African American Schools in Louisville and Jefferson County, KY
Start Year : 1827
Some of the earliest schools for African Americans in Louisville, KY were established in the 1820s. In 1865, there were 7 colored schools with 12 teachers and 730 students [source: H. C. Burnett and H. S. Foote, "From Kentucky (4th paragraph)," New York Times, 07/23/1865, p.5]. There were at least three schools supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. In the 1870s there were at least 15 schools. The first high school for African Americans in Kentucky was located in Louisville in 1873 and was mentioned in several leading newspapers in the United States [source: "The First Colored high school in Kentucky," The New York Times, 10/09/1873, p.1]. For additional information about the early Colored schools in Louisville, see the entry "African American Education" in the Encyclopedia of Louisville, by J. E. Kleber; and see the references to "colored schools" within chapter 17 in volume 2 of History of the Ohio Falls Cities and Their Counties by L. A. Williams & Co. Many of the schools that had been established in the 1870s were still in operation the first decade of the 1900s. Below is a list of many of the schools that were in Louisville.

• Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm School (1838)
• Bannecker School
• Booker T. Washington School
• California School
• Central School
• Colored High School
• Colored Normal School
• Dunbar School
• Eastern School
• Eight Ward School
• Ely Normal School supported by the Bureau
• Highland Park School
• Jeffersontown School
• Jackson Street School
• Lincoln School
• Louisville Teacher Training School
• Madison Street School
• Maiden Lane School
• Main Street School
• Moore School
• Parkland School
• Pearl Street School
• Portland School
• Portland Freedmen School
• Shelby Street School
• South Louisville School
• Talbert School
• Taylor School
• Twelfth Ward School
• Twenty-ninth Street School
• Twenty-seventh and Cedar Streets School
• Virginia Avenue School
• Western School
• Western Girls' High School
• Wheatley School
• Wilson Street School
• Young School
• Louisville Free Kindergarten Association, Colored Normal Department
• Industrial School of Know Mission for Colored Children - [founded in 1886, located at 1122 Madison Street, Louisville, KY, conducted by the Women's Missionary Society of the Presbytery of Louisville, KY]*
• Louisville Christian Bible School - [opened in 1873 by W. H. Hopson, conducted by P. H. Morse for four years, school was an experiment] - - The Apostolic Times, 09/18/1873, p.4, col.s 2-3.
• St. Mark's High School - [incorporated in 1867 by trustees Rev. B. B. Smith, Joseph S. Atwell, N. B. Rogers, Jesse Meriwether, and John C. Towels, and as ex-officio, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church, school operated under the auspices of the Episcopal Church] - - Approved March 8, 1867, Chapter 1806, "An Act to Incorporate St. Mark's High School" in Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Passed, 1867, v.II, p.342-343.
• St. Augutstine School - 1314 W. Broadway**
• St. Peter Claver - 532 Lampton Street**
• Convent of the Good Shepherd - 518 S. 8th Street**
• Industrial School of Reform, Colored Girls Building See image from Weeden's History of the Colored People of Louisville, at NYPL Digital Gallery.

Sources: *see Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1896-1897, p.765, for more on the Industrial School of Know Mission for Colored Children in Kentucky Education Collection, Series 1, Box 18, 0000UA129, File: Negro Schools. Located the University of Kentucky Special Collections; **see "Mailing List: Catholic City Schools - 1935-1936" by the Diocese of Louisville, in Kentucky Education Collection, Series 1, Box 18, 0000UA129, File: Negro Schools. Located at the University of Kentucky Special Collections; see "Don't forget the date," Courier-Journal, 08/20/1906, p.2; "Teachers and their salaries," Courier-Journal, 05/28/1909, p.6; Caron's Directory of the City of Louisville, 1909 and 1911; see the NKAA entry Early School in Louisville, KY; see photocopy image of South Park School in Jefferson County on p.30 at Rosenwald schools in Kentucky, 1917-1932 [.pdf]; and see the Kentucky Public School Directory.

See photo image of Central Colored School Building (renamed Mary Hill School) at Kentuckiana Digital Library - Images.

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