recorder in 1897 and became sole owner in 1899--it is one of the oldest newspapers in the U.S. When George Stewart died in 1924, Fannie took over the newspaper as owner and publisher. She is credited with keeping the newspaper within the Stewart family for another 64 years. The newspaper was sold to Eunice Trotter in 1988. For more see the George P. Stewart Collection, 1894-1924, at the Indiana Historical Society; and The Indianapolis Recorder: a history of a Negro weekly newspaper, by H. Harlin.
Subjects: Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Migration North
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Indianapolis, Indiana

Straws, David
Birth Year : 1799
Death Year : 1872
Straws, born in Kentucky, purchased his freedom from slavery and was listed as a freeman in the 1840 U.S. Federal Census. (He was also listed in the 1830 U.S. Census). Straws moved to Louisville, KY, where he opened a barbershop. He also had real estate holdings and provided funds for the establishment of the Fourth St. Colored Methodist Church. He was the husband of May Straws. Author W. H. Gibson, Sr. gives Straws' death date as 1868. For more see The Encyclopedia of Louisville, ed. by J. E. Kleber; and History of the United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, by W. H. Gibson, Sr.
Subjects: Barbers, Businesses, Freedom, Kentucky African American Churches
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Taylor, James T. “Big Jim” [Harrods Creek, Kentucky]
Birth Year : 1885
Death Year : 1965
Taylor developed the Harrods Creek community in Jefferson County, KY. He purchased the land in 1919 and sold lots to African Americans. The Jacob School was built in 1916, named for Jefferson Jacob, a former slave. Students came from Harrods Creek and nearby African American communities such as The Neck and Happy Hollow, both of which no longer exist. The school and the community are recognized with a Kentucky Historical Marker [#2038]. James Taylor, raised by his grandmother, grew up to become a farmer, a school bus driver, a road and bridge builder, and president of the James T. Taylor Real Estate Co. Wilson Lovett was vice president of the company, Joseph Ray, Sr. secretary, and Abram L. Simpson manager. For more see B. Pike, “Looking back: subdivision may be named after early developer,” Courier-Journal, 08/28/2002, Neighborhoods section, p. 1N; and D. R. Smith, “Cover Story: 40059,” The Lane Report, September 2006.
Subjects: Businesses, Communities, Realtors, Real Estate Brokers, Real Estate Investments, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Harrods Creek, Jefferson County, Kentucky / The Neck and Happy Hollow, Jefferson County, Kentucky [no longer exist]

Tevis, Elizabeth C. H.
Birth Year : 1802
Death Year : 1880
Tevis was born a slave in Jefferson County, KY. She was freed from slavery in 1833 and inherited land. She married but had a prenuptial agreement to protect the ownership of her property. Tevis was one of the few African Americans to own slaves in Jefferson County; she hired out children acquired from the slave market. Tevis was the first resident in the community known as Petersburg in Jefferson County. For more see The Encyclopedia of Louisville, ed. by J. E. Kleber.
Subjects: Businesses, Freedom, Inheritance, Free African American Slave Owners
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Tribble, Andrew
Birth Year : 1879
Death Year : 1935
Tribble was born in Richmond, KY, where he also attended school. Andrew and Amos Tribble were the sons of Alice Tribble, and they were all boarding with a family in Union (Madison County) in 1880, according to the U.S. Federal Census. Andrew Triblle is noted as one of the greatest female impersonators in theater, with a career that spanned 40 years. As a child he was a member of the pickaninny band In Old Kentucky. He later moved to Chicago and joined the Pekin Theatre. One night he dressed in drag and did a performance that the audience loved. He was cast in Cole and Johnsons' musical Shoo-Fly Regiment. His most popular character was Lilly White, a washerwoman. For more see A History of African American Theatre, by E. Hilland; and African American Performance and Theater History: a critical reader, ed. by H. J. Elam, Jr. and D. Krasner.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Migration North, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Richmond and Union, Madison County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

U. S. Congressional Hearings on Northern Emigration
Start Year : 1879
End Year : 1880
So many African Americans [Exodusters] were moving to Nicodemus, Kansas, that the U. S. Congress held hearings to find out why. A Select Committee was appointed by the Senate on December 15, 1879, charged with finding out why African Americans were emigrating north, especially those going to Nicodemus. The committee interviewed 153 African Americans (none from Kentucky) from January 19, 1880 to February 23, 1880. The investigation had ten summary points, the first being that the exodus was not the work of Republican leaders from the North. For more see "Report and Testimony of Select Committee to Investigate the Causes of the Removal of the Negroes From the Southern States," U.S Senate, Executive Document no. 693, 46th Congress 2nd Session, GPO 1880. Available at the University of Kentucky Libraries, Storage.
Subjects: Migration North, Nicodemus, Exodusters [African Americans migrating West around Reconstruction Era]
Geographic Region: Nicodemus, Kansas

Vaughn, George L.
Birth Year : 1885
Death Year : 1950
Vaughn was born in Kentucky, where he attend both elementary and high school. He was a graduate of Lane College and Walden University Law School [located in Tennessee, closed in 1925], and was later a 1st Lieutenant in the Artillery during World War I. Vaughn moved to St. Louis, where he practiced law and in 1916 became the first president of the Mound City Bar Association, a bar association for African American lawyers; the St. Louis Bar Association did not admit African Americans. In 1919, Vaughn helped found the Citizen Liberty League to help identify and elect more African Americans to public office. In 1936, Vaughn was appointed Justice of the Peace for the 4th District of St. Louis. Vaughn is most remembered for taking on the Shelley Restrictive Covenant Case, a landmark civil rights case involving J. D. Shelley, an African American who had purchased a home in a white neighborhood in 1945. The neighborhood association served Shelley with an eviction notice, and the St. Louis African American real estate brokers association hired Vaughn to fight the notice. Vaughn won the trial, but the case was then taken to the Missouri Supreme Court, which upheld the eviction. With the support of the real estate brokers association, Vaughn appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 1948 the Supreme Court ruled in Shelley's favor. In 1957 the 660-unit George L. Vaughn Public Housing Project was named in Vaughn's honor. For more see "George Vaughn," in The Journal of Negro History, vol. 34, issue 4, (Oct., 1949), pp. 490-491; Lift Every Voice and Sing, by D. A. Wesley, W. Price and A. Morris; and "George L. Vaughn," in West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by S. Phelps and J. Lehman, vol. 10, 2nd edition.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Civic Leaders, Housing Authority, The Projects, Lawyers, Migration West, Military & Veterans, Judges, Realtors, Real Estate Brokers, Real Estate Investments, Court Cases
Geographic Region: Kentucky / St. Louis, Missiouri

Wallace, Felix "Dick"
Birth Year : 1884
Born in Owensboro, KY, the son of Sarah J. Wallace. Felix was considered one of the greatest all-time shortstops and the best second baseman. He also played third base. Wallace's baseball career began in 1906 and ended in 1921; he first played with the Paducah Nationals and went on to play for several different teams, spending the last two years with the Hilldale Daisies. A consistent hitter, he batted .348 in 1914. His greatest asset was his fielding. Wallace worked as a tobacco steamer when not playing baseball during the early part of his career. For more see The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, by J. A. Riley.
Subjects: Baseball
Geographic Region: Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Warley, William [Buchanan v. Warley]
Birth Year : 1884
Death Year : 1946
Warley fought for African Americans' right to vote and wrote about African Americans' contributions to history. He was editor of the Louisville News, which he founded in 1913, using the paper to speak out against segregated street cars and school inequality. Warley was also president of the NAACP Louisville, KY, Chapter in 1917 when he and Charles H. Buchanan challenged the legitimacy of the Louisville ordinance that mandated segregated housing. Warley won the U.S. Supreme Court decision giving African Americans the right to acquire, own, and live on property without race discrimination. For more see the Kentucky Encyclopedia 2000; and R. Wigginton, "But he did what he could: William Warley leads Louisville's fight for justice, 1902-1946," Filson History Quarterly, vol. 76, issue 4 (2002), pp. 427-458.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Voting Rights, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Court Cases
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Washington, Isam McDaniel "Mack"
Birth Year : 1875
Death Year : 1957
Isam [or Isom] M. Washington was born in Lovelaceville, KY. He was the youngest son of Rebecca Neal Washington and Isam Washington. Isam M. Washington married Arbella Weeks from Massac County, Illinois; they were the parents of Roy L. Washington and the grandparents of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. Isam M. Washington was a minister at several churches in Illinois; he helped raise funds for the building of the St. James Church in Lawrenceville and the St. Peter A.M.E. Church in Decatur. For more see The Ancestry of Mayor Harold Washington (1922-1987) by C. G. Brasfield.
Subjects: Fathers, Migration North, Religion & Church Work, Grandparents
Geographic Region: Lovelaceville, Ballard County, Kentucky / Massac County, Illinois / Lawrenceville and Decatur, Illinois

Wendell, Thomas T.
Birth Year : 1877
Death Year : 1953
Dr. Thomas T. Wendell was born in Nashville, TN, the son of Alfred and Clare Wendell. He was a physician in Lexington, KY, for half a century, and was a full time doctor for Negro patients at Eastern State Hospital until his retirement in the spring of 1952. When Eastern State completed the new hospital building for Negro patients in 1953, it was named the Wendell Building in honor of Dr. Thomas Wendell. The facility was to be a fully functioning hospital with the capacity to house 350 patients and housing for 30 live-in employees. In addition to being a doctor, Wendell was also a pharmacist, he had received both degrees from Meharry Medical College. He also led the effort to build the old Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in 1922. For more see Kentucky Encyclopedia 2000; "Negro building at Eastern to be named for Dr. Wendell," Lexington Leader, 03/05/1953, p.24; and photo of Dr. Wendell in the Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collection.

 
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care, Migration North, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership, Pharmacists, Pharmacies
Geographic Region: Nashville, Tennessee / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

White, Churchill
Birth Year : 1880
Death Year : 1949
White was living in Talmage, KY, when he invented the hemp brake machine for which he received patent #1358907 on November 16, 1920. He was born in Mercer County, the son of Churchill and Sallie Herman White. For more see Hemp Brake, by C. White [full-text at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Inventors
Geographic Region: Talmage, Mercer County, Kentucky

The White Slave by Bartley Theo Campbell
Start Year : 1882
End Year : 1918
The White Slave was a play written by Bartley Campbell, it opened on April 3, 1882 at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York City. The plays storyline is of a young woman named Lisa, who believes that she is an octoroon slave. Lisa's white lover/previous owner helps her escape from her new owner, and Lisa learns that she is the illegitimate daughter of a white woman and an Italian man. Her mother was in Italy when she died after giving birth to Lisa, and Lisa's father moved on to France. Lisa was delivered to her grandfather, Judge Hardin in the United States. Judge Hardin, who owned Big Bend Plantation in Kentucky, did not want anyone to know that his dead daughter had had an illegitimate child by a foreigner. He gave the baby to his quadroon slave, Nance, to be raised as her daughter. Once Lisa knows the truth about her past, she marries her lover/former owner, who is also her grandfather's adopted son named Clay. The couple returns to Kentucky and regains ownership of the Big Bend Plantation and the slaves. The White Slave was one of several racial melodramas in the late 1800s, and it repeated the long established plight of the tragic octoroon. It was Bartley Campbell's biggest success and was performed on stage for more than 35 years. The White Slave was written during more successful times for Bartley Campbell, he had been a journalist. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1840, and wrote for the Pittsburgh Post in the late 1850s . He had also worked for newspapers in Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Louisville, KY. Campbell was also an author while employed as a journalist. He gave up journalism in 1871 to become a playwright and was very successful. Campbell died in 1888; he had been declared insane in 1886 and was placed in State Hospital in New York. For more on Bartley T. Campbell see The Cambridge History of American Theatre by D. B. Wilmeth and C. W. E. Bigsby; and Bartley Campbell by W. H. Claeren. For more on the history of the term "white slave" see Sisters in Sin by K. N. Johnson. For more about the play, see the entry "Re-Viewing The White Slave" in African American Performance and Theater History by H. J. Elam, Jr. and D. Krasner; and The White Slave and Other Plays by B. Campbell and N. Wilt.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses
Geographic Region: New York City, New York / Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / Kentucky

Williamsburg (KY) Colored Academy
Start Year : 1883
End Year : 1955
In 1883, the American Missionary Association (AMA) opened a church and a school in Williamsburg, KY, that was attended by both Negroes and whites. The effort was to be a copy of what had taken place at Berea. When some of the white children left the school in protest of the mixed attendance, AMA refused to change the policy, and the white children returned. The school would eventually be for whites only. The Williamsburg Colored Academy was opened for Negro children at some point in the 1880s. It began as a one room cabin for grades 1-8. Though it was claimed that there were few Negro children in the area, the school continued to grow, and by 1889 it was written that there were 307 students, Report of the Commissioner of Education [available at Google Book Search]. Rev. Henry Bond was the sole teacher of the school during the early 1900s. He is listed as a member of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association in the association's 1923 journal. Other teachers included Jane Arthur (mother of Henry Bond), Miss Mae Jones, Miss Ruth Bond (daughter of Henry Bond), Miss Mamie Smith, Viola Shields, Thelma Smoot Lewis, Benjamin O. Burrus Sr., and Professor Holliday S. Skillman. The Williamsburg Colored School was closed around 1955 when the school system was integrated. The school building has since been converted into a residence, it is located on Hickory Street [renamed Roy Chappell Street]. This entry was suggested by Carrie Stewart, a 1942 graduate of the Williamsburg Colored School. For more see the Annual Report of the American Missionary Association, 1883, pp.23,51-52; American Missionary, vol.37, issue 12 (Dec. 1883), pp.376-382; and The Bonds by R. M. Williams.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Williamsburg, Whitley County, Kentucky

Willis, Frank R.
Birth Year : 1874
Willis, from Louisville, KY, raised poultry; his chickens won national and international awards, including the World's Champion Cockerel award at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1933. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; and Frank R. Willis in the following Crisis articles, "Industry," v.13, no.1, November 1916, p.29, and "Industry," v.19, no.2, December 1919, p.82..
Subjects: Agriculturalists
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

Wilson, James H., Sr.
Birth Year : 1880
Death Year : 1968
Born in Nicholasville, KY, Wilson was a faculty member at Alabama A&M College [now Alabama A & M University] 1903-1904, he took over the school band, succeeding W. C. Handy, the former band director. Wilson then returned to the shcool in 1907 to remain there. He had been a musician in Jacob Litt's 'In Old Kentucky' Company in 1896, bandmaster in Al Martin's Uncle Tom's Cabin from 1897-1899, cornetist in Mahara's Minstrels in 1899, and worked with many other groups. He became the first African American treasurer at Alabama A&M in 1947 and served as the first African American postmaster at the school from 1919-1942. The James Hembray Wilson Building is located on the Alabama A&M campus. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Postal Service, Migration South, Minstrel and Vaudeville Performers
Geographic Region: Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Kentucky / Huntsville, Alabama

Winkfield, Jimmy
Birth Year : 1882
Death Year : 1974
Born in Chilesburg [later Uttingertown] in Fayette County, KY, Jimmy Winkfield was the youngest of 17 children. He was the last African American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, in 1901 and 1902. Winkfield left the U.S. after a contract dispute and became a national riding champion in Russia and a trainer in France. He retired from racing in 1930 and died in France in 1974. In 2004 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. For more see The Great Black Jockeys and Wink: the incredible life and epic journey of Jimmy Winkfield, both by E. Hotaling; and Jimmy Winkfield, a horse racing legend! on the African American Registry website.
Subjects: Jockeys, Horsemen & The Derby, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Chilesburg (Uttingertown), Fayette County, Kentucky / Russia / France

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