African American Schools 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 County, they are listed below [source: "Fulton County School Census 1898," The Hickman Courier, 05/27/1898, p.3]. 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. 

• Brooks Chapel School
• Alexander District
• Bowden District
• Cayce District
• Fulton District
• Hickman District
• Sassafras Ridge District
• Sharp or Maddox District
• Upshaw or Lynch Distict

Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Fulton County, Kentucky