Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

Abernathy, Ronald L.
Birth Year : 1950
Abernathy was born in Louisville, KY, to Ben W. and Juanita Abernathy. He is a graduate of Morehead State University (BA) and Louisiana State University (MA). Abernathy was a teacher at Shawnee High School in Louisville when he received the Teacher of the Year Award and was second in the state for Kentucky High School Coach of the Year, both in 1976. From 1972-1976, he was head basketball coach at the school. He left Kentucky to become an assistant basketball coach at LSU, 1976-1989, the first African American basketball coach hired full-time at the school. For more see Dale Brown's Memoirs from LSU Basketball, by D. Brown; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1980-2006.
Subjects: Basketball, Education and Educators, Migration South
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Adams, Henry
Birth Year : 1802
Death Year : 1872
Henry Adams was a Baptist leader in Louisville, KY, where he established the first African American Church. He also set up a school for African American children; the school survived while other schools established for African Americans by white ministers were being destroyed. He was the father of John Quincy "J. Q." Adams. For more see Life Behind a Veil, by G. C. Wright; and A History of Blacks in Kentucky from Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891, by M. B. Lucas.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Fathers, Kentucky African American Churches, Religion & Church Work, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

African American Communities in Warren County, KY
Sunnyside, Freeport, and Oakland were three African American communities in Warren County, KY, developed after the Civil War. In 2001, the city of Oakland was awarded a grant from the African American Heritage Commission to complete the study of the community Sunnyside. The resulting report, Writ Upon the Landscape: an architectural survey of the Sunnyside Community, reveals that the African American section of Sunnyside grew to the point that it merged with the white section of Sunnyside. There are presently 53 buildings and the Loving Union CME Church and its cemetery. The community also had a one room schoolhouse with grades 1-8 that was torn down in 1948. Sunnyside is located 5 miles southwest of Freeport, an African American community that had a two-room schoolhouse, Woodland School. One room held grades 1-3 and the other grades 4-8; the school was closed after integration, and the building was used as a restaurant and for social entertainment. The Mt. Zion Baptist Church, established in 1870, is still in use. The communities of Freeport and Oakland were separated by a railroad track, with Freeport on the north side. Mrs. Virgie M. Edwards was a teacher at the School in 1916; she was a member of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association. The names of other Oakland teachers are listed in the KNEA Journal from 1916-1935 [available online]. A photo of what is believed to be the new Oakland School being constructed in 1937 is available in the Kentuckiana Digital Library photograph collection. For more see Transpark: a collapse of dreams, by the City of Oakland, Kentucky; Landmark Stories: Loving CME Church, a Landmark Association website; and the following articles from the News section of the Daily News - J. Dooley, "Oakland gets grant to fund study - work will cover history, heritage of Sunnyside," 07/26/2001; A. Carmichael, "Historic Oakland mill being dismantled - lumber will be used by famed Nashville-based builder," 08/30,2003; A. Harvey, "Black History: woman remembers Freeport's heyday," 02/22/2004; A. Carmichael, "A lifetime of teaching - Warren County woman has passion for education," 08/01/2005; and J. Niesse, "Freeport endangered by transpark project," Letter section, 04/25/2001.
Subjects: Communities, Education and Educators, Kentucky African American Churches, Undertakers, Cemeteries, Coroners, & Obituaries, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Sunnyside, Freeport, Oakland, Warren County, Kentucky

African American School System in Madisonville, KY
Start Year : 1888
March 26, 1888, the Kentucky General Assembly approved an act for the city of Madisonville to establish a system of public schools for Colored children. The system was to cover all points one mile from the center of the city, and the school district covered two miles out. The act outlined the structure of a Colored school board which would be responsible for the hiring of the teachers, the curriculum, and the operation of the school. Colored children only, between the ages of 6-20, would be allowed to attend the schools. The first school trustees were John R. Ross, George H. Speed, Alex Mitcheson, Ephraim Porter, and Edward Nisbet. A poll tax was to be collected from Colored property owners for the building of a school. A second poll tax was to be levied against the Colored male, head of households to pay the teachers' salaries and other expenses. Clarence Timberlake was superintendent of Colored schools in 1918, according to the Proceedings and Reports for the Year Ending 1918 by the John F. Slater Fund. Teachers and principals of the Madisonville Colored Schools are listed in the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, 1916-1950. On the cover of the Janurary-February 1933, vol.3, issue 2, is a a picture of the new Rosenwald High School in Madisonville. William E. Lee was the principal of the 10 room school, which had an industrial department with brick-laying, mechanical drawing, and home economics. For more see Chapter 689, pp.472-475, Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Passed, Regular Session, v.2, 1888.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky

African American Schools and Students in Kentucky (Photographs)
Start Year : 1901
Photographs of "Colored" and "Negro" schools and students are available online within the Kentuckiana Digital Library - Images section.  Student body photographs include Bracktown 1901, Briar Hill 1901, and Burdine 1921.  For more see the Kentuckiana Digital Library - Images.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Photographers, Photographs, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Bracktown and Briar Hill, Fayette County, Kentucky / Burdine (Jenkins), Letcher County, Kentucky

African American Schools in Madison County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1963
Within the Black American Series title Berea and Madison County are pictures of former students, teachers, and principals at Madison County schools. The pictures were taken prior to school desegregation in Bobtown, Farristown, Middletown, Peytontown, and Richmond. Also included are students and faculty at Berea College prior to segregation in 1904. For more see Black American Series: Berea and Madison County, by J. G. Burnside.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Photographers, Photographs, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Madison County, Kentucky

African American Schools in Paris and Bourbon County, KY
Start Year : 1900
End Year : 1910
The following is a compilation of newspaper items about the Paris and Bourbon County Colored Schools; they contain quite a bit more information than was printed in most other Kentucky newspapers for the same time period. Reverend Graves, who died in 1902, had come to Paris, KY in 1901 to become principal of the Paris Western Colored School. There were 248 students and seven teachers, and the numbers would remain consistent for the next several years. The prior year there was a high school graduating class of eight: Katie L. Long, Anna E. Parker, Fannie B. Buford, Dora B. Kimbrough, Jimmie R. Fields, James B. Woodward, and Keatha R. Williams. Graduation ceremonies were initially held at the Opera House in Paris, KY, with admission costs of 10 cents, 15 cents, and 25 cents. A smaller school system was the Millersburg Colored School, where in 1901 there were three graduates: Frank R. Lewis, Lucile Jefferson, and Hattie B. Mayburry. Manual training was introduced in the Paris school in 1907 with 26 men and boys enrolled in the newly established night school; the Colored teachers' wages for the year totaled $2,550. At the end of the school year in 1909, there were two graduations, one for 7th graders held at a local African American church and one for high school graduates held in the school auditorium. In 1909, new Colored Schools were scheduled to be built in Ruddles Mills and Jacksonville. The following year, several Colored schools in the county were consolidated: Ruddles Mills School with Glentown School; Millersburg School with Shipptown School (the school location was undecided); and Houston School with Amentsville School. By 1910, a new school was being built in Centerville, and the Sidville School was to be repaired if church members would agree to help raise funds for the repairs. For more see The Bourbon News articles - "Colored School Commencement," 06/12/1900, p. 1.; "Millersburg," 02/15/1901, p. 2; "Commencement items of the Paris High Schools," 05/31/1901, p. 3; "New board elects teachers," 07/05/1901, p. 3; "A tribute," 05/02/1902, p. 5; "City Schools," 09/09/1902, p. 5; "Meeting of school board," 06/14/1907, p. 1; "Expenditures," 07/16/1907, p. 8; "800 pupils," 10/08/1907, p. 6; "Calendar of Colored School," 06/04/1909, p. 1; "School Improvement League in session," 08/24/1909, p. 3; "County School Board," 11/16/1909, p. 4; "County School Board meets," 05/10/1910, p. 1; and "Recent meeting of the County Board," 08/12/1910, p. 1.
Subjects: Communities, Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Bourbon County, Kentucky: Paris, Millersburg, Ruddles Mills, Jacksonville, Glentown, Shipptown, Houston, Amentsville, Sidville, Centerville

African American Schools in Woodford County, KY
Start Year : 1892
Within the Hifner Photo Collection are pictures of all the Colored schools in Woodford County in 1892. The collection was created for the educational exhibit at the World's Fair and is available online via the Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections web page.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Photographers, Photographs, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Woodford County, Kentucky

Allen, Charles E.
Birth Year : 1931
Allen was born in Cynthiana, KY, to Isham and Mildred Wilson Allen. He is a graduate of Central State University (B.S.) and served in the military before earning his M.S. at the University of Southern California. Allen was a teacher and math specialist in the Los Angeles school system and served as a consultant to the state departments of education in Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, California, Nebraska, Oregon, and North Carolina. He was director of the National Council of Teachers of Math, 1972-1975, and has authored several math books, including Supermath, Adventures in Computing, and Adventures in Computing Book II. For more see Who's Who Among African Americans, 1975-1997.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky / Los Angeles, California

Allensworth, Josephine
Birth Year : 1855
Death Year : 1939
Josephine Leavell Allensworth was born in Trenton, KY. She was the wife of Allen Allensworth, and, as her husband had done, she taught in the Kentucky common schools. Josephine Allensworth was also an accomplished pianist. She helped develop the Progressive Women's Improvement Association, which provided books and a playground to the town of Allensworth, California. In 1913, Jospehine Allensworth donated the land for the Dickinson Memorial Library in Allensworth. For more see African American Women: a biographical dictionary, by D. C. Salem; and Friends of Allensworth.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Migration West, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Trenton, Todd County, Kentucky / Allensworth, California (no longer exists)

Anderson, Dennis H.
Birth Year : 1869
Dennis Henry Anderson was originally from Tennessee. A graduate of Lane College in Tennessee, he became a Methodist minister. His wife was Artelia Harris Anderson. Dennis Anderson came to Kentucky and opened schools in Graves and Fulton counties. He raised funds for the building of the first high school in Fulton County in 1905. Anderson also initiated the building of West Kentucky Industrial College [now West Kentucky Community and Technical College], starting the building with his bare hands in 1911. The school, located in Paducah, KY, became a state institution in 1918. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky, by R. F. Jones; Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904-1954, by J. A. Hardin; and My West Kentucky, by J. M. Blythe.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Fulton County, Kentucky / Graves County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / Tennessee

Ariel/Hall (Camp Nelson, KY)
After the Civil War, the refugee camp at Camp Nelson became the community known as Ariel. The school, Ariel Academy, was founded in 1868, with initial funding support coming from the Freedmen's Bureau and teachers supplied by the American Missionary Association. The school was led by Howard Fee, son of John G. Fee and Gabriel Burdette, a former slave from Garrard County, KY. The community of Ariel was later named Hall. For more see Historic Jessamine County, The Hall Community, an official Jessamine County website; and A Utopian Experiment in Kentucky: integration and social equality at Berea, 1866-1904, by R. B. Sears.
Subjects: Communities, Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Camp Nelson, Jessamine and Garrard Counties, Kentucky / Ariel, Jessamine County, Kentucky / Hall, Jessamine County, Kentucky

Arnold, Adam S., Jr.
Birth Year : 1922
Arnold is a Lexington, KY, native who became the first African American faculty member at the University of Notre Dame. In 1957, Arnold was hired as a professor of finance, receiving tenure in 1961. He remained at the school for 30 years. In 2002 he received the William P. Sexton Award for outstanding service to the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Arnold received his Ph.D. in finance in 1951 and his MBA in 1948, both from the University of Wisconsin. He is a U.S. Army veteran, having served during WII. For more see "Arnold honored with Sexton Award," Notre Dame Business Magazine Online, Issue 11, 2004.
Subjects: Bankers, Banks, Finance, Financial Advisors, Education and Educators, Migration North, Military & Veterans
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Notre Dame, Indiana

Arthur, William R. B. [People's Auxiliary Hospital (St.Louis, MO)]
Birth Year : 1868
Arthur, a surgeon and physician, was born in Kentucky; he received his M.D. from Howard University Medical College in 1890. He returned to Kentucky to practice medicine in Louisville, to teach at the Louisville National Medical College, and to serve as a surgeon at the Auxiliary Hospital. Arthur left Louisville and moved to St. Louis, MO, where he founded the People's Auxiliary Hospital and Training School in 1898. The three-story hospital building, which had 12 rooms for up to 15 patients, was located at 1001 N. Jefferson Avenue. For more see the William R. B. Arthur entry in A Historical, Biographical and Statistical Souvenir, by Howard University Medical Department [available full-text at Google Book Search]; "Hospital for Colored Patients," Medical Review, vol. 39 (Jan. 7 - July 1, 1899) [available full-text at Google Book Search]; and Glimpses of the Ages, vol. 1, by T. E. S. Scholes [available full-text at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care, Migration West, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / St. Louis, Missouri

Ashford, Mary B.
Birth Year : 1898
Death Year : 1997
Ashford, born in Kentucky, was a poet, teacher, and advocate for equality. The Mary B. Ashford Senior Citizens Daycare Center in New Haven, CT, was named in recognition of Ashford's more than 40 years of community service and volunteerism. Ashford also compiled a scrapbook containing the history of her family; the book was donated to a Kentucky archive. The Mary B. Ashford Outreach Support Project was established at the Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church. For more see S. A. Zavadsky, "Community remembers Mary B. Ashford," New Haven Register, 05/14/1997, Local News section, p. a3.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Migration North, Poets
Geographic Region: Kentucky / New Haven, Connecticut

Atkinson Literary and Industrial College [Taylor, H. V.]
Taylor was the president of the Atkinson Literary and Industrial College in Madisonville, KY. The school was dedicated in 1894 by Bishop Alexander Walters, who led the effort to build the school, along with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church. The school was located on 36 acres and had eleven grades, three of which were at the high school level. There were 2 two-story buildings that served as dormitories and classrooms. James Muir was president of the school in 1917. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1927; Atkinson College, Madisonville, dedicated, Nov. 16, 1894; and "Atkinson Literary and Industrial College" on pp.269-270 in Negro Education, v.2, by the Department of the Interior [available at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky

Aubespin, Mervin R.
Birth Year : 1937
Born in Louisiana, Aubespin in 1967 became the first African American to hold the post of news artist at The Courier-Journal newspaper in Louisville, KY. He joined the newsroom staff during the 1968 Civil Rights unrest in Louisville. Regarded as an expert on racism and the media, Aubespin is a past president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and was given the Ida B. Wells Award for his efforts to bring minorities into the field of journalism. Aubespin was also the founder of the Louisville Association of Black Communicators. He was awarded the Distinguished Service to Journalism Award in 1991, given by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications (ASJMC). He was a 1995 Inductee into the University of Kentucky School of Journalism Hall of Fame. Aubespin retired from The Courier Journal newspaper in 2002. For more see Mervin Aubespin at KET's Living the Story; and P. Platt "Keeping the faith: on Merv Aubespin's retirement," The Courier Journal, 08/11/2002, Forum section, p. 03D. View Mervin Aubespin's interview in "Living the Story: The Rest of the Story", a Civil Rights in Kentucky Oral History Project.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Opelousas, Louisiana

Baker, Houston A., Jr.
Birth Year : 1943
Houston Baker, born in Louisville, KY, is a distinguished essayist, poet, and activist-scholar. Baker is a graduate of Howard University and the University of California-Los Angeles. He has received numerous awards, including the 2003 J. B. Hubell Award for lifetime achievement in the study and teaching of American Literature. Author of more than 20 books and many, many more articles, he has been editor of Black Literature in America and editor of the journal American Literature. For more see The African American Almanac and Directory of American Scholars.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Poets
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Banks, Anna B. Simms
Annie Simms Banks was a school teacher from Winchester, KY. In 1920, when women voted in the presidential election for the first time, it was reported that Banks was the first African American female fully-credited delegate at the 7th Congressional District Republican Convention (KY). Part of the delegation from Clark County, Banks was appointed a member of the Rules Committee. According to author Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, Banks' political position was a first for African American women in the South because in Kentucky there was not the fear of a voter takeover by African American women. Anna Simms Banks was born in Louisville, KY, she was the wife of William Webb Banks. For more see "Kentucky Woman in Political Arena," Cleveland Advocate, 03/20/1920, p. 1; and African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920, by R. Terborg-Penn [picture on page 149].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky

Banks, Wendell
Birth Year : 1929
Death Year : 2003
Wendell Banks was born in Ashland, KY. In 1981 he was the first African American elected to the Ashland City Commission and thereafter was continuously re-elected until 1991. Banks had been employed as a manager at Armco Steel Corp. He later became president of Ashland Community College. For more see "49 blacks serve on city councils," in 1988 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Seventh Report, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, p. 19; "Two Ex-Mayors Win," Lexington Herald Leader, 11/09/1983, p. A1; and "Wendell Banks, 74, Ashland Civic Leader," Lexington Herald Leader, 06/30/2003, Obituaries, p. 4.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections
Geographic Region: Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky

Baptist Women's Educational Convention
Start Year : 1883
African American Baptist women in Kentucky gathered in 1883 to develop an organization dedicated to raising funds to support Simmons University in Louisville, KY. Simmons was the first higher education institution in Kentucky specifically for African Americans. The meeting was named the Baptist Women's Educational Convention, and Amanda V. Nelson, a member of the First Baptist Church in Lexington, KY, was elected president. The convention was the first state-wide organization of African American Baptist women in the United States. Most of the members were teachers who came from practically every African American Baptist Church in the state. Following the lead in Kentucky, an Alabama women's Baptist educational organization was formed next, and the trend continued in other states during the last two decades of the century. For more see Righteous Discontent, by E. B. Higginbotham.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work, Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Kentucky

Barker, Samuel Lorenzo
Birth Year : 1878
Death Year : 1971
According to the Kentucky Birth Records, Professor S. L. Barker was born in Christian County, KY, the son of Ellin Sumers? and Bob Barker. [Tennessee is also given as his birth location in the Census Records.] Barker is best remembered as an education leader. In Owensboro, KY, he was a school teacher and principal of Dunbar School, and he became principal of Western High School in 1934. He was a long-time member and leader in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association (KNEA), first serving as assistant secretary in 1916. He was the 2nd District organizer for the Association of Colored Teachers beginning in 1925. He was the KNEA reporter in 1928, served on the Board of Directors 1930-1935, and was president of the board 1939-1940. He chaired the Legislative Committee in 1933, ran unsuccessfully for president of the association in 1935 and 1937, and in 1939 successfully became president of KNEA, serving 1939-1941. He also served on the Kentucky governor's committee for higher education for Negroes in 1940. Professor S. L. Barker served on various KNEA committees until the organization was subsumed by the Kentucky Education Association in 1956. In his political life, Barker served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from Kentucky in 1952. S. L. Barker was the husband of Callie Coleman Barker (b. 1878 in TN), who was a teacher and seamstress. They were the parents of nine children, one of whom was Roberta L. Barker Woodard, who is listed in The Black Women in the Middle West Project, by D. C. Hine, et al. For more on Samuel Barker see the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, 1916-1952. For more on the Second District Association of Colored Teachers of Kentucky see "Colored Column" in The Bee, 12/05/1911, p. 2. Both sources are available full-text at the Kentuckiana Digital Library.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Christian County, Kentucky / Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky

Bate, Langston F.
Birth Year : 1899
Death Year : 1977
Langston Fairchild Bate was born in Danville, KY, the son of Ida W. and John W. Bate. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the age of 26 from the University of Chicago, later heading the chemistry departments at Lincoln University in Missouri, Virginia State College, and Miner Teachers College in Washington D. C. [which merged with two other colleges to form the present day University of the District of Columbia]. Bate was chair of the chemistry department at Miners College from 1944-1954. He published several articles in science journals. For more see Blacks in Science and Medicine, by V. O. Sammons; and "Langston Bate, Division Head at Miners College," Washington Post, 07/17/1977, Obituaries section, p. 49. Additional information provided by Kenneth Bate, son of Langston F. Bate.
Subjects: Chemists, Education and Educators, Migration North
Geographic Region: Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky

Bean, Walter Dempsey
Birth Year : 1912
Death Year : 2007
Bean was born in Midway, KY, to James Ennis and Lula G. Rollins Bean. He was a 1935 graduate of Kentucky State University and earned his MS at Butler University in 1954. He was a teacher, principal, and supervisor with the Indianapolis Public Schools, and the first African American administrator and recruiter for African American teachers. He helped integrate the Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity at Butler University In 1956 when he became the first African American chartered member. He was also the second African American member of the USA American Association of School Personnel Administrators. In 1986, the Kentucky State Alumni Association voted Walter D. Bean one of 100 outstanding alumni. For more see Who's Who Among African Americans 1985-2006; and Walter D. Bean in The Indianapolis Star "Obituaries," 04/12/2007, p. B04.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North, Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Midway, Woodford County, Kentucky / Indianapolis, Indiana

Bibbs, Junius A.
Birth Year : 1910
Death Year : 1979
Junius Bibbs was born in Henderson, KY. He attended high school in Terre Haute, Indiana, and college at Indiana State University, where he was a star football and baseball player. As a baseball player in the Negro Leagues, where he was also known as Rainey and Sonny, he played shortstop and first, second, and third base; his career began in 1933 with the Detroit Stars and finished in 1944 with the Cleveland Buckeyes. Bibbs was a good line-drive hitter, hitting to all fields; in 1936, he hit .404. Bibbs joined the Kansas City Monarchs in 1938, and the team went on to win three Negro American League pennants, 1939-1941. After his baseball career, Bibbs taught and coached at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1998, Bibbs was inducted into the Indiana State University Hall of Fame. For more see The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, by J. A. Riley; and Junius "Rainey" Bibbs, a Negro League Baseball Players Association website.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Baseball, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky / Terre Haute, Indiana / Indianapolis, Indiana

Black History Gallery
The Black History Gallery is located in Elizabethtown, KY. The gallery items comprised the personal collection of Emma Reno Connor, a schoolteacher first in Kentucky and later in New York. She collected pictures, articles, biographies, and other materials pertaining to African Americans. The items were used in her classes because there was little information in school textbooks about African Americans. Since Connor's death in 1988, her family has managed the museum in her childhood home in Elizabethtown. For more information, contact: Black History Gallery, 602 Hawkins Drive, Elizabethtown, KY 42701, 270-769-5204 or 270-765-7653. For more on Emma Reno Connor see "A Teachers Legacy," Kentucky Life Program 905; and "Black history collection took lifetime to amass," Lexington Herald-Leader, 08/12/1991, Lifestyle section, p. B6.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Genealogy, History, Migration North
Geographic Region: Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky / New York

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

Bluster, Missouri Quisenberry
Start Year : 1899
End Year : 1994
Missouri Quisenberry Bluster was a school teacher for more than 40 years at the Oliver School in Winchester, KY. For many of those years she taught first grade during the time Oliver was a segregated school for African American children. She is remembered as a disciplinarian who cared about the children. Bluster and her parents, William and Mamie Custard Quisenberry, were born in Winchester, KY. She was the wife of Rev. Climiton Bluster (1893-1961), who was born in Alabama. Missouri Bluster, a graduate of Kentucky State University and Wilberforce University, also served as president of the Kentucky Association of Colored Women's Clubs. The Quisenberry family has been in Clark County since the early history of the state, and records of the African American Quisenberrys can be found in the slave schedules and birth records, including that of a baby girl born in 1853 to a slave woman and slave owner Roger Quisenberry. [Roger Quisenberry of Clark County owned at least 11 slaves, according to the 1850 slave schedule.] Several of the African American Quisenberry men served with the Colored infantries during the Civil War, and after slavery ended, the families settled in the communities of Blue Ball, Ford, Germantown, Kiddville, and Winchester. For more about Missouri Quisenberry Bluster, see A. D. Johnson, "Winchester teacher stressed discipline, love," Lexington Herald-Leader, 02/09/1986, City/State section, p. B1.
Subjects: Communities, Education and Educators, Women's Groups and Organizations, Association of Colored Women's Clubs
Geographic Region: Blue Ball, Ford, Germantown, Kiddville, and Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky

Bond, Horace M.
Birth Year : 1904
Death Year : 1972
Horace Mann Bond was born in Nashville, TN. He could read at the age of three and entered high school at the age of nine. His family moved back to Kentucky, where he graduated from Lincoln Institute and went on to college at the age of fourteen. Bond earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1936 with financial assistance from the Rosenwald Fund. He became recognized as an authority on Negro education. Bond authored many publications and articles, including the article "Intelligence Tests and Propaganda" and the book The Education of the Negro in American Social Order. He was the first African American president of Lincoln University (Pennsylvania), the first school in the United States to provide higher education for African Americans. Horace was the son of Jane A. Browne Bond and James M. Bond, and he was the father of Julian Bond, civil rights leader and former Georgia senator and representative. The Horace M. Bond papers are at the University of Massachusett's W.E.B. Du Bois Library Special Collections and University Archives. For more see The Bonds, by R. M. Williams; and the 1955 video Rufus E. Clement and Horace M. Bond recorded as part of the Chronscope Series by Columbia Broadcasting System.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Fathers, Mothers, Legislators (Outside Kentucky)
Geographic Region: Nashville, Tennessee / Lincoln Ridge, Shelby County, Kentucky

Bond, J. Max, Jr.
Birth Year : 1935
J. Max Bond, Jr. was born in Louisville, KY. He is an internationally recognized architect and a fellow in the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture at Harvard University. His designs include the Bolgatanga Library in Ghana, Africa, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum in Alabama. Bond established and became director of the Architects Renewal Committee of Harlem and from 1980-1986 was commissioner of the New York Planning Committee. He has taught at and is a former dean of the architecture school at the City University of New York (CUNY). Bond is the co-author of New Service Buildings, Harvard University... and was co-author of the newspaper Harlem News. He is the son of J. Max Bond, Sr. and Ruth E. Clement Bond and the grandson of James M. Bond. For more see Who's Who in America, 47th ed. - 52nd ed.; and L. Duke, "Blueprint of a life, Architect J. Max Bond Jr. has had to build bridges to reach ground zero," Washington Post, 07/01/2004, p. C01. See also The Directory of African American Architects, sponsored by the City for the Study of Practice at the University of Cincinnati.
Subjects: Architects, Authors, Education and Educators, Migration North
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / New York

Bond, Ruth E. Clement
Birth Year : 1904
Death Year : 2005
Ruth Clement Bond was born in Louisville, KY, four years after her brother Rufus E. Clement. They were the children of George Clement, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and Emma C. Williams Clement, the first African American woman to be named Mother of the Year. Ruth Bond's husband was J. Max Bond, Sr., and she was the mother of J. Max Bond, Jr. From 1934-1938, J. Max Bond, Sr. supervised the training of the African American construction workers at the TVA Wheeler Dam Project in northern Alabama. Mrs. Bond established a home beautification program for the wives of the workers and began designing quilt patterns (though Mrs. Bond initially did not know how to quilt, but the women she was working with were experts). The first quilt was call Black Power; it symbolized the TVA's promise for electricity. The quilts became known as the TVA Quilts and have been documented and displayed in a number of sources and venues such as the 2004 Art Quilts From the Collection of the Museum of Arts and Design. Ruth Bond was a graduate of Northwestern University in Illinois. At one point in her career, she taught English Literature and French at Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University]. For more see Y. S. Lamb, "Ruth Clement Bond; Quilter, Civic Activist," Washington Post, 11/08/2005, p. B05; and M. Fox, "Ruth C. Bond dies at 101; Her Quilts Had a Message," The New York Times, 11/13/2005, p. 43.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Mothers, Quilters, Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Bottoms, Jesse V., Sr.
Birth Year : 1906
Death Year : 1995
In 1952, Jesse Voyd Bottoms, Sr. became the first African American graduate of Louisville Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was also a graduate of Simmons Bible College (now Simmons College of Kentucky), later serving in many capacities at the school, including as a teacher and the dean. Bottoms helped organize the local arrangements for the March on Washington. For more see "Civil Rights Activists Jesse Bottoms, 89, dies," Lexington Herald-Leader, 01/19/1995, Obituaries section, p. B2.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: 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, Charles W. "C. W."
Birth Year : 1865
Charles Wesley Boyd was born in Mt. Sterling, KY, the son of John Boyd and Ella Steele Boyd. He was the husband of Kate Jarrison Boyd. Charles Boyd was an education leader during the early years of the African American school system in Charleston, WV. He was an 1891 graduate of Wilberforce University in Ohio, continuing his education at several other universities and earning his master's degree at Wilberforce University. Boyd taught school in Clarksburg, WV, until 1891 when he moved to Charleston to become a principal and teacher. He was the first long-term leader of the school system; prior to his arrival school principals had served only a year or two. In 1893, he was named one of the vice presidents of the newly formed West Virginia Colored Institute, later serving one year as president. In 1900, he was the founder and principal of Garnet Hight School, which would become the largest African American high school in West Virginia. In 1904, Boyd was named Supervisor of the Colored Schools in Charleston. He was also a leader in his church, instrumental in the First Baptist Church becoming the first African American church ranked as a Standard Sunday School. He was also a member of the Pythians and the West Virginia Grand Lodge. For more see Early Negro Education in West Virginia, by C. G. Woodson; Charles Wesley Boyd, a West Virginia Division of Culture and History website (photo error); and Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work, Migration East, Fraternal Organizations, Sunday School
Geographic Region: Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky / Charleston, West Virginia

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

Brashear, Jimmie Tyler
Birth Year : 1903
Death Year : 1999
Brashear, born in Lexington, KY, was the daughter of a Lexington schoolteacher and barber. She would later live with an aunt in Madison, WI. According to the Dallas Morning News, Brashear was the only African American in the 1924 graduating class at the University of Wisconsin. In 1929, she joined the Dallas School District with the responsibility of training African American grade school teachers. Brasher would advance to become the first African American school administrator in Dallas. She retired in 1967, after 43 years as an educator, and began teaching at what is now Paul Quinn College. She had taught at Tuskegee and Prairie View earlier in her career. The J. T. Brashear Early Childhood Center was named in her honor, and in 1997, she was recognized as an Outstanding Citizen by the Black Caucus of the Texas Legislature. Brashear was a sister to Lugusta Tyler Colston. For more see J. Simnacher, "Dallas educator Jimmie Tyler Brashear dies - she was first African American hired as schools administrator," The Dallas Morning News, 02/16/1999, News section, p.13A; and N. Adams-Wade, "Venerated educator broke ground in Dallas schools," The Dallas Morning News, 02/16/1997, News section, p.39A.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration West, Migration South
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Masison, Wisconsin / Dallas, Texas

Brennen, David A.
In 2009, David A. Brennen was named the dean of the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Law, making him the state's first African American law school dean since the desegregation of Kentucky higher education. Brennen will be the 16th dean of the UK College of Law. He has more than 15 years experience in classroom teaching, is the co-founder and co-editor of Nonprofit Law Prof Blog, and is editor of the electronic abstracting journal, Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law Abstracts, published by the Social Science Research Network in the Legal Research Network series. He has a number of research publications and is co-author of the 2008 statutory supplement to The Tax Law of Charities and Other Exempt Organizations. David Brennen graduated with a finance degree from Florida Atlantic University and earned his Juris Doctor and Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida. He has served as the assistant general counsel in Florida's Department of Revenue and as deputy director of the Association of American Law Schools. Additional information for this entry was provided by Michelle Cosby, librarian at the UK College of Law Library. For more see "College of Law names David A. Brennen as Dean," University of Kentucky News, 04/09/2009. For the earlier history see the NKAA entries Central Law School (Louisville, KY) and Albert S. White.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Lawyers, Migration North
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Britton, Mary E.
Birth Year : 1855
Death Year : 1925
Mary Britton was born in Lexington, KY. She was an activist and a journalist who wrote many articles against segregation laws. Britton was also a schoolteacher. She would later become the first African American woman physician in Lexington and a founder of the Colored Orphan Industrial Home. Britton was a graduate of Berea College. She is buried in the Cove Haven Cemetery in Lexington. She was a sister of Julia B. Hooks. For more see Mary Britton at womeninky.com, and Physician Mary Britton at kytales.com.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Medical Field, Health Care, Orphans and Orphanages in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Brooks, Jonathan H.
Birth Year : 1904
Death Year : 1945
Johnathan H. Brooks was born in Lexington, KY. He attended Jackson College [now Jackson State University] in Mississippi, Lincoln University, and Tougaloo College, also in Mississippi. In addition to being a poet, he was also a postal clerk, minister, and teacher. In a local contest, he won first prize for his first short story, "The Bible in the Cornfield." He was author of The Resurrection and Other Poems, published posthumously. His work has appeared in anthologies and other publications. For more see Black American Writers Past and Present: a biographical and bibliographical dictionary, by Rush, Myers, & Arta.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Poets, Postal Service, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Brown, J. B., Jr.
Brown is from Fort Knox, KY, but considers Owensboro, KY, his home. While attending high school in Fort Knox, Brown set a record as state high jump champion. The 6'8" center was an All-America basketball player at Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC) and a member of the team that won the 1987 NCAA Division II Championship. Brown, starting all but one game, was the second leading rebounder that season with 225 rebounds. Brown went on to play ball with the Harlem Globetrotters from 1988-1995. He underwent a kidney transplant in 1996 and taught elementary school geography in Daviess County, Kentucky in 1997. For more see M. Graf, "J B Brown becomes a Harlem Globetrotter," Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, 09/28/1988, p. 1B; and N. Phillips, "Brother's kidney gives KWC star hope," Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, 07/13/1996, p. A1.
Subjects: Basketball, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Fort Knox, Bullitt, Hardin, & Meade Counties, Kentucky / Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky

Brown, Mary Ellen
Birth Year : 1868
In 1897, Brown was named a notary public in the state of Kentucky; it is believed she was the first African American woman to be so designated. She was to be the notary for African Americans in Scott County, most of whom were applying for pensions or increases in their present pensions. Brown was born in Georgetown, KY, the daughter of Weston and Harriet Brown. She graduated from the Georgetown Colored city school in 1886 and became a teacher at the school. The family lived on Mulberrry Street. For more, see "Negro woman notary," The Weekly News and Courier, 06/02/1897, p. 14.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Notary Public
Geographic Region: Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky

Brown, Robert L. "Tobe"
Birth Year : 1863
Death Year : 1939
Robert L. Brown, was born in Shelbyville, KY. He was a cornet and piano player as well as a music teacher who specialized in dance music. He directed the Cunningham Band in Louisville, KY. Brown left Kentucky around 1890 and opened the Dance Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. He also provided orchestral music at social events and taught string and brass. His music was thought of as a guarantee for a good time at any event. Brown returned to Louisville in 1899. In 1907, his Louisville orchestra played at the Owensboro Chautauqua, thought to be the first Negro Chautauqua in the United States. For more see Out of Sight: the Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895, by L. Abbott and D. Seroff.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration West, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Kansas City, Missouri / Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky

Browne, Birdius W.
Birth Year : 1906
Death Year : 1986
Birdius Browne was born in Warsaw, KY. He taught in the Mt. Olivet School and was principal of the Melbourne High and Vocational School in Florida. Brown won a government medal in Decatur, Illinois, for his athletic ability. He died in Paducah, KY. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Warsaw, Gallatin County, Kentucky / Mt. Olivet, Robertson County, Kentucky / Florida / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Buckner, George W.
Birth Year : 1855
Death Year : 1943
Buckner was born a slave in Green County, KY; after being freed, he went on to become a physician. Buckner taught school in Kentucky and Indiana for 17 years before moving to Monrovia, Liberia, where he was the U.S. Minister to Liberia from 1913 to 1915. He was the first African American diplomat appointed to a foreign country. For more see The Political Graveyard; U.S. Department of State; Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915; and Who Was Who in America: A component volume of Who's Who in American History, vol. 4, 1961-1968.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Liberia, Liberian Presidents & Diplomats, Medical Field, Health Care, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Green County, Kentucky / Monrovia, Liberia, Africa

Burks, Ishmon, Jr.
Birth Year : 1945
Ishmon Burks, Jr. was born in Louisville, KY. He was the first African American Kentucky State Police Commissioner, appointed by Governor Paul Patton in 2000. Burks was promoted to Justice Cabinet Secretary in 2002. He is a former executive vice president and COO of Spalding University. He is a graduate of Lincoln University of Missouri, Indiana University, and City College of New York. He is a retired colonel from the U.S. Army. Ishmon Burks, Jr. is the son of Ishmon Sr. and Juanita Burks. For more see "Retired Army officer first Black KSP chief," The Kentucky Post, 08/23/2000, News section, p.1K; and D. Stephenson, "Burks becomes state police head," Lexington Herald-Leader, 09/01/2000, City & Region section, p. B1.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Military & Veterans, Corrections and Police, Appointments by Kentucky Governors
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Burleigh, Angus A.
Birth Year : 1848
Death Year : 1939
Angus A. Burleigh was the first adult African American to attend and graduate from Berea College in Berea, KY. Burleigh had been born free, the son of an English sea captain and an African American woman, but after his father's death the family was sold into slavery, first in Virginia, then in Kentucky. Burleigh ran away and joined the Union Army when he was 16 years old. In 1866, he had finished his stint with the Army and enrolled at Berea with the encouragement and support of John G. Fee. After his graduation in 1875, Burleigh immediately left Kentucky and headed north, where he would spend the rest of his life preaching and teaching. For more see "Hasan Davis and the story of A.A. Burleigh," Kentucky Life, Program 807. Hasan Davis gives a phenomenal live performance of A. A. Burleigh's life in The Long Climb to Freedom. You have got to see it! Program 807 is available at the UK Young Library Audio Visual Services.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Freedom, Migration North, Military & Veterans, Religion & Church Work, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Virginia / Berea, Madison County, Kentucky

Burse, Luther, Sr.
Birth Year : 1937
Burse was born in Hopkinsville, KY, the son of Ernestine Merriweather Perry and the stepson of Monroe Perry. He is a 1958 graduate of Kentucky State University (BS), a 1960 graduate of the University of Indiana (MEd), and a 1969 graduate of the University of Maryland (EdD). Burse has taught in public schools and at the university level and was acting president of Cheyney State College, 1981-1982 [now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania]; president of Fort Valley State College, 1983-1989 [now Fort Valley State University]; Director of Civil Rights with the U.S. Forest Service; president of the Kentucky State University National Alumni Association; and Director of Urban Programs and Diversity for the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. Burse has received a number of awards, including the Kentucky State University Leadership Award, and he is listed among the Outstanding Educators of America. For more see Who's Who Among African Americans, 1977-2006; and K. F. Kazi, "The Forest Service is growing diversity," Black Collegian, vol. 24, issue 2 (Nov/Dec 1993), p. 72.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Fish & Wildlife, Forestry
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

Calloway, Ernest Abner
Birth Year : 1909
Death Year : 1989
Calloway was a writer, a union organizer and advocate, a civil rights activist, a politician, and an educator. He was born in Herberton, WV, and came to Letcher County, KY, with his family in 1913. They were one of the first African American families in the coal mining community in Letcher County. His father helped organize the first Local United Mine Workers Union. In 1925, Calloway ran away to Harlem [New York City]. Within a few years he returned to Kentucky and worked in the coal mines. Beginning In 1930, Calloway was a drifter for three years, traveling throughout the U.S. and Mexico before returning to Kentucky to work in the coal mines again. It would be Calloway's writing that would help him leave Kentucky for good. He had written an article on the use of marijuana and submitted it to Opportunity magazine. The article was rejected, but Calloway was asked to write an article on the working conditions of Negro coal miners in Kentucky. The article was published in March 1934, resulting in Calloway being offered a scholarship to Brookwood Labor College [info] in New York. He would go on to help establish and influence many union organizations. Early in his career, he developed the Virginia Workers' Alliance; organized the Chicago Redcaps [railroad station porters] and the United Transport Employee Union; and assisted in the writing of the resolution for the development of the Committee Against Discrimination in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Calloway was the first African American to refuse military service because of racial discrimination. In 1955, he was president of the St. Louis, MO, NAACP Branch. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1968 and was a part time lecturer at St. Louis University in 1969. For a more detailed account of Calloway's career, see the "Ernest Abner Calloway" entry in the Dictionary of Missouri Biography, by L. O. Christensen; and the Ernest Calloway Papers, 1937-1983 in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Miners, Mines, & Steel Mills, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Migration East, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Union Organizations, 1st African American Families in Town
Geographic Region: Herberton, West Virginia / Letcher County, Kentucky / New York / Chicago, Illinois / Saint Louis, Missouri

Capers, Jean M.
Birth Year : 1913
Jean Murrell Capers was born in Georgetown, KY. Her family moved to Cleveland, OH, when she was a child. Capers was a teacher in the Cleveland schools before becoming an attorney in 1945. She was assistant police prosecutor from 1946 until 1949, when she became the first African American elected to the Cleveland City Council. The N.C.N.W. recognized her as one of the 10 outstanding women in public service in 1950. She was the director and organizer of the Central Welfare Association. Capers later became a Cleveland Municipal Court Judge. In 2006, Capers, at 93 years of age, was the oldest practicing member of the National Bar Association. Capers is a graduate of the Cleveland Law School [which merged with the John Marshall School of Law in 1945 to become the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law]. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950; The American Bench. Judges of the nation, 2nd edition, ed. by M. Reincke and N. Lichterman; and "Capers oldest member to attend annual convention," National Bar Association Law E-Bulletin, vol. 14, issue 1 (August 2006). Photos of Jean Capers are in the African Americans of Note in Cleveland database.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Welfare (Social Services) Organizations, Lawyers, Migration North, Corrections and Police, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Social Workers, Judges
Geographic Region: Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky / Cleveland, Ohio

Carter, Lillie Mae Bland
Birth Year : 1919
Death Year : 1982
Lillie Mae Carter was born in Bowling Green, KY, the daughter of John and Maude W. Husky Bland. She was a graduate of Tennessee State university and was employed in the Toledo, Ohio, school system. Carter is the author of a number of books, including a book of poems, Black Thoughts, and the anthology, Doing It Our Way. She is the mother of Leon J. Carter, III. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration North, Poets
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / Toledo, Ohio

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

Central Law School (Louisville, KY)
Start Year : 1890
End Year : 1941
Professor John H. Lawson is credited with organizing Central Law School, part of State University [later Simmons University], in 1890. When the school was established, it absorbed Harper Law School. At the time, there were three African Americans practicing law in the city of Louisville, KY. Over the 50 year period that the school existed, Central had 100 graduates. Initially Central was one of only four law schools in the United States that would admit African Americans; the others were located at Howard University, Walden University, and Shaw University. The first commencement for Central graduates was held in 1892 at the Masonic Temple Theatre. For more see the Central Law School, 1890-1941, a University of Louisville website; and A Century of Negro Education in Louisville, by G. D. Wilson, [full-text available in the Kentuckiana Digital Library E-texts].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Lawyers, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Chappell, Willa B.
Birth Year : 1906
Death Year : 1992
Willa Chappell was born in Glasgow, KY. She left Kentucky for Gary, Indiana, and graduated from Indiana State Teachers College [now Indiana State University], working as a school teacher before becoming a pilot. Chappell settled in Chicago. She was the first African American woman to become licensed as a pilot in the U.S., and the first African American in the Civil Air Patrol. Chappell founded the National Airmen Association of America, and trained more than 200 students who became Tuskegee pilots. She and her husband, Cornelius Coffy, owned and operated the first flight school for African Americans. For more see Willa Brown and Willa Brown Chappell, websites created and maintained by the Aviation Museum of Kentucky; and K. Heise, "Willa Chappell, pioneer Black pilot," Chicago Tribune, 07/21/1992, Chicagoland section, p. 9.
Subjects: Aviators, Education and Educators, Migration North
Geographic Region: Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky / Gary, Indiana / Chicago, Illinois

Childers, Lulu V.
Birth Year : 1870
Death Year : 1946
Lulu Vere Childers was born in Dry Ridge, KY. She studied voice at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she earned her B. Mus. degree. Childers was a teacher at Knoxville College in 1896. She continued to perform, singing contralto in a 1908 concert organized by E. Azalia Hackley at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. She went on to become founder and director of the Howard University School of Music [now Department of Music], 1909-1942. She accomplished major successes with the Howard Orchestra, Band, Choral Society, Women's Glee Club and Men's Glee Club. Lulu Vere Childers Hall is located in the Arts Building at Howard University. For more see Dictionary of American Negro Biography, by R. W. Logan & M. R. Winston; and Catalogue of Officers and Graduates, by Oberlin College (1905) [full view available via Google Book Search].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Migration South
Geographic Region: Dry Ridge, Grant County, Kentucky / Washington, D.C.

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

Clement, Rufus E.
Birth Year : 1900
Death Year : 1967
Rufus E. Clement was born in Salisbury, NC; his family moved to Louisville, KY, when he was a small child. Clement would become the first dean of the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes (1931-1937) [subsumed by the University of Louisville], and later the longest serving president of Atlanta University (1937-1957 & 1966-1967). Clement was the author of many articles on Negro education, history, and politics as well as a published reviewer of current issues publications. In 1953, Clement was elected to the Atlanta Board of Education, making him the first African American to be elected to public office in Atlanta since Reconstruction, and the first on the city's education board. He was the son of Emma Clement and George Clement, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Louisville. He was the brother of Ruth E. Clement Bond. Rufus E. Clement's records and papers are at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center. The Louisville Municipal College archives are at the University of Louisville Archives and Record Center. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; [Dr. Rufus E. Clement] in the Statesville Daily Record newspaper, 05/15/1953; Worldwide Interesting People: 162 History Makers of African Decent, by G. L. Lee; and the video Rufus E. Clement and Horace M. Bond recorded in 1955 as part of the Chronscope Series by Columbia Broadcasting System.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Migration South, Board of Education
Geographic Region: Salisbury, North Carolina / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Atlanta, Georgia

Cofield, William, Jr.
Birth Year : 1940
In 1991, William Cofield was the first African American appointed to the Franklin County Board of Education; he was then elected to the board three times. Since 1986, he has been president of the Kentucky NAACP Conference. Cofield was recently named president of the National Caucus of Black School Board Members. For more see In Black and White. A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups, 3rd ed., edited by M. M. Spradling; and "In conversation with ... William Cofield, President, National Caucus of Black School Board Members," 06/21/04, Kentucky School Boards Association website.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Board of Education
Geographic Region: Franklin County, Kentucky

Coleman, John A., Sr.
Birth Year : 1869
Death Year : 1936
Coleman, a community leader born in Centerville, KY, was the son of George and Ann Sharp Coleman. He was a builder, a school teacher, and a musician. According to author and musician Bill Coleman, his uncle John built his own house and many of the homes in what was then an all African American community known as Centerville. John Coleman was first in the community to have electricity in his home. Though he is listed in the Census as a laborer, John Coleman also served as a teacher in the Centerville Colored School, which was a one room structure that served students in grades 1-8. The school was mentioned in a 50 year survey that was completed and published by Dr. C. H. Parrish in 1926. The Centerville School held classes about five months out of the year, the same as many of the common schools founded after the Civil War in small African American communities in Kentucky. In addition to being a school teacher, John Coleman was a musician; he and two of his brothers were members of a local music group. John Coleman played the cornet, Ernest Coleman played the tuba, and Robert Henry Coleman (Bill Coleman's father) played the snare drum. According to the U.S. Federal Census, the Coleman family had been in Centerville at least since the end of slavery (and probably before that). John Coleman and his wife, Kitty [or Kittie] Bachelor Coleman, were still living in Centerville in 1930; they were the parents of four children: Mattie Coleman Hersey, Ida B. Coleman, John A. Coleman Jr., and Cora M. Coleman. For more see Dr. C. H. Parrish, "A fifty year survey," Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 21-24, 1926, pp. 23-24 [available full-text in the Kentuckiana Digital Library - Journals]; and Trumpet Story, by Bill Coleman.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Construction, Contractors, Builders, Education and Educators, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Centerville, Bourbon County, Kentucky

Colston, Lugusta Tyler
Birth Year : 1912
Death Year : 2008
Colston, born in Lexington, KY, was a graduate of Wiley College and received her undergraduate library degree from Wayne State University. She was the librarian at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, FL, for more than 30 years, and had also taught at the Booker T. Washington High School in Columbia, SC. In 1940, she was one of the seven founding members of the the Miami Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She was also a founding member of the Greater Miami Chapter of Links, an international women's civic organization, and was involved in several community organizations that included her leading role with the Minority Involvement Committee of the Miami-Dade County Division of the American Cancer Society. Colston, a sister to Jimmie Tyler Brashear, had been living in Southfield, MI, since her husband passed away in 1999. She is buried in Lexington, KY. For more see E. J. Brecher, "Veteran librarian at Booker T. Washington," Miami Herald, 03/09/2008, Metro and State section, p.5B.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Migration North, Migration South, Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Columbia, South Carolina / Miami, Florida / Southfield, Michigan

Cook-Parrish, Mary Virginia
Birth Year : 1868
Death Year : 1945
An education and religious leader, Cook-Parrish spoke before the American Baptist Home Mission Society on 'Female Education' in 1888. She was a professor at the Kentucky Baptist College, then known as State University [later Simmons University]. She became a journalist in 1886 with The American Baptist while at the same time editing a column with The South Carolina Tribune, writing under the pen name Grace Ermine. She spoke out on women's suffrage and full equality in employment, education, social reform, and church work. Cook-Parrish was born in Bowling Green, KY, the daughter of Ellen Buckner. She was the wife of Charles H. Parrish, Sr. Cook-Parrish's death certificate has her age as 77 years old. Additional information can be found in the Charles Parrish, Jr. Papers at the University of Louisville Libraries. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; Africana: the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience, edited by K. A. Appiah and H. L. Gates, Jr.; and "Prof. Mary v. Cook, A.B." in Noted Negro Women: their triumphs and activities, by M. A. Majors.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Copeland, Mayme L.
Mrs. Mayme L. Copeland was the rural supervisor in the State Department of Education; her office was located in Frankfort, KY. She was one of two African American education administrators in the South whose salaries were partially paid by the Southern Education Foundation. During her career, Copeland was supervisor of Christian and Todd County Schools and head of the Rural Department of the American Teachers Association. She was recognized in Mabel Carney's article on rural education for her outstanding work in teacher training for one-teacher schools. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; M. Carney, "Rural education in American Universities, 1944-45," The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 15, issue 1 (Winter 1946), p. 98; and W. G. Daniel, "Current trends and events of national importance in Negro education - Section A: General Activities," The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 7, issue 2 (April 1938), p. 221.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Cosby, Laken, Jr.
Laken Cosby, Jr. is a graduate of Lousiville Central High School. In 1988, he became the first African American chairman of the Jefferson County School Board. Cosby was also appointed to the Kentucky Board of Education in 1994 by Governor Brereton Jones; Cosby was vice chairman of the board for three terms. In 2002, Cosby was not reappointed to the board by Governor Patton. For more see "Cosby is Jefferson County board's first black chairman," in 1988 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Seventh Report, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, p. 36; and M. Pitsch, "Longtime advocate of school reform replaced on board," Courier-Journal, 05/11/2002, News section, p. O1A.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Appointments by Kentucky Governors, Board of Education
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Cotton, John A.
Birth Year : 1865
Death Year : 1943
Born in Manchester, KY, Reverend John Adam Cotton was the second African American President of Henderson Institute in Henderson, N.C. (1903-1943). The school, which existed from 1891-1970, was known as Henderson Normal and Industrial Institute until 1903, when Cotton changed the name to Henderson Institute. Cotton had been educated at Berea College and Knoxville College and was a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He was the husband of Maude Brooks. In 1903, the Cottons came to Henderson, N.C. from Cleveland, Ohio; Rev. Cotton had been transferred by the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of America to replace Rev. Jacob Cook, who had died. Henderson Institute was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1995. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37; Minutes of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of America, by United Presbyterian Church of America, General Assembly (1958); and Vance County, North Carolina, by A. D. Vann.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North, Religion & Church Work, Migration East
Geographic Region: Manchester, Clay County, Kentucky / Cleveland, Ohio / Henderson, North Carolina

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

Craft, Thomas, J. Sr.
Birth Year : 1924
Thomas J. Craft, Sr. was born in Monticello, KY, the son of Wonnie Alta Travis Craft and Thomas M. Craft. For generations, his family had lived near Albany, KY. Thomas J. Craft, Sr. graduated from the Colored school in Monticello and started college in 1941, but he was drafted before he finished and served with the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. He returned to Monticello, then went on to completed his bachelor's degree in 1948, his master's degree in 1950, and his Ph.D. in 1963. His research involved transplants, skin grafts and the problem of graft rejection. Craft conducted research with amphibians and discovered a correlation between the release of stress hormones and the rejection of skin grafts. He held tenured positions at several universities and was inducted into the Central State University Hall of Fame in 1993. Craft was a nephew of Oneth Travis, Sr. For more see African Americans in Science, Math and Invention, by R. Spangenbur and K. Moserand; and Distinguished African American Scientists of the 20th Century, by J. H. Kessler, et al.
Subjects: Biologists, Education and Educators, Military & Veterans
Geographic Region: Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky / Albany, Clinton County, Kentucky

Crenshaw, Walter C., Jr.
Birth Year : 1935
Death Year : 1969
Born in Millersburg, KY, Walter Crenshaw, Jr. was a graduate of Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] and taught in the Canton (Ohio) City School System. He was later appointed Executive Director of the Canton Area Housing Authority. Crenshaw Middle School and a park in Canton are named in his honor. For more see the Crenshaw Middle School website; and C. M. Jenkins, "Canton educator tills, waters young minds...," Akron Beacon Journal, 09/26/1993, Metro section, p. B1.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Housing Authority, The Projects, Migration North, Parks, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Millersburg, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Canton, Ohio

Cross, Dorothy
Birth Year : 1943
The education associations in Kentucky were segregated until May 1956 when the Kentucky Negro Educational Association (KNEA) was subsumed by the Kentucky Education Association (KEA) -- the organization was subsumed, not the officers or the members. The first African American hired by KEA was Dorothy Cross, who, at the time (1965), was a 22 year old senior at Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] majoring in education; she was to serve as editorial assistant and associate editor of the KEA Journal. Cross, from Hopkinsville, KY, was to start her new job the day after she graduated. For more see "Kentucky Education Assn. hires first Negro," Jet, vol. 28, issue 6 (05/20/1956), p. 14; and "Kentucky group hires 1st Negro," Washington Post Times Herald, 05/06/1965, p. A2.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Cullen, Countee
Birth Year : 1903
Death Year : 1946
Cullen was probably born in Louisville, KY, but his birthplace is also given as New York. Cullen was unofficially adopted by Rev. Frederick and Carolyn Cullen; his last name was Porter prior to the adoption. Cullen earned his bachelor's degree from New York University, his master's from Harvard University. During his prime he was the most popular African American poet and literary figure of his time. He won more literary prizes than all other African American poets in the 1920s. Cullen had won his first contest in high school with the poem, "I Have a Rendezvous With Life." His first wife, Yolande DuBois, was the daughter of W. E. B. DuBois. His most famous student (he taught high school) was James Baldwin. For more see the Countee Cullen Papers at Dillard University's Will W. Alexander Archives, and Countee Cullen and the Negro Renaissance, by B. E. Ferguson.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration North, Poets
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Darrell, Betty L.
Birth Year : 1934
Darrell was born in Louisville, KY, to Jerome and Cleoda Mason McDonald. She was among the first African Americans to attend the University of Louisville, from which she graduated with a BA in 1955. Darrell is also received an MA from Washburn University in 1969. She was a schoolteacher in Louisville and later served as the director of the Racial Justice Association and Project Equality, both in New York, and was director of the New York/New Jersey Minority Purchasing Council. From 1984-1995, Darrell was director of the Minority Business Enterprise Development of Pepsi Cola North America. For more see Who's Who Among African Americans, 1990-2000; T. Deering, "Pepsi sponsors luncheon to link minority firms," Sacramento Bee, 07/10/1992, Business section, p. B1; G. A. Drain, "NBL plans coalition to solve Black entrepreneur's problems," Michigan Chronicle, 02/08/1994; and J. D. O'Hair, "Pepsi appoints director," Michigan Chronicle, March 1995.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Businesses, Education and Educators, Migration North
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / New York / New Jersey

Davis, William H.
Birth Year : 1872
Born in Louisville, KY, Davis graduated from Louisville Colored High School in 1888 [later known as Louisville Central High School]. He taught himself shorthand and typewriting, then was employed by the law firm Cary & Spindle. He was also a private secretary for Louisville Mayor Todd and owned a thriving shoe store in Louisville. He taught typewriting and shorthand in the Colored schools because African Americans were excluded from the classes taught in Louisville. In 1899 he moved his family to Washington, D.C., and in 1902 was awarded a Doctorate of Pharmacology from Howard University. Dr. Davis went on to hold many posts with the federal government and opened the Mott Night Business High School. For more see Evidences of Progress Among Colored People, by G. F. Richings at the Documenting the American South website; and Dr. William H. Davis in the John P. Davis Collection.
Subjects: Businesses, Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care, Migration North, Shoes: Finishers, Makers, Repairers, Shiners, Stores
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Washington, D.C.

Depp, Chantel Brown
Birth Year : 1969
Depp was born in Versailles, KY, the daughter of Charles E. Brown Jr. and Geraldine Collins Brown. In 1986, she was the first (and to date, the last) African American named homecoming queen of Woodford County High School. Depp was the school's prom queen in 1987; 20 years earlier, in 1967, her mother had been voted prom queen. Depp was Ms. Black U of L in 1988-89; Ms. Woodford County Fair Queen in 2000; and 3rd runner-up in the Mrs. Kentucky America Pageant. She was the first African American to be hired in the executive office of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources; she joined the staff in 2004 as an employment recruiter and serves as a staff assistant to the commissioner. Depp received the Diversity Award at the 2006 Southeastern Association of the Fish Wildlife Agencies Conference. She was the recipient of the 2005 Employee Support Award from Kentucky State University's Office of Career Counseling and Placement for her student recruitment efforts. Chantel Depp is a communication graduate of the University of Kentucky and earned a master's degree in public administration at Kentucky State University with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She is a graduate of the Governor's Minority Management Trainee Program. Depp is an instructor and model with Images Model Talent Agency, and since 1999 has been a choreographer with the Woodford County Fair Pageant Board. She has also been a dance coach and is an active leader in the St. Paul A.M.E. Church. Depp is the sister of Charliese Brown-Lewis. This information is taken, with permission, from the resume of Chantel Brown Depp.
Subjects: Artists, Fine Arts, Education and Educators, Homecoming Queens, Pageants, Contests, Fish & Wildlife, Forestry
Geographic Region: Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky

Diggs, Elder Watson
Birth Year : 1890
Death Year : 1947
Born in Christian County, KY, Diggs graduated from Indiana's Normal [now Indiana State University], where he was one of the founding members of Kappa Alpha Psi, established on January 5, 1911. Diggs served as the Grand Polemarch (president) of the fraternity during the first six years and was awarded the organization's first Laurel Wreath in 1924. The fraternity sought "to raise the sights of Negro youth and stimulate them to accomplishments higher than might otherwise be realized or even imagined." Diggs was the first African American graduate from the IU's School of Education, and he went on to become a school principal in Indianapolis, leaving that job to serve in World War I. After the war Diggs was instrumental in having the Indiana constitution amended to permit Negro enlistment in the Indiana National Guard. Diggs returned to his job as principal and earned his master's degree in education from Howard University in 1944. After his death on Nov. 8, 1947, the Indianapolis school where he had served as principal for 26 years was named the Elder W. Diggs School #42. For more see Founder: Elder Watson Diggs, by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.; Alumni Profiles, Elder Watson Diggs, by Indiana University Alumni Association; and a pencil drawing of Elder W. Diggs by Vertine Young available in the Indiana Historical Society's Great Black Hoosier Americans collection.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North, Military & Veterans, Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Christian County, Kentucky / Terre Haute and Indianapolis, Indiana

Dowe, Jessica
Birth Year : 1956
From 2003-2005, Dr. Dowe practiced medicine in Munfordville, KY, the first African American to do so; she practiced with Dr. James Middleton at the Family Medicine Clinic of Hart County. Dr. Dowe is also one of the original board members of the Munfordville YMCA. She is also a speaker with the American Medical Association (AMA) Minority Affairs Consortium, "Doctors Back to School," a program that encourages elementary children to consider medicine as a career. Dr. Dowe has a number of publications and many years experience as a pharmaceutical and toxicology researcher, and she serves as an investigator in clinical pharmacology research for a number of companies. She has also served as Medical Services Director at the Jefferson County Department of Corrections. Dr. Dowe presently practices medicine in Elizabethtown, KY, and is a clinical instructor in Family and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Louisville. She is also a charter member for the first Faith-based Recovery Program for Addiction in Elizabethtown; the program is associated with the First Baptist Church, which is led by Reverend B. T. Bishop. Dr. Dowe was born in Alabama and is the daughter of Jessie and Janie Dowe. She graduated in 1978 from Dillard University with a degree in chemistry, earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology at Howard University, and attended the University of Louisville, where she earned her MD in 1996. This information is taken from, with permission, the curriculum vita of Dr. Jessica Dowe. Contact Dr. Dowe at Xavier Healthcare in Elizabethtown, KY, for more information.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Kentucky African American Churches, Medical Field, Health Care, Migration North, Religion & Church Work, Researchers, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership, YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association)
Geographic Region: Munfordville, Hart County, Kentucky / Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky / Alabama

DuBois School (Mt. Sterling, KY)
Start Year : 1921
End Year : 1964
In August of 1964, as African American parents were preparing to boycott the city schools to protest a change in the school integration plans, the DuBois School was burned down. The fire was the result of arson, as was the fire that destroyed the African American Masonic Hall. The DuBois school, probably built in 1921, was an African American school with grades 1-12. The Mt. Sterling police department was put on alert against any attempt to also burn the three schools for whites. The FBI and the Kentucky State Department of Public Safety investigated the fire; the DuBois School fire had been set while the Mt. Sterling Fire Department was answering a call at one of the white schools on the opposite end of town. The Masonic Hall was owned by W. D. Banks, an undertaker who was also a leader and active member of the Mt. Sterling NAACP Branch. Banks had been meeting with the School Board to discuss the change in plans to integrate two grades rather than the original plan to integrate the entire school system. The change had come about after it was learned that more African American students than were expected had registered to attend the school for whites. With the burning of DuBois School, an emergency School Board meeting was held behind closed doors, and the Mt. Sterling schools' classes were suspended until September 8, 1964. Louisville lawyer James A. Crumlin, Sr. was hired by African American parents in preparation for a lawsuit to force the schools to integrate. The Mt. Sterling school system was one of the last to integrate in Kentucky. For more see "All-Negro school in Mt. Sterling, KY, destroyed by fire," North Adams Transcript, 08/31/1964, p. 1; and "School Desegregation" records at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky

Dunlap, Mollie E.
Birth Year : 1898
Death Year : 1977
Born in Paducah, KY, Dunlap received her library degree from the University of Michigan in 1931. She was an instructor at Wilberforce University (1918-1923), returning in 1947. Dunlap was also a librarian at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina (1934-1947). She was also assistant editor of the Negro College Quarterly (1944-1947), authoring several bibliographical studies of Negro literature that were published in the journal. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950; and Notable Black American Women, Book II, ed. by J. C. Smith.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Migration North, Migration East
Geographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / Wilberforce, Ohio / Winston-Salem, North Carolina

DuValle, Lucie N.
Birth Year : 1868
Death Year : 1928
Lucie [sometimes spelled Lucy] DuValle was the first female principal in Louisville public schools, the highest paid African American in the city. She also held the first parents meeting (later known as PTA). The Lucie N. DuValle Junior High School was named in her honor; the school opened in 1952. It had previously been the Joseph S. Cotter Elementary School, today it is the Carter DuValle Eduction Center. The Park DuValle neighborhood is located on the west end of Louisville. For more see The Encyclopedia of Louisville, ed. by J. E. Kleber.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

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

Ecton, Virgil E.
Birth Year : 1940
Ecton was born in Paris, KY. He is a graduate of Indiana University (1962) and Xavier University. For 31 years he was employed at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and served as the Executive Vice President and COO before leaving the organization in 2001 to become Vice President of University Advancement at Howard University. Ecton is known for his exceptional fund raising ability: he raised more than 1.6 billion dollars while employed at UNCF. He is a founding member of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives' Certification Board. For more see Howard Advancement and Capstone Currents, both Howard University websites; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1975-2006.
Subjects: Businesses, Education and Educators, Migration North, United Negro College Fund (UNCF)
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Washington, D.C.

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

Exum, William
Birth Year : 1910
Death Year : 1988
Exum, born in Illinois, was the first African American varsity football player at the University of Wisconsin. He was both an outstanding track star and student at Wisconsin, completing his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate. His father's family had originally come from Mississippi and Tennessee, and his maternal grandmother was from Kentucky, according to the 1920 U.S. Federal Census. William Exum's family settled in Gary, Indiana; after he graduated from high school, he left Indiana to attend school in Wisconsin. In 1949 Exum was hired as head of the Kentucky State University (KSU) Physical Education Department and later was made head of the Athletics Department, sometimes coaching various sports teams. In 1964 he coached the KSU men's cross country team to an NCAA Division II championship. He was the manager of the United States Track and Field teams at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. In 1978 the National Association of College Directors of Athletics inducted him into the Hall of Fame. Exum retired from KSU in 1980. The William Exum Athletic Center at KSU was named in his honor in 1994. William Exum was the son of William (b.1868 in MS) and Ruth Exum (b.1876 in IL). For more see Wisconsin Badgers; and N. C. Bates, "Exum a great athlete and coach," Post-Tribune (IN), 02/06/2003, Neighbors section, p. B2.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Education and Educators, Migration North, Track & Field, Migration East, Migration South
Geographic Region: Illinois / Mississippi / Tennessee / Gary, Indiana / Wisconsin / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Finney, Nikky
Birth Year : 1957
Born in Conway, South Carolina, Finney is an associate professor of creative writing and a former director of the African American Studies and Research Program at the University of Kentucky. She is a graduate of Talladega College in Alabama. She is a nationally recognized poet and author of three books of poetry: On Wings Made of Gauze, Rice, and The World is Round. Her work has also been published in anthologies. She was a screenwriter on the documentary, M & M. Smith: for posterity's sake. For more see "BIBR talks to Nikky Finney," Black Issues Book Review, March/April 2003, vol. 5, issue 2, pp. 28-29; K. Hamilton, "You are only as writerly as the last thing you've written," in Monty, a supplement to the print magazine, Montpelier at James Madison University; and D. Shafa, "Stepping up," Kentucky Kernel, 09/27/06, Campus News section.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration West, Poets
Geographic Region: Conway, South Carolina / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Foster, James A.
Birth Year : 1837
Death Year : 1891
Reverend Foster, a Kentucky native who had a limited education, was involved in establishing higher education for African Americans in Alabama. He gained his prominence via the church, serving as the first recording secretary of the Colored Baptist of Alabama State Convention and later as convention president. He had left Kentucky for Alabama when he was a young man, and it is not known if he was ever enslaved. Foster was ordained in Montgomery in 1867 and served as pastor at Mt. Meigs Church and Columbus Street Church. He was a trustee of the Alabama State Normal School and Swayne School. Alabama State Normal was originally Lincoln School in Marion, AL, and later became Lincoln Normal. In 1887, the school was moved to Montgomery and renamed Alabama State Normal School [now Alabama State University]. Swayne School opened in 1867 and was renamed Talladega College in 1869 [now Talladega University]. Reverend Foster was also one of the original incorporators of Selma University in 1881; the school was founded in 1878 as Alabama Baptist Normal and Theological School for the training of ministers and teachers. For more see "Reverend James A. Foster" in The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists of Alabama, by C. O. Boothe, pp. 141-142 [available full-text at UNC Documenting the American South].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work, Migration South
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Montgomery, Alabama

Fouse, William H.
Birth Year : 1868
Death Year : 1944
Fouse was the first African American graduate of Otterbein College in Ohio. He served as principal of Russell School and was the first principal of old Dunbar High School as well as supervisor of African American schools in Lexington, KY. He developed the Bluegrass Oratorical Association and the Bluegrass Athletic Association. He was married to Elizabeth R. Fouse. For more see Fouse Family Papers in the Kentuckiana Digital Library, and Who's Who of the Colored Race. A general biographical dictionary of men and women of African descent, vol. 1, edited by F. L. Mather.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Freeman, Maggie L.
Birth Year : 1875
Freeman was an educator and an early African American woman school principal in Bourbon County, KY. She was born in Bourbon County, the daughter of Mary and Willis Freeman. According to the U.S. Federal Census, in 1910, she was a high school teacher at the Colored School in Paris, living with her father. Freeman had been a teacher at the school since 1903 when she was elected as one of the six teachers under principal J. C. Stone. She became the principal of the Bourbon County Training School around 1911. The school was located in Little Rock and was still in operation in 1933. For more see "Teachers Elected," The Bourbon News, 05/15/1903, p. 5; and "Bourbon County Training School" on pp. 264-265 in Negro Education by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Bulletin 1916, NO. 39, Volume II [available full-text in Google Book Search].
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Paris and Little Rock, Bourbon County, Kentucky

Furman, James B.
Birth Year : 1937
Death Year : 1989
Born in Louisville, KY, Furman was a composer, teacher, choral director and church musician. Best known as a choral composer, he composed more than 50 works. Furman attended public schools in Louisville and received his B.A. (1958) and M. Mus. Ed. (1965) from the University of Louisville, completing his Ph. D. coursework at Brandeis University. For more see International Dictionary of Black Composers, ed. by S. A. Floyd, Jr.; James Furman, a website created by former student S. D. Severn; and  Who's Who Among African Americans, 1975-2004.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Gibson, William H., Sr.
Birth Year : 1829
Death Year : 1906
Gibson, the son of Amelia and Philip Gibson, was born free in Baltimore, MD, and moved to Louisville, KY, in 1847. He was a schoolteacher who helped found the United Brothers of Friendship and the Colored Orphan's Home. He was also president of the Colored Musical Association. Gibson wrote History of the United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, published in 1897; the book contains a career sketch of Gibson. For eight months, Gibson served as an appointed mail agent under the administration of President Grant. For more see The Encyclopedia of Louisville, ed. by J. E. Kleber; and L. M. Gibson, "William Henry Gibson," Negro History Bulletin, vol. 11, issue 9 (June 1948), p. 199.
Subjects: Authors, Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Postal Service, Orphans and Orphanages in Kentucky, Fraternal Organizations, Women's Groups and Organizations, Appointments by U.S. Presidents/Services for U.S. Presidents
Geographic Region: Baltimore, Maryland / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Girl Scout Troop 108 (Louisville, KY) - Dr. Bettye F. Baker
The following information comes from Dr. Bettye F. Baker, a native of Louisville, KY, who lived on South Western Parkway; the family home was built by Samuel Plato. Dr. Baker was a member of the first African American Girl Scout Troop in Louisville, Troop 108. The troop leader, Ms. Sarah Bundy, lived in the 27th Street block of Chestnut Street. Dr. Baker was the first African American to represent Kentucky at the Girl Scout National Encampment in Cody, Wyoming, and the first African American president of the Kentucky State Girl Scout Conference. She won 3rd prize in the Lion's Club essay contest, "Why I love America," in 1950, but was denied entry into the Brown Hotel to receive her prize at the Lion's Club luncheon. Dr. Baker was among the first African Americans to attend the University of Louisville, where she earned her undergraduate degree; she earned her doctorate in educational administration at Columbia University. Dr. Baker is the author of What is Black? and has published a number of articles, poems, and two juvenile novels that are currently in-print. She lives in Pennsylvania. For more information contact Dr. Bettye F. Baker.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Scouts (Boys and Girls), Migration North, Children's Books and Music
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Cody, Wyoming / Pennsylvania

Gleason, Eliza Atkins
Birth Year : 1909
Death Year : 2009
Eliza Atkins Gleason was born in North Carolina, she came to Kentucky in 1931 to take up her first library job at the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes. In 1932 she became head librarian and also taught library classes in the new library department that she had created. The department, in conjunction with the Louisville Western Colored Branch Library, was established to continue offering the only library classes for African Americans in Kentucky between 1932 and 1951. Dr. Gleason left Kentucky in 1936, and in 1940 she graduated from the University of Chicago and became the first African American to earn a Ph. D. in librarianship. She was later hired at Atlanta University [now Clark Atlanta University], where she structured and organized the library school beginning in 1940 and would become the first African American library school dean 1941-1946. Decades later, Dr. Gleason returned to Louisville. She was a younger sister to librarian Olie Atkins Carpenter, and they were the daughters of Simon Green Atkins and Oleona Pegram Atkins. In 1892, Simon Green Atkins was the founder of what is today Winston-Salem State University, and his wife Oleona Atkins was a teacher and assistant principal at the school. For more see Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky, by R. F. Jones; Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines, vol. 24 (Sept. 1998-Aug. 1999); Who's Who in America, 38th-46th eds.; and Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award. For more on Simon G. Atkins, see the chapter "For Service Rather than Success" in Winston-Salem by F. V. Tursi. * Additional information for this entry was provided by Professor J. G. Carew at the University of Louisville, she is the daughter of Dr. Eliza A. Gleason.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Migration West
Geographic Region: Winston, North Carolina / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Atlanta, Georgia

Goodwin, Leoda E. Lynn
Birth Year : 1914
Death Year : 2005
Goodwin was born in Paducah, KY, where she graduated from Lincoln High School. When Leoda Lynn was a sophomore in college, her boyfriend and future husband, William Goodwin, encouraged her to enter the new popularity contest that was being held on campus. Goodwin represented her boyfriend's club, A.P.B, a fraternity. She won the title of 1929 Miss Kentucky State [Industrial College for Colored Persons], the first to hold the title. The 75th Anniversary of the event was held in 2004 at the school (now named Kentucky State University). After her marriage, Goodwin returned to college and earned her B.A. in mathematics from Kentucky State University and her M.A. in education from the University of Kentucky. She was a math teacher at old Dunbar High School and Bryan Station High School in Lexington, KY. For more see M. Davis, "Once a Queen, Always a Queen - first Miss Kentucky State has set example for rest to follow," Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/14/2004, p. D2; and Leoda Lynn Goodwin in "Obituaries and Memorials" in the Lexington Herald-Leader, 09/05/2005, City & Region section, p. B3.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Homecoming Queens, Pageants, Contests
Geographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Graham, Derrick
Birth Year : 1958
Born in Frankfort, KY, Graham has been an educator and, since 2003, an elected state representative (D-Frankfort): he was the first African American to serve the 57th District. Graham is a teacher at Frankfort High School. He was a city commissioner in Frankfort (1992-2000), and a student regent, and later a Board of Regent member at Kentucky State University. He received an endorsement from the Kentucky Education Association during his campaign for the House. Graham is a graduate of Kentucky State University (BA) and Ohio State University (MA). For more see A. Cross, "2003 Kentucky General Assembly: Legislators to watch," Lexington Herald-Leader, 02/02/2003, Extra section, p. 09X; Representative Derrick Graham web page; and contact the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Legislators, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Grant, Travis "The Machine"
Birth Year : 1950
Travis Grant was born in Clayton, AL, and played basketball at Barbour County High School. He played college ball at Kentucky State University, where he led the team to three consecutive NAIA Championships: 1970, 1971, and 1972. He led the team in scoring his freshman year in 1969. The teams were coached by Lucias Mitchell. ESPN journalist Mary Buckheit referred to Grant as the "most prolific scorer in college basketball history." Grant has won a number of awards and holds the NCAA All-Divisions all-time record for field goals in a career (1,760). He also held NAIA records for Career Points Average (33.4) and is fourth on the NCAA All-Divisions list for total points in a season with 1,304 points. He is 11th for single-season average with 39.5 points in 1972. In a game against Northwood, Travis Grant scored 75 points. He was selected first round, 13th pick, by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1972 NBA Draft. Grant played for four seasons in both the NBA and the ABA, averaging 15.7 points per game. During the 1973-74 season, he averaged 25.2 points per game while playing for the San Diego Conquistadors. in 2009, Travis Grant was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, MO. After his basketball career, Grant became a high school teacher and coach, and in 2008 was an assistant principal and athletic director at Stephenson High School in Atlanta, GA. For additional information see "College basketball's all-time scorer lives in obscurity," by M. Buckheit, 02/22/08, at ESPN.com [available online]; Travis Grant at Lakers.com; M. Story, "A man, a machine and a champion - in 1971, KSU's Grant played on arguably the best team in KY," Lexington Herald-Leader, 04/26/2009, Sports section, p. B2; and Travis Grant in Basketball, by D. L. Porter. This entry was submitted by Lacy L. Rice, Jr.
Subjects: Basketball, Education and Educators, Migration North
Geographic Region: Clayton, Alabama / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Grear, William A. "Bill"
Birth Year : 1923
Death Year : 2006
Grear was born in Russellville, KY, the son of Oretha Williams Grear and Charles C. Grear. He was the first African American-elected official in Florida: in 1968 Grear was elected city commissioner of the City of Belle Glade. He was elected vice mayor in 1974 and mayor in 1975. Grear was also owner of B and E Rubber Stamps and Trophies. He was a barber and a director of a child development center. He was the husband of Effie Carter Grear, a school teacher and principal of Glades Central High School. For more see Who's Who Among African Americans, 1975-2006 ; M. Malek, "Bill Grear, Belle Blade's first Black commissioner, dies at 82," The Palm Beach Post, 08/18/2006, Local section, p.2B; and African American Sites in Florida by K. M. McCarthy.
Subjects: Barbers, Businesses, Education and Educators, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Migration South, Mayors
Geographic Region: Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky / Belle Glade, Florida

Grundy, Chester
Birth Year : 1947
Grundy was born in 1947 in Louisville, KY. He is a 1969 graduate of the University of Kentucky (UK), where, as a student, he helped establish the school's Black Student Union. Grundy has been an administrator with UK for more than 30 years, serving as the director of the Office of African American Student Affairs [now the Office of Multicultural and Academic Affairs] and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Center. He is presently the Director of Multicultural Student Programming. Over the years, Chester has been a mentor, counselor, role model, and friend, one who clearly recognizes factors outside the classroom that can impact a student's goal to graduate from the University of Kentucky. Chester Grundy also helped establish the nationally recognized UK "Spotlight Jazz Series" and arranged for a number of nationally and internationally renowned speakers to visit the University of Kentucky campus. In the Lexington community, Chester Grundy co-founded the annual Roots and Heritage Festival and the Martin Luther King annual celebration. For more see Chester Grundy on the HistoryMakers website; the Chester Grundy entry in the 1997 Leaders Awards, by the Lane Report; and many articles in local newspapers. Contact Chester Grundy. See also the Chester Grundy sound recording interview in the Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project, 1900-1989 at Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Civic Leaders, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Guthrie, Robert V.
Birth Year : 1930
Death Year : 2005
A few weeks after Guthrie and his twin brother were born, the family moved to Richmond, KY, then to Lexington, KY. His father, P. L. Guthrie, was a former principal of old Dunbar High School. Guthrie was a veteran of the Korean War. He earned his undergraduate degree at Florida A&M and then enrolled at the University of Kentucky in 1955, where he received his master's degree in psychology. He earned his doctorate at International University in 1970. He would go on to become one of the most influential African American scholars. Guthrie was the first African American psychologist to place his papers in the National Archives of American Psychology. He is author of numerous books, including Even the Rat Was White; a Historical View of Psychology. Guthrie was the first African American faculty member at San Diego Mesa College. Decades later, he returned to live in San Diego, where he is buried. For more see An 'American psychologist'; and J. Williams, "Robert V. Guthrie, 75; noted psychology educator," San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/12/2005, Obituaries column, p. B6.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care, Migration West, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / San Diego, California

Halliburton, Cecil D.
Birth Year : 1900
Death Year : 1956
Halliburton was born in Hickman, KY, the son of George T. and Mattie Halliburton, and he was the husband of Mary Jane Adams Halliburton. A social scientist and journalist, Cecil Halliburton received his A.B. degree from Lincoln University in 1923, attended graduate school at the New York School of Social Work in 1930, and earned an M A. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1933. He was a member of the social science department at St. Augustine's College from 1930-1950. He became President of Voorhees School and Junior College in 1950. He is the author of History of St. Augustine's College (1937) and served as editor and columnist with the Carolinian (NC) and the Philadelphia Tribune. Cecil Halliburton died in Nashville, TN, in 1956. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Migration North, Sociologists & Social Scientists, Migration South
Geographic Region: Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky / Nashville, Tennessee

Harden, Katie V.
Born in Lexington, KY, Harden taught school in Kirksville, KY, and later in Lexington. She was an unmarried woman who had her own horse and vehicle. She purchased land on which she later built her house. For more see Biographical Sketches of Prominent Negro Men and Women of Kentucky, by W. D. Johnson.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Kirksville, Madison County, Kentucky

Hardin, John A.
Birth Year : 1948
Hardin is presently Assistant to the Provost for Diversity Enhancement at Western Kentucky University (WKU), where he has served in several capacities, including associate professor of history. He is author of numerous articles and has published two books: Fifty years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904-1954 and Onward and Upward: a Centennial History of Kentucky State University, 1886-1986. His primary research interests are 20th Century African American history, Kentucky history, and the history of higher education. For more see John A. Hardin on the WKU Department of History website.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Historians
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky

Harris, Kevin L.
Birth Year : 1975
Kevin Harris was born in Lexington, KY, the son of Margaret Jones and the late John L. Harris, both from Paris, KY. Kevin Harris is a jazz pianist who plays contemporary and traditional music. He has been featured on National Public Radio's Jazz with Eric in the Evening [WGBH Jazz and Blues streams] and was invited by the mayor of New Orleans to perform for the Alpha Phi Alpha Forum at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. Each year, the Kevin Harris Project trio performs throughout the United States. The trio includes Harris, Steve Langone, and Keala Kaumeheiwa. The ensemble performs educational programs designed for grades K-12 to introduce various styles of improvised music and cultural awareness. Harris is also a music teacher, giving instruction in trumpet, piano, and jazz band at the Cambridge Friends School in Boston, Massachusetts; he also provides private music instruction. He has started five separate band programs throughout the Greater Boston area. Kevin Harris is a graduate of Bryan Station High School in Lexington, Morehead State University, and the New England Conservatory of Music. His first album, Patient Harvest, was released in 2002, his second, The Butterfly Chronicles, in 2007. For more information see The Kevin Harris Project, and J. Perry, "For jazz trio, a conversation in musical notes [online article version]," The Boston Globe, 04/17/2009, Scene & Heard section.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Boston, Massachusetts

Harrison-Pace, Yolantha
Harrison-Pace, who lives in Danville, KY, is a performing arts specialist. For 30 years she has designed and facilitated academic programs in dance and the performing arts, most recently in the Danville/Boyle County area. She also conducts storytelling and poetry writing workshops, is the founder and facilitator of V.O.I.C.E. (Voices of Influence Creating Encouragement) and S.P.E.A.K.!!! (Stop, Please End Abuse to Kids!!!), and is the author of a book of poetry, Wing-Plucked Butterfly (Neshee Publication, 2004). Harrison-Pace has received a number of awards and honors, including the 2004 YOUnity Guild Humanitarian of the Year Award and the 2004 Urban Spectrum Poetry Book of the Year Award. For more see Yolantha Harrison-Pace on the Kentucky Arts Council website.
Subjects: Artists, Fine Arts, Authors, Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Poets
Geographic Region: Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky

Hatchett, Hilary R., Jr.
Birth Year : 1918
Hilary Rice Hatchett was born in Lexington, KY. He studied at the Julliard School of Music [now The Julliard School], then was the director of the Negro soldier chorus, a concert band, and an opera theatre during World War II in Sicily (1943). Hatchett earned his master's degree, for which he wrote his thesis, A Study of Current Attitudes Toward the Negro Spiritual with a Classification of 500 Spirituals Based on Their Religious Content, in 1946 at Ohio State University. Hatchett was next the superintendent of music for the Colored schools in Greenville, SC, 1946-1948, and acting chair of the Department of Fine Arts at Savannah State College [now Savannah State University] beginning in 1948. He co-authored the Savannah State College Hymn. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950; and Savannah State College Hymn.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Military & Veterans, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Migration South
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Greenville, South Carolina / Savannah, Georgia

Hathaway, James S.
Birth Year : 1862
Death Year : 1930
Hathaway was born in Mt. Sterling, KY, the son of Lewis and Ann Hathaway. He was the husband of Celia Hathaway. James Hathaway was a teacher in Kentucky schools. He organized and established The Standard Printing and Publishing Company in Lexington. He taught at Berea College for ten years, then later became the 3rd president of Kentucky State Institute for Negroes [now Kentucky State University] in 1902. Hathaway had also been president of the State Association of Colored Teachers [renamed Kentucky Negro Educational Association], 1889-1890. He was the principal of Richmond High School in Richmond, KY, when he died in 1930. For more see Biographical Sketches of Prominent Negro Men and Women of Kentucky, by W. D. Johnson; and Office of the President Records (Kentucky State University) in the the Kentuckiana Digital Library.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Berea and Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Hayes, Edythe J.
Birth Year : 1933
Death Year : 1999
Hayes, born in Selma, AL, began teaching in the Lexington, KY, Carver Elementary School in 1953; she later became a principal and earned promotions to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Fayette County Schools, the first African American at that post. She was also the first African American woman on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees. Hayes retired in 1996. The Edith J. Hayes Middle School was completed in 2004. For more see the Lexington Herald-Leader articles, J. Hewlett, "Edythe Jones Hayes 1933-1999." 02/24/99, City&Region, p. B1, and L. Deffendall, "Fayette County breaks ground on Edythe J. Hayes Middle School," 03/25/03, City&Region section, p. B3; and the sound recording interview with Edythe Larcena Jones Hayes in Blacks in Lexington Oral History Projects, 1900-1989 at Special Collections and Digital Programs, University of Kentucky.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Selma, Alabama / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Hicks, Madeline Maupin
Birth Year : 1948
Hicks was the first African American female to attend the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, she is a 1975 graduate. She earned her undergradate degree in biology from Indiana University in 1970. Dr. Hicks teaches denistry courses at the University of Louisville Denistry School, she has also had a private dental practice. She is the daughter of Madeline Taylor Maupin and Milburn T. Maupin . For more see Not Without Struggle by J. B. Horton; and Dr. Madeline Hicks in Who's Who in Black Louisville, Inaugural Edition, p.112.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care, Dentists
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Hill, Carl M.
Hill was president of Kentucky State College, 1962-1975; he added four undergraduate departments, a gradate school, a special Black Collection to the library. Under his leadership, the school became Kentucky State University.  Hill had the second longest tenure as president of Kentucky Sate University. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan.
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Hodge, W. J.
Birth Year : 1920
Death Year : 2000
W. J. Hodge was born in Texas and came to Louisville, KY, in 1957 to become pastor of the Fifth Street Baptist Church. In 1958 he was elected president of the Louisville Chapter of the NAACP and in 1962 was elected president of the Kentucky Conference of the NAACP.  Hodge helped organize the 1964 March on Frankfort in support of the Kentucky Civil Rights Law. In 1977, Hodge became the first African American president of the Louisville Board of Alderman; he resigned from the board in 1982 to become president of Simmons Bible College. For more see "Mayor, 45 councilmen are black city officials," in 1978 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Fifth Report, by the Commission on Human Rights, p. 20; Y. D. Coleman, "First Black Alderman president recently honored with a resolution," The Louisville Defender, 03/12/1992, p. 4; and T. Shannon, "W. J. Hodge," Courier-Journal, 12/28/2000, NEWS section, p. 01A.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Kentucky African American Churches, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Religion & Church Work, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Geographic Region: Texas / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Holland, George W.
Birth Year : 1874
Holland was born in Ruddles Mills, KY. He taught school in Kentucky, then in 1895 moved to Springfield, OH, where he was employed as a postal clerk. Holland later became head of the postal division of Crowell Publishing Company. [The Crowell Publishing Company, located in Springfield, OH, was owned by Lexington, KY, native John Stephen Crowell (1850-1921). In 1934, the company merged to become Crowell-Collier Publishing Company.] In addition to being an employee at the publishing company, George Holland was also president of the Colored Men's Council and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of 1924. For more about George Holland see Chapter 9 of The History of Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Ohio, by C. H. Wesley [available online at mastermasons.com]. For more about the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company see the company records, 1931-1955 [inventory notes (.pdf)], at New York Public Library.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Migration North, Postal Service, Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Ruddles Mills, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Springfield, Ohio

Holland, James P.
Birth Year : 1934
Death Year : 1998
James Phillips Holland was the first African American from Kentucky to be named to West Point Military Academy. He was 19 years old when the nomination was made by Republican Senator John Sherman Cooper, with recommendation by Kentucky State College President R. B. Atwood. Born in Bowling Green, KY, Holland was valedictorian of his graduating class at State Street High School. He received his bachelor's degree from Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] in 1956 and his master's degree (1958) and PH. D. (1961) in endocrinology from Indiana University. He was a professor of Zoology at Indiana University, where his research explored how reproductive physiology is influenced by thyroid gland activity. The James P. Holland Memorial Lecture Series was established in 2000 at Indiana University; the school also offers the James P. Holland Fellowship in Biology. For more see "Senator names first Kentucky Negro to West Point," Jet, 03/25/1924, p.6 [article available full text at Google Book Search]; Dr. James Holland biography on the Jim Holland Summer Enrichment Program in Biology site at Indiana University; the James P. Holland Memorial Lecture Series; S. Williams, "Inaugural Holland Lecture Monday at Whittenberger Auditorium," at Indiana University; and Scientists in the Black Perspective, by H. A. Young and B. H. Young.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North, Zoologists
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / Indiana

Hood, Robert E.
Birth Year : 1936
Death Year : 1994
Hood was born in Louisville, KY, the son of Blanche and George R. Hood. He was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, where he was the first African American president of the student body. He was also a graduate of General Theological Seminary, the University of Chicago and the Oxford University. In 1984, he was an administrative assistant to Bishop Desmond Tutu: Hood was a historian in the areas of religion and race. He had been a professor at the General Theological Seminary, and prior to his death, was director of the Center for African American Studies at Adelphi University. Hood was also author of Must God Remain Greek?: Afro cultures and God-talk, Begrimed and Black: Christian traditions on Blacks and blackness, and several other books. For more see "Dr. Robert E. Hood, theologian, 58, dies," New York Times, 08/12/1994, p. A21; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1994-1997.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration North, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Long Island, New York

Hooks, Julia Britton
Birth Year : 1852
Death Year : 1942
Hooks was born in Frankfort, KY. A musician, social worker, educator, and juvenile court officer, she and her husband managed a juvenile detention home that was opened next to their house in Memphis. One of the wards killed her husband. Hooks went on to help found the Old Folks and Orphans Home. Julia Hooks was the daughter of Henry and Laura Marshall Britton. She was mother of photographers Henry and Robert Hooks, grandmother to Benjamin Hooks, and sister to Dr. Mary E. Britton. For more see Julia Hooks a website of the African American Registry; Notable Black American Women, ed. by J. C. Smith; Julia Hooks entry in the Afro-American Encyclopaedia: Or, the Thoughts, Doings..., by James T. Haley, pp. 563-565 [from the UNC Library's Documenting the American South website]; and the Julia Britton Hooks entry by S. Lewis in The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture [online version]..
Subjects: Education and Educators, Mothers, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Corrections and Police, Social Workers, Migration South, Grandparents
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Memphis, Tennessee

Hopkinsville Male and Female College
Start Year : 1883
End Year : 1915
P. T. Frazer was the principal of the school until it closed some time around 1915 due to a lawsuit between Frazer and the school trustees. The school, owned by Baptist associations, had six teachers. Located on five acres of land, it was an elementary and high school that could house up to 50 boarders. When the school closed, there was an 11th grade high school available to Colored students in Hopkinsville, KY, that was supported by the city. For more see p.277 of Negro Education, by T. J. Jones [available online at Google Book Search]; and Annual catalogue of the Hopkinsville M. & F. College, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. For the school's continuation see the entry Hopkinsville College of the Bible.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

Hudson, J. Blaine, III
Birth Year : 1949
Born in Louisville, KY, Hudson is an activist for social change and a historian with an extensive knowledge of the history of African Americans in Kentucky. He is the former chair of the Pan-African Studies Department at the University of Louisville and the appointed Chair of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission. In 2005, Hudson was named Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville, one of the first African Americans to be named dean at a predominately white college in Kentucky. Hudson has authored a number of academic articles, is a contributing author, and is sole author of Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland and other books. Hudson earned his B.A. and M.A. at the University of Louisville and his doctorate in higher education administration at the University of Kentucky. For more see Who's Who Among African Americans, 1992-2007; Hudson recommended to lead College of Arts and Sciences, a University of Louisville website; Directory of American Scholars, 10th ed., vol. 5: Psychology, Sociology, & Education; and Blaine Hudson interview and biography, at KET Living the Story.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Education and Educators, Historians, Underground Railroad: Conductors, Escapes, Organizations, Research
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Hunn, Vanessa L.
Birth Year : 1958
Vanessa Hunn, a native of Lexington, KY, is the daughter of Demosthenes and Verline Hunn. A social worker for more than 20 years, in 2006 Vanessa Hunn became the first African American to earn a Ph. D. from the University of Kentucky College of Social Work; she was also the first to be admitted to the social work doctoral program at UK. Also in 2006, Hunn was the only recipient chosen nationwide to receive the Postdoctoral Fellowship in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Research from the Council on Social Work Education. The fellowship is for doctoral students preparing for leadership positions in mental health and substance abuse fields. Hunn's research examines "Depression, Self-Efficacy, Income, and Child Outcomes in African American Welfare Recipients." She is also the recipient of the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence Award and is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society and Alpha Delta Mu National Social Work Honor Society. In fall 2007, she became an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Southern Indiana. In addition to her Ph. D. in social work, Hunn earned both her bachelor's and master's from the University of Kentucky, where she also taught in the social work program.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Welfare (Social Services) Organizations, Migration North, Social Workers
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Evansville, Indiana

Hunter, Lawrence Vester [Noxubee Industrial School, Mississippi]
Start Year : 1891
End Year : 1958
Hunter was born in Bowling Green, KY. He was principal of Noxubee Industrial School in McLeod, Mississippi. The school was founded in 1898 by his father, Samuel J. Hunter (1865-1918) from Arkansas, and after his death, L. V. Hunter took over management of the school. The school produced a monthly publication titled Hunter's Horn. There are photo images of the school in the Digital Collection of the University of Mississippi Libraries. L. V. Hunter's mother was Minnie Esther Lane Hunter (1869-1942) from Macon, MS. L. V. Hunter was a graduate of Fisk University, and he was a WWI veteran. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37; and Sadye H. Wier: her life and work by S. H. Wier and G. R. Lewis. [Sadye Hunter Wier was a sister to Lawrence Vester Hunter.]
Subjects: Education and Educators, Military & Veterans, Migration South
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / McLeod, Mississippi

Integration at Gainesville Elementary (Hopkinsville, KY)
Start Year : 1965
When 27 year old Ronald I. Johnson became principal of the African American Gainesville Elementary School in 1965, it was thought to be the first integration of school administrative personnel in Hopkinsville, KY. Johnson had been a basketball coach for five years prior to becoming principal. For more see "White basketball coach heads Ky. Negro school," Jet, vol. 28, issue 15 (07/22/1965), p. 55.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

Jackman, Catherine
Birth Year : 1902
Jackman, born in Kentucky, was one of the first African American women to graduate from Centre College in Danville, KY. She was a school teacher in the Danville Public Schools, and was a member of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association as early as 1928 and 1929. She later became a seamstress in the Rainbow Cleaners. Her husband, John Jackman was a bricklayer. The family lived in Colored Town, an African American community on the edge of Danville. In the late 1920s, the family lived on Lebanon Pike, and in 1930 their address was on Cowan Street, according to the U.S. Federal Census. Catherine Jackman's job at the cleaners would lead to her raising her employer's daughter, the girl's name was Mildred House. For more see the preface of Environmental Justice: creating equality, reclaiming democracy, by K. S. Shrader-Frechette.
Subjects: Communities, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Colored Town, Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky

Jackson, Blyden
Birth Year : 1910
Death Year : 2000
Born in Paducah, KY, and raised in Louisville, KY, Jackson was an editor, critic, essayist and activist. He was a graduate of Wilberforce University and the University of Michigan, where he earned his Ph.D. He was an English professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the first African American faculty member in a tenured faculty position. His wife, Roberta, was also a faculty member at the school. Blyden Jackson wrote The Waiting Years: Essays on American Negro Literature and A History of Afro-American Literature and co-authored Black Poetry in America: two essays in historical interpretation. Jackson, credited as a pioneer in the study of Black literature, also wrote many articles. In 1992, the admissions building at Chapel Hill was named in honor of Blyden and Roberta Jackson. Blyden Jackson was the brother of Reid E. Jackson, Sr. For more see the Roberta H. Jackson and Blyden Jackson Papers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library; "First tenured Black UNC professor dead at 89," The Associated Press State & Local Wire, 05/06/2000; and "The First Black faculty members at the nation's 50 flagship state universities," The Journal of Blacks in Higher Educaiton, no. 39 (Spring 2003), pp. 118-126.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration East
Geographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Jackson, Dennis M.
Birth Year : 1942
Jackson is from Murray, KY. In 1960 he was the first African American varsity athlete at Murray State University, where he played halfback for the football team and also ran track. His picture was included in the 1963 Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Track Champions photograph. He was a member of the 440 relay team, which tied an OVC record. Jackson graduated from Murray with his B.A. in physical education in 1965 and later earned his M.A. in secondary education administration. Jackson was not only an outstanding athlete in college; he had also been outstanding at Douglass High School and was inducted into the Kentucky High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2007, he was inducted into the Murray State Athletics Hall of Fame. Today Jackson is a part-time personnel director of the Paducah public schools; he retired from the school system in 2005. For more see L. L. Wright, "Jackson only wanted to play," Kentucky Post, 01/27/2007, Sports section, p. B7. Additional information provided by Murray State University Library.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Education and Educators, Football, Track & Field, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Murray, Calloway County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Jackson, John H.
Birth Year : 1850
Death Year : 1919
Educated at Berea College, Jackson was the last African American professor hired at the school before its 1904 segregation. He was the first president of the State Association of Colored Teachers [later named the Kentucky Negro Educational Association], first president of State Normal School for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University], and author of History of Education: from the Greeks to present time. He was the son of Jordon C. Jackson, Sr., a well-known businessman, and the brother of Jordan C. Jackson, Jr. John H. Jackson was born in Lexington, KY. Limited information about John H. Jackson can be found at Kentucky State University.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Berea, Madison County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Jackson-Sears, Pandora
Birth Year : 1963
Born in Madisonville, KY, Jackson-Sears is the daughter of Larry and Vivian Lewis. She is president and owner of Jackson-Sears and Associates and has over 17 years of minority and women's business development and diversity experience. In 2003, Gov. Paul Patton appointed her to the Kentucky Commission on the Small Business Advocacy Board. She is also an elementary school teacher in Louisville. She is the author of dipped in milk: conversations between an African-American son and his mother, which examines African American males raised in the suburbs and their struggle to fit in with their inner-city peers. For more see S. Bartholomy, "Parents face split decision," Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, 05/05/2004, B section, p. 1.
Subjects: Authors, Businesses, Education and Educators, Appointments by Kentucky Governors
Geographic Region: Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Jewett, John W.
Birth Year : 1870
Jewett was born near Lexington, KY. His parents later moved to Covington, KY, where he could attend school for free. He graduated from Gaines High School in Cincinnati, OH, in 1883, salutatorian of his class. He began teaching in Cadentown, KY, in 1890 and later served as president of the Fayette County Teachers Association. He also served as a Republican delegate to the State Conventions. For more see Biographical Sketches of Prominent Negro Men and Women of Kentucky, by W. D. Johnson.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North
Geographic Region: Lexington and Cadentown, Fayette County, Kentucky / Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky / Cincinnati, Ohio

Johnson, Barbara
Birth Year : 1960
Johnson was born in Paris, KY. In 1997, she received a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award for adapting the Kentucky Education Reform Act's Extended School Service Program at the Paris Middle School. The program provided after-school and summer instruction and small group tutoring and support services such as transportation. For more see Barbara Johnson at the Milken Family Foundation website, and J. S. Shive, "Paris Middle Teacher Wins National Educator Award," Lexington Herald-Leader, 07/22/1998, Bluegrass Communities section, p. 11.
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky

Johnson, Christine Claybourne
Birth Year : 1909
Death Year : 1999
Johnson was born and raised in Versailles, KY, the daughter of Mattie A. Williams Claybourne and Braxton D. Claybourne. She graduated from the Versailles Colored high school in 1927. She won a gold medal for her poetry. She lived in Detroit in the 1940s, where she worked with the National Youth Administration and established day care centers in churches. Johnson attended nursing school and studied music before earning her undergraduate degree in biology from Loyola University in 1948. She earned a master's degree in education from DePaul University in 1950. Johnson was a member of the Nation of Islam and was principal and director of the University of Islam Primary School in Chicago. She traveled to Africa, Asia, and Europe. Johnson also published plays and poems; her poem, "Cadence," was published in Outlook Magazine. She was the author of Poems of Blackness and three children's textbooks: Muhammad's Children, ABC's of African History and Masks. For more see "Christine C. Johnson" in For Malcolm, by D. Randall and M. G. Burroughs; and A. Beeler, "Longtime teacher Christine Johnson," Chicago Tribune, 03/22/1999, Metro Chicago section, p. 7.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration North, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Poets, Children's Books and Music, Nurses
Geographic Region: Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky / Detroit, Michigan / Chicago, Illinois

Johnson, Gregory A.
Birth Year : 1966
In 1985, Greg Johnson became the first African American valedictorian graduate of Paducah Tilghman High School, located in Paducah, KY. Johnson had maintained a perfect 4.0 during his entire four years of high school. He and 140 other Presidential Scholars, including Lafayette High School graduate Jill Conway, were recognized by President Reagan during a ceremony held in the White House Rose Garden. The scholars spent a week in Washington, D.C. and also received $1,000 from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Greg Johnson was accepted at Brown University and graduated in 1989 with an AB in history and in 1993 with an MD. He earned an MPH in 1998 from Boston University. Johnson has been a medical doctor at Boston University and at Harvard University. Born in Paducah, KY, Greg is the son of Rochelle Johnson. For more see "Reagan recognizes two Kentucky scholars," Lexington Herald-Leader, 06/22/1985, City/State section, p. B2; "Gregory A. Johnson" at the Presidential Scholars Foundation website.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care
Geographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Johnson, Lyman T. [Johnson v. Board of Trustees]
Birth Year : 1906
Death Year : 1997
A teacher and assistant principal at Louisville schools, Johnson was a civil rights activist who fought for equal pay for African American teachers. He was head of the Louisville NAACP. His lawsuit desegregated the University of Kentucky (UK) in 1949. To commemorate the occasion, a historical marker was placed in front of Frazee Hall near the Student Center on the UK campus. Brother-in-law to Thomas F. Blue, Johnson was born in Columbia, TN, moving to Louisville in 1930 at the request of his sister, Cornelia Johnson Blue. He was a graduate of Knoxville Academy, Virginia Union College [now Virginia Union University], and the University of Michigan. The personal papers of Lyman T. Johnson are available at the University of Louisville Library. For more see The Rest of the Dream, by W. Hall; Lyman T. Johnson (interview) in the University of Kentucky Oral History Collection; and S. Stevens, Historical Marker to be dedicated for African American Commemoration at the UK Public Relations' website.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Migration North, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky, Court Cases
Geographic Region: Columbia, Tennessee / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Jones, Abel Bedford and Albert Thomas
Birth Year : 1810
The following information on the Jones brothers comes from Dr. Michael F. Murphy, Historian of Education at the University of Western Ontario, Canada; Dr. Murphy is working on a book about the schooling of colored and mulatto children in London, Ontario, Canada between 1826 and 1865. The Jones brothers played a major role in the schooling of these children. The brothers had been slaves in Madison County, KY. Abel was a field-hand and Albert worked for a millwright who owned a large merchant mill. Albert earned enough money to buy his freedom in 1833; he was 23 years old. He also purchased the freedom of Abel and a younger brother. The brothers immigrated to London, Upper Canada (now Ontario). Albert became a barber and merchant, and Abel was a barber and an herbal dentist. The brothers did quite well with their businesses. Abel may have been involved with the African American resettlement program. The brothers were interviewed by Samuel Ringgold Ward, S.G. Howe, and Benjamin Drew when these commentators reported on the condition of fugitive slaves in Canada. Abel's whereabouts are unknown after the mid 1850s. In 1866, Albert, often referred to as Dr. Jones, and his large family left London. Perhaps they returned to Kentucky. The Jones children were Betsy, Paul, Elizabeth, George B., A.O., Frances A., Victoria S?, Torreza O?, Albion, and Princess A. If you have more information or would like more information about Abel and Albert Jones, please contact Dr. Michael F. Murphy at murfy@sympatico.ca.
Subjects: Barbers, Businesses, Education and Educators, Fathers, Freedom, Medical Field, Health Care, Migration North, Dentists
Geographic Region: Madison County, Kentucky / London, (Upper Canada) Ontario, Canada

Jones, Della M. Lewis
Birth Year : 1903
Death Year : 2009
Della Jones was the oldest African American librarian in Kentucky, she was also the oldest alumna of Kentucky State University and the oldest resident in Grant Count, KY. Jones was a 1957 graduate of Kentucky State University and she received a doctor of humane honorary letters degree from the school in May of 2009. She had earlier attended Lincoln Institute and her first teaching position was in Wayne County, KY. The following year she took a teaching job in Boone County. Jones later taught at a segregated school in New Liberty and other schools in Kentucky. After the schools of Kentucky were integrated, Jones became librarian of the Owen County High School. In recognition of her longevity and educational contributions, May 14 was proclaimed Della Jones Day in Williamstown, KY. She was the last surviving member of the Ogg's Chapel C. M. E. Church in Williamstown, KY. Della Jones was the daughter of Richard and Sarah E. Jackson Lewis. She was the wife of the late Bradley Jones (1902-1969) who was a barber in the 1930s when the couple lived on the Northside of Cynthiana Street in Williamstown, according to the U.S. Federal Census. They had lived in the home since 1921. Della Jones was the great aunt of Kentucky House Member Reginald Meeks. For more see J. Baker-Nantz, "Call her Dr. Jones," Grant County News, 05/21/09, p.21; Della Jones obituary at stanleyfuneralhome.com; and S. Hopkins, "Kentucky State's oldest grad dies at 106," Lexington Herald Leader, 07/17/2009, p.B5.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Kentucky African American Churches, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Williamstown, Grant County, Kentucky

Jones, Gayl A.
Birth Year : 1949
Born in Lexington, KY, Jones was a noted author in the 1970s when she published Corregidora, Eva's Man, and White Rat. She is also a poet, short story writer, and novelist. She was a faculty member at the University of Michigan. Jones left the school in 1983 and lived for a while in Europe. She published The Healing in 1998, the year of her husband's suicide, after their return to the U.S.; they had settled in Lexington. Gayl Jones is the daughter of Franklin and Lucille Watson Jones. She is a graduate of Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Connecticut College (B.A.), and Brown University (M.A. & Ph.D.). For more see "The Saddest Story," Time Canada, vol. 151, issue 9, p. 42; The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature, edited by C. Buck; In Black and White. A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups, 3rd ed., edited by M. M. Spradling; and World Authors 1990-1995, by C. Thompson.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Poets, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Flint, Michigan / Europe

Kean, Henry Arthur, Sr.
Birth Year : 1894
Death Year : 1955
Born in Louisville, KY, the son of Alice and William T. Kean, Henry was the football coach at Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] from 1932 to 1943; the team was four times National Negro champion and Midwestern Athletic Association champion for 10 consecutive years. Kean was a graduate of Fisk University and Indiana University. He was a star athlete in football, basketball, baseball and tennis. He was also a mathematics teacher at Louisville Central High School. In 1943 Kean left Kentucky for Tennessee State College [now Tennessee State University]; that team won five national championships. Kean was the father of Henry A. Kean, Jr., who played forward for the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. Henry A. Kean was a brother to William L. "Bill" Kean. For more see Kentucky's Black Heritage, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights; In Black and White. A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups, 3rd ed. Supp.; and "Henry Arthur Kean" in the Kentucky State University Media Guide [2005-2006]. Additional information about Kean's time in Kentucky is available at CESKAA, Kentucky State University.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Education and Educators, Football, Migration South
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Nashville, Tennessee

Kendall, Joseph N.
Birth Year : 1909
Death Year : 1965
Kendall was born in Owensboro, KY. In July 2007, he became the first Kentucky State University inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, located in South Bend, IN. Kendall was considered one of the greatest passers in college football and a good all around player. He not only played quarterback, but was a running back, punted with both feet, and played on defense. In 1934, he led Kentucky State University to a national black college football championship and an undefeated season. In 1935, he led the team to an Orange Blossom Classic victory. The Pittsburgh Courier named Kendall a First Team All-America three times between 1934-36. He was inducted into the Kentucky State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1975. During Kendall's college football career, Kentucky State had a 29-7-3 record. He was selected for the African American All-Star team that played against the Chicago Bears in 1935; it was the first time that an African American team played against an NFL team. Kendall was also a good baseball and basketball player. He served in the Army for two years, then graduated from Kentucky State in 1938. His original higher education plan had been to attend Paducah to study culinary arts, but once he was seen playing football, he was encouraged to enroll and play for Kentucky State. After college, he was hired to teach and coach at the African American Rosenwald High School in Harlan, KY, and in 1946 became principal of the school. In 1948, he returned to Owensboro to become the football coach at the school he had graduated from, Western High School. The Kendall-Perkins Park in Owensboro is named in honor of Joseph N. Kendall and Joseph Perkins. For more see L. Vance, "College football hall of fame welcomes 3 African-American QBs," at blackathlete.net; S. Hagerman, "One of the finest: Late Western High standout to be inducted into College Football Hall of Fame," Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, 07/16/2007, section C, p.1; and contact CESKAA.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Football, Parks, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Harlan, Harlan County, Kentucky

Kentucky Carnegie Colored Libraries International Influence
The first Carnegie Colored Libraries were built in Louisville, KY: Western Branch in 1908 and Eastern Branch in 1914. The addition of the branches enhanced the recognition of the Louisville Free Public Library as the national leader in segregated library training and services for African Americans. There was an attempt on the part of the Carnegie Corporation to transfer the ideology to South Africa. In 1927, Frederick P. Keppel, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York visited South Africa and learned of the need for libraries. The corporation then sent Septimus A. Pitt and Milton J. Ferguson to Africa to asses the situation, and one of the outcomes from their visit was the development of the Non-European Library Service in South Africa. The Carnegie Corporation also provided grants to white South Africans for visits to libraries in the United States. In 1929, two of the visitors came to the Louisville Free Public Library seeking ideas on how to provide services to their “Negroes.” The visitors were Matthew W. Stirling, Librarian at Germiston, and Dugald Niven, Librarian at Bulawayo, Rhodesia [South Africa]. "We had the pleasure of showing them some of the colored work of the Louisville Free Public Library and they were very much impressed." The first Black librarian in South Africa, Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo (1903-1956), was employed by the Carnegie Non-European Library Service, 1937-1940. Dhlomo, a Zulu, had the title of Library Organizer at the headquarters in Germiston. For more see J. E. Holloway, “Negro Libraries in America,” Bantu World, Johannesburg, 12/19/1936, p. 8.; H.I.E. Dhlomo Collected Works, by N. Visser and T. Couzens; Memorandum: Libraries in the Union of South Africa, Rhodesia, and Kenya Colony [duplicate titles], one by S. A. Pitt and one by M. J. Ferguson; “Quarter of a century with library here is Settle’s record,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville), 12/29/1929, Section 2, p. 8; M. K. Rochester, "The Carnegie Corporation and South Africa: Non-European Library Services," Libraries & Culture, vol. 34, issue 1 (Winter 1999), pp. 27-51; and the quotation from the Louisville Free Public Library, Regular meeting Board of Trustees, Wednesday, November 13, 1929, item d.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / New York / Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa / Bulawayo, [Rhodesia] Zimbabwe

Kentucky Harmony Singers, [Housewife Training School] (Fulton, KY)
Start Year : 1923
End Year : 1936
The Kentucky Harmony Singers, from Fulton, KY, a women's quintet led by Mrs. Louise Malone Braxton (an educator, lecturer, and female bass singer), sang in churches and traveled throughout the country for several weeks at a time, performing Negro spirituals, and southern plantation and jubilee songs. The group's travels took them to Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nebraska, Missouri, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Indiana, New York, Wisconsin, Canada, and Mexico. The performances were initially a fund-raising effort for the building of the Housewife [or wives] Training School for Colored girls and women, located in Fulton. The school taught the students how to be good wives, including the art of homemaking. Four of the singing group members were students; funds from their later performances were used to pay for a dormitory and industrial department. There was no admission charge for the performances, but a "free-will offering" was collected at the end of each program. The group became a favorite at African American churches, and they continued performing for several years at not only churches but also at social functions held by such groups as the Kiwanis, the YMCA, the Ladies Aid Society, and the Exchange Club. Articles about the group first appeared in Illinois newspapers in 1923, and for the next 13 years there were announcements and articles in an array of town newspapers. In the 1930s, they were singing as a quartet to audiences with close to 1,000 in attendance. Louise M. Braxton, who was credited with founding five schools, was a graduate of Tuskegee Institute [now Tuskegee University]. She was described as being of French, Indian, Scotch Irish, and Negro descent. For more see "Mrs. Louise Braxton and Company please," Waterloo Evening Courier, 12/01/1923, p. 6; "Harmony Singers in concert here," The News-Palladium, 07/26/1929, p. 6; "Concerts are featured in two churches," The News-Palladium, 09/22/1930, p. 4; photo and caption, "Kentucky Harmony Singers here Sunday," The Piqua Daily Call, 02/21/1931, p. 10; and "Harmony quartet render concert," The Richwood Gazette, 11/19/1931, p. 1
Subjects: Education and Educators, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Religion & Church Work, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky, YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association)
Geographic Region: Fulton, Fulton County, Kentucky

Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal
Start Year : 1916
End Year : 1952
The publication is also known as KNEA Journal and informally known as the Negro or Black Education Journal. The journal covers African American education in Kentucky prior to integration. Full-text access is available to the public - from the 1916 Proceedings through vol. 23 (1952) - via the Kentuckiana Digital Library - Journals. Paper copies of the journal issues are also available at CESKAA, Kentucky State Univesity.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Kentucky

Kentucky State Collegians
Start Year : 1938
End Year : 1976
The collegians were college dance bands, one of which was located at Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University]. The Kentucky group, first called the Danny Williams Band of Chicago, had performed in 1938 for the Kentucky State Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, thanks to Mrs. Clarice J. Michaels, head of the school's music department. Michaels, a pianist and soprano, had been a member of the World Famous Williams Jubilee Singers, formed in 1904 by Charles P. Williams from Holly Springs, MS. C. P. Williams, who had migrated to Chicago, was the father of Danny Williams. Kentucky State Dean John T. Williams (no relation) persuaded President Rufus Atwood to enroll the Danny Williams Band members and allow them to become the school band for student and faculty dances. The contract stipulated performance payments for the band members from which school fees would be paid. Harvey C. Russell, Jr. president of the student council, became the group’s business manager. They performed on campus and throughout the state, including at white fraternity parties and dances at the University of Kentucky and at functions given by then Governor Happy Chandler. After a year, Kentucky State was no longer able to honor the contract because funding was tight, and Danny Williams and several band members left school. New student members were added to the group that then became known as the Kentucky State College Collegians. The band grew to include 16 members and continued performing until 1946, when John T. Williams was president of Maryland State College [now University of Maryland Eastern Shore] and the band members left to join him; they became the Maryland State Collegians. [Mrs. Clarice J. Michaels would also eventually move on to Maryland State.] One of the band members, Newman Terrell, returned to Kentucky to complete his studies, and he organized and led the new Kentucky State College Collegians. Both the group and the music department prospered; in 1962, the group was the third ranked jazz ensemble among small colleges, and President Carl M. Hill is credited with developing the school’s music department into an accredited program with 14 full-time music specialists. In 1976, several members of the Collegians left to form the group Midnight Star. For more see W. C. Swindell, "The Kentucky State Collegians," The Black Perspective in Music, vol. 15, issue 1 (Spring 1987), pp. 3-23; and Kentucky State University Archives.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Fathers, Migration North, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Chicago, Illinois / Holly Springs, Mississippi / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Princess Anne, Maryland

Kentucky State University (K-State)
Start Year : 1886
Originally named the State Normal School for Colored Persons, the school received funding from the Kentucky Legislature and opened in 1886. John H. Jackson, a Berea College graduate, was named president and charged with the mission of training Negro teachers for the state's Negro schools. For 20 years, Berea College, an integrated school, had been the main institution for the training of Negro teachers in Kentucky. At the new school, tuition was free to students who pledged to teach in Kentucky; four years later one quarter of the Negro teachers in the state were graduates of the State Normal School for Colored Persons. In 1890 the school became a land-grant college, and in 1902 the name was changed to Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons. After several additional name changes, references to race were removed in 1952 when the school became Kentucky State College. It was named Kentucky State University in 1973. In 1982 an additional mission was added with K-State aiming to become a major repository for the collection of artifacts, books, and records related to its history of educating black citizens; the Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans (CESKAA) houses that collection. Today, Kentucky State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges, and the school awards bachelor and associate degrees and the Master's of Public Administration degree. Kentucky State University is the state's Historically Black American College and University (HBCU). For more information about the history of the university see Onward and upward: a centennial history of Kentucky State University, 1886-1986 by J. A. Hardin; Against the tide: a narrative of a century long struggle ...," by A. J. Heartwell-Hunter; or visit the Kentucky State University Library and Archives and CESKAA.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Higher Education Before Desegregation, Kentucky
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Laine, Henry A.
Birth Year : 1869
Death Year : 1955
Laine was born near College Hill in Madison County, KY. He wrote many poems using Negro dialect. Laine was one of three poets invited to appear before the 1923 Kentucky Negro Education Association (KNEA) body; he read Fine Greetings to Colored Educators [full-text]. [The other two invited poets were Joseph C. Cotter, Sr. and Joseph C. Cotter, Jr.] Laine is also the author of Foot Prints (1914) [full-text]. He founded the Madison Colored Teachers Institute and was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2003. He was the father of Beatrice "Tommie" Holland. For more see Black American Writers Past and Present. A biographical and bibliographical dictionary, by T. G. Rush, et al.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Fathers, Poets
Geographic Region: College Hill, Madison County, Kentucky

Lattimore, Kirk
Birth Year : 1964
As principal of Crosby Middle School in Louisville, KY, Lattimore received a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award in 2001. Lattimore has instituted a number of programs, including the Men of Quality Mentoring Program, which partners African-American male students with role models from the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity to promote achievement and civic engagement. Lattimore was born in Plainfield, NJ. He is a graduate of Hampton University and the University of Louisville. For more see Kirk Lattimore at the Milken Family Foundation website; D. Carter, "Crosby Middle principal wins national award," Louisville Courier-Journal, 10/18/2001, News section, p.01B; and Kirk Lattimore in Who's Who in Black Louisville, 2nd ed.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration South, Fraternal Organizations
Geographic Region: Plainfield, New Jersey / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

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

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

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

Livisay, Charles H., Sr.
Birth Year : 1913
Death Year : 1990
Livisay was active in civil rights as both a civic leader and politician, and he is also remembered as an outstanding tennis and basketball player and an outstanding basketball coach at Douglass High School. Livisay, born in Lexington, KY, was a graduate of old Dunbar High School and a 1935 graduate of Kentucky State University. He taught for a year at Dunbar High School in Mayfield, KY, but left teaching due to the low pay and took a job with Mammoth Life Insurance. In 1943 he left that job to serve in the U.S. Army. Livisay returned to Lexington and was head basketball coach for 18 years at Douglass High. The team finished second to Louisville Central in the 1953 National Negro basketball tournament held in Nashville, TN, and the team took the Kentucky High School Athletic League (KHSAL) championship in 1954. Author Louis Stout credits Livisay as one of the first coaches to institute the "transition" game of basketball. The Douglass teams coached by Livisay had a record of 255 wins and 65 losses. His 1956 basketball team came in second in the KHSAL tournament and took second again in the National Negro basketball tournament. Following school integration, Livisay coached and taught at Bryan Station High School from 1966 until his retirement in 1974. Also while coaching basketball, in 1965, Livisay ran for the 54th District seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives; he lost to Foster Pettit. In 1979, he was appoint to the First District council seat in Lexington to complete the term of the late O. M. Travis. When the term ended, Livisay ran for the seat and was defeated by Edgar Wallace. Livisay also served as president of the Lexington Chapter of the NAACP. His tennis career coincided with his many other activities. Livisay was considered a star tennis player and participated in tournaments such as the one held in 1940 between African American tennis players from Louisville and Lexington. Team members were Albert "Happy" Ray, William Madden, Rice Stone, Leonard Mills, and Coach Ages Bryant. The matches took place in Lexington at Douglass Park. In 1975, Charles H. Livisay was inducted into the Kentucky State University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1993, he was inducted into the Dawahares-Kentucky High School Athletic Association Sports Hall of Fame. For more see "Tennis stars clash," Lexington Leader, 07/12/1940, p. 7, col. 4; 1993 KHSAA Hall of Fame [.pdf]; Shadows of the Past, by Louis Stout; S. Brown, "Charles Livisay; civic leader, ex-coach, dies; Black leader was role model in community," Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/01/1990, City/State section, p. C1; and the sound recording of the Charles Livisay interview in the Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project, 1900-1989, at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections and Digital Programs.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Basketball, Civic Leaders, Insurance Companies, Insurance Sales, Education and Educators, Military & Veterans, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Tennis, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

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

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

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

Magee, Lazarus and Susan [Rev. James H. Magee]
The Magees were born in Kentucky; Lazarus (d. 1870) was free, and Susan (d. 1868) was a slave belonging to Billy Smith of Louisville, KY. Lazarus purchased Susan and her two children, and the family moved to Madison County, Illinois. There would be many more children, and they were sent to Racine, WI, to be educated. One of the children was Reverend James H. Magee (1839-1912), who was president of the Colored Local Historical Society in Springfield, IL; he formed the Black Man's Burden Association in Chicago. J. H. Magee had attended Pastors College [now Spurgeon's College] in London, England, from 1867-1868. He was an ordained minister, a school teacher, and an outspoken advocate for African American voting rights and education. He has been referred to as a leader of the African American people in Springfield, IL. For more see B. Cavanagh, "history talk 04-28-05" at itonline (Illinois Times); and The Night of Affliction and the Morning of Recovery, by Rev. J. H. Magee.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Fathers, Freedom, Migration North, Mothers, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Springfield, Illinois

Malone, Robert E.
Birth Year : 1888
Death Year : 1944
Born in Louisville, KY, Malone was the last superintendent of the Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal School at Pine Bluff, Arkansas [now University of Arkansas Pine Bluff], 1922-1928. Following Malone's tenure, the head of the school was referred to as the president. Malone was also president of the Southwestern Life Insurance Company in Pine Bluff. He was author of A Study of 520 Rural Negro Homes in North Carolina, published by the North Carolina State Board of Vocational Education. Robert E. Malone was the son of Cora and Edward Malone. In 1900 the family lived on Nineteenth Street in Louisville, KY, and in 1910 they lived on West Magazine Street, according to the U.S. Federal Census, Edward Malone was a porter at the Post Office and his son Robert was a school teacher. Robert E. Malone was the husband of Mattie H. Malone (1891-1931), born in Virginia. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan.
Subjects: Authors, Businesses, Insurance Companies, Insurance Sales, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Pine Bluff, Arkansas / North Carolina

Marrs, Elijah P.
Birth Year : 1840
Death Year : 1910
Marrs wrote an autobiography of his life as a slave in Shelby County - Life and History of the Rev. Elijah P. Marrs [available on the University of North Carolina University Library's Documenting the American South website]. He was the son of Andrew Marrs, who was free, and Frances Marrs, who was a slave, both from Virginia. Marrs, who learned to read and write, left the plantation to become a Union solider. After the war, he was founder of several churches and the first African American school teacher in Simpsonville. Marrs also taught at the school held in a church in Braxton [Bracktown]. Elijah and his brother, J. C. Marrs, are credited as co-founders of Simmons University. After four years, Elijah Marrs sold his interest in the development of the school in 1874. For more see Notable Black American Men, by J. C. Smith; and Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1879-1930, by L. H. Williams.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Military & Veterans, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Simpsonville, Shelby County, Kentucky / Virginia / Bracktown [Braxton], Fayette County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Mason, Melvin T. "Mel"
Birth Year : 1943
Mason, a civil rights activist and an educator, was born and raised in Providence, KY. His family moved to Seaside, CA, where Mason was an outstanding basketball player at Monterey High School. He graduated in 1960 and would go on to play basketball at Monterey Peninsula (Junior) College [now Monterey Peninsula College, a community college], and left the school after his freshman year in 1961 to serve in the military. He was the youngest basketball player to be named All-Air Force. He led all branches of the military in scoring in Europe, and was named Air Force European Command Player of the Year in 1964. Problems that Mason considered racist in the military led to a Bad Conduct Discharge in 1965. With the help of U.S. Senator Thomas Kuchel from California, the discharge was overturned and changed to an Honorable Discharge. Mason returned to Monterey Peninsula College in 1966 and became the only All-America basketball player in the school's history and he is still the school's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Mason then received over 100 basketball scholarship offers from around the United States. He accepted a scholarship at Oregon State University, but lost his scholarship after taking a solitary stand against what he describes as "the racist treatment of Black students," thus ending his basketball career; he was banned from playing basketball at any college in the U.S. Mason earned his B.A. in social science at Golden Gate University, his M.A. in social work from San Jose State University, and a clinical social worker's license (LCSW) from the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. When he was an employee at Western Electric in Sunnyvale, CA, he helped form the Black Workers Unity Caucus to fight job discrimination and sexual harassment. Based on his work with the caucus, Mason was offered and accepted the invitation to join the Black Panther Party in 1968. In 1970, he organized a Black United Farmworkers Union Support Committee, and the first anti-police brutality campaigns on the Monterey Peninsula. In 1976, Mason was unsuccessful in his run for Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Board. He ran for governor of California in 1982, when he was ruled off the ballot. He was a city council member of Seaside, CA, where his voting record was investigated by the FBI due to his membership in the Socialist Workers Party. Mason ran for President of the United States in 1984 as a candidate of the Socialist Workers Party; he received 24,681 votes. He was a plaintiff in a successful lawsuit against the FBI and their use of the Counterintelligence Program against the Black Panther Party and other groups. Mason lived in New York 1985-1987, where he was part of the Anti-Apartheid Coalition in 1986, and helped form the largest Anti-Apartheid demonstration in the history of the movement, with over 300,000 people. Mason returned to Seaside, CA, in 1987, and in the early 1990s he became co-founder of the Regional Alliance for Progress Policy, and served as spokesperson and chairperson. He has founded and led a number of civil rights organizations and served on a number of boards. He is internationally known and has been the guest of Grenada Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, Sinn Fein in Ireland, the Aborigines in Australia, and the Maori people in New Zealand. Mason retired in 2006 after 10 years at California State University, Monterey Bay, which marked the end of a 40 year career as an educator, counselor, and mental health practitioner and director. He is a former president of the Monterey Peninsula Chapter of the NAACP and vice president of the California NAACP Conference. He is the author of Mel Mason: the making of a revolutionary. Mason has also received many awards including his induction into the Monterey Peninsula College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2007, Mason received the Civil Rights Legacy Award from the Monterey Peninsula Chapter of the NAACP. He is currently an appointee to the Access to Excellence Committee with the California State University System. The program is designed to increase the admission of minority students to CSU campuses. For more see S. Purewal, "A Revolutionary life," The Monterey County Herald, 07/03/2006, Top Story section, p. A1; and The Trial of Leonard Peltier, by J. Messerschmidt and W. M. Kunstler. Additional information was provided by Melvin T. Mason, contact him for a copy of his biography.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Basketball, Education and Educators, Migration West, Military & Veterans, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Geographic Region: Providence, Webster County, Kentucky / Seaside, California

Maull, Teresa
In 1977, Teresa Maull was the first African American graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Home Economics [now School of Human Environmental Sciences]. Maull is a home economics and science teacher at Paul L. Dunbar School in Lexington, KY. She is the niece of Cecil R. Madison, Sr. For more see Fifty Years of the University of Kentucky African-America Legacy, 1949-1999.
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

McClain, Paula Denice
Birth Year : 1950
McClain is a political science professor at Duke University with a focus on racial politics and urban politics, and she has a joint appointment with Sanford Institute of Public Policy [Duke University]. In 2007, McClain became the first African American to chair the Duke Academic Council, the leading governing body at the school. McClain has also authored several books, the most recent she co-authored in 2006: Can We All Get Along?: racial and ethnic minorities in American politics, 4th edition. The book received an award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the study of Human Rights in North America. Paula D. McClain was born in Louisville, KY, the daughter of Robert Landis and Mabel T. Molock McClain. She is a three time graduate of Howard University. For more see Paula McClain Curriculum Vitae and Diversity: Paula McClain, both Duke University websites; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1992-2006.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration East
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Durham, North Carolina

McKinley, John J. C.
Birth Year : 1852
Death Year : 1912
McKinley was born in Russellville, KY, the son of William J. McKinley and Mildred Bibb McKinley. He attended Berea College but had to leave when his mother lost her savings in the Freemen's Bank. McKinley taught in Danville, KY, and Louisville, KY, schools for a while, then became correspondent to the American Citizen (Lexington, KY) and wrote under the name "Video." In 1857 he was correspondent for the Western Review (Cincinnati, OH), writing under the name "Mack." He wrote under the same name for the Chicago Conservator in 1879. In 1880 he was associate editor of the Bulletin (Louisville, KY) and in 1885 wrote for the World under the name "Heft." McKinley and his wife, Julia B. McKinley (b.1866 in KY), lived on Magazine Street when John McKinley was teaching in Louisville, KY in 1900, according to the U.S. Federal Census. They were living at 724 S. 18th Street in Louisville when John McKinley passed away in 1912, he is buried in Eastern Cemetery, according to his death certificate. For more see Biographical Sketches of Prominent Negro Men and Women of Kentucky, by W. D. Johnson.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers
Geographic Region: Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky / Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Cincinnati, Ohio / Chicago, Illinois

Meachum, John Berry "J. B."
Birth Year : 1789
Death Year : 1854
Meachum was a slave born in Kentucky who later lived in Virginia. He was hired out and eventually purchased his freedom and that of his father, who was a Baptist preacher. Meachum and his father moved to St. Louis, MO, leaving Meachum's wife and children enslaved in Virginia. For the next eight years, Meachum worked as a cooper and carpenter, saving enough money to purchase his family in 1824. (In some sources, Meachum and his wife, Mary, a slave from Kentucky, are said to have gone to Missouri together.) Two years later, Meachum was ordained a minister and became pastor of the First African Baptist Church, a position he held until his death in 1854. He had helped found the church, which eventually grew to have more than 500 members. Meachum also owned slaves; he had more than 20 slaves, most of them children who worked to purchase their freedom. Meachum was considered a leader among the freemen and slaves; during his time, he was the most outspoken advocate in Missouri for the education of African Americans. Meachum's church was one of five in St. Louis that offered education under the guise of Sunday School. Each Sunday, more than 100 freemen and slaves (with permission) attended classes in the dark basement of Mechum's church. White sympathizers helped teach the classes and provided supplies for the school. One of the students was James Milton Turner (see the Hannah Turner entry). In 1847, although the abolitionist movement was gaining strength in Missouri, it became illegal for African Americans to receive educational instruction or to attend school. It was also illegal for African Americans to lead church services unless a white officer were present. Meachum's school was soon closed. The school was reopened on a steamboat in the Mississippi River; the boat was built by Meachum. For more see The Baptists in America (1836), by F. A. Cox and J. Hoby [available full-text at Google Book Search]; D. D. Bellamy, "The Education of Blacks in Missouri prior to 1861," The Journal of Negro History, vol. 59, issue 2 (Apr., 1974), pp. 143-157; and D. L. Durst, "The Reverend John Berry Meachum (1789-1854) of St. Louis," The North Star: a Journal of African American Religious History, vol. 7, issue 2 (Spring 2004), pp. 1-24 [pdf].
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Freedom, Migration West, Religion & Church Work, Carpenters, Sunday School, Free African American Slave Owners
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Virginia / Saint Louis, Missouri

Menifield, Norman L.
Birth Year : 1906
Menifield [who is probably the same person as Norman L. Merrifield] was born in Louisville, KY. He taught music at Austin High School (TN), Fisk University, Alabama State University and Hampton University. He was the dean of music at Florida A&M University and the chair of music at Crispus Attucks High School (IN). He wrote a symphony and a cantata published by W. C. Handy Music Co. Menifield wrote several articles and his thesis, A Study of Racial Differences in Musical Talent As Shown by Aptitude Tests (1934). For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Merriweather, Claybron W.
Birth Year : 1874
Death Year : 1952
Claybron Merriweatehr was born in Christian County, KY, the son of John and Mary Gwynn Merriweather, both former slaves. The Merriweathers lived in extreme poverty. Claybron eventually saved enough money to attend school and later became a schoolteacher and founded three newspapers. He was also a painter, using water colors and oils for his paintings. He is author of Light and Shadows, published in 1907, it was his first book. Merriweather was also a poet and went on to publish five additional books. He promoted his poetry by giving readings in various cities; in 1940 he was in Chicago and was on his way to Cleveland to give a dramatic reading before the Mission Convocation of the First Episcopal District. Claybron Merriweather was also a practicing lawyer, and had studied with the Black Stone Institute, which offered a home study course. He began his practice in 1908. Claybron Merriweather was the husband of Rosa Morgan Merriweather (c.1874-1935), born in KY, she was a school teacher in Paducah and in Hopkinsville, KY. The couple last lived at 1103 Coleman Street in Hopkinsville. They are buried in the Cane Spring Cemetery in Christian County, according to their death certificates. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians by A. A. Dunnigan; "C.W. Merriweather to give reading," Kentucky New Era, 08/10/1940, p.6; and The Law Trained Man by W. C. Wermuth [available full text at archive.org].
Subjects: Artists, Fine Arts, Authors, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Lawyers, Poets
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

Migration from Canada to Kentucky by 1870
End Year : 1870
In 1865, at the close of the Civil War and at the time slavery ended in Kentucky with the ratification of the 13th Amendment [December 18, 1865], there were persons listed as "Black" or "Mulatto" in the U.S. Census who had returned to Kentucky from Canada or moved to Kentucky from Canada. Below are some of the names, occupations, and locations of those living in Kentucky when the 1870 U.S. Federal Census was taken.

• The W. H. and Margaret Johnson family had returned to Kentucky; both parents were Kentucky natives. The family lived in Louisville, where Mr. Johnson was a store porter. Their son Henry was born in 1857 in Canada; daughter Almyra was born in 1861 in Michigan; and the last three children were born in Kentucky.
• Mary and Zach Mason, Sr. were Kentucky natives who returned to Kentucky. The family lived in Louisville, where Mr. Mason was a teamster. Their daughter Rebecca was born in 1861 in Kentucky, their son Zach Jr. was born in 1863 in Canada, and the last two children were born in Kentucky.
• Mariola McRanny, born in 1840 in Kentucky, lived in Louisville with her daughter Capitola, who was born in 1866 in Canada. They lived with several other family members.
• Abraham Miller, a barber in Louisville, was born in 1827 in Kentucky. His wife Harriet was born in 1845 in Canada. One of their sons was born in Indiana and the other was born in Kentucky.
• Jackson Morum was born in 1845 in Canada; he was a hotel waiter in Hopkinsville.
• Reverend John R. Riley was born in 1842 in Canada and lived in Louisville.
• Allael Sherman was born in 1846 in Canada; he was a school teacher in Louisville.
• James Smith was born in 1851 in Canada; he was a school teacher in Hopkinsville.
• The Smiths, Edward (b. 1826) and Hannah (b. 1840), were Kentucky natives. Their son Samuel was born in 1862 in Canada. The family lived in Covington, KY, where Edward was a day laborer.
• Mag Taylor was born in 1845 in Canada; she was a school teacher in Burkesville.
• James Thomas, a laborer, was born in 1832 in Canada. His wife Emily was born in Maryland, and their children were born in Kentucky. The family lived in Louisville.
• Mary Watters was a seamstress born 1845 in Louisiana. She lived in Louisville with her daughters Gertrude (b. 1859) and Matilda (b. 1862), both born in Canada.
• John Weakly was born in 1837 in Canada; he was a farm laborer in Hopkinsville.
• Emma Webb was born in 1849 in Canada; she lived in Louisville.
• Rueben Wright was born in 1831 in Missouri; he was a farmer. His wife Florida Wright was born in 1828 in Kentucky. Their oldest daughter Mary was born in 1858 in Canada, and their last five children were born in Kentucky. The family lived in Newport.

Militant Church Movement (Louisville, KY)
The Militant Church Movement or MCM was a post-WWII Civil Rights organization established by Rev. J. C. Olden, father of Sylvia Olden Lee. MCM began in Louisville as a small but vocal church-based organization, and became a coalition of African American churches in Kentucky. In 1951, the group led in the boycott of a baseball game that was to have taken place in Louisville between white major league players led by Gill Hodges, and an African American team lead by Roy Campanella. The protest was in response to the plans to segregate the audience. The game was cancelled. In 1953, MCM, led by Rev. Olden and Rev. M. M. D. Perdue, was successful in leading the Interracial Hospital Movement campaign that brought the beginning of the end to racial restrictions in all Kentucky hospitals. That same year, MCM launched a mass petition drive to urge the lawmakers of Kentucky to integrated the state's schools. The group also launched protests against GE for it hiring practices. What is know about the MCM exists because of those who remember the group's efforts; MCM did not have a formal membership list and they did not keep records. For more see "All-Star ball game dropped: Jim Crow protest effective," Honolulu Record, 11/01/1951, p.6; Subversive Southerner by C. Fosl and A. Y. Davis; and Civil Rights in the Gateway to the South by T. E. K'Meyer.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Baseball, Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Miller, Barbara S.
Birth Year : 1909
Death Year : 2000
Miller, born in Louisville, KY, was the first African American to graduate with a library degree in Kentucky, from Nazareth College (now Spalding University); she specialized in children's librarianship. Miller was a librarian with the Louisville Free Public Library and served on the faculty of several Kentucky institutions. She was a delegate to the USSR and went abroad to study library services to children. She was known as the "Storytelling Lady" on the television show T-Bar V Ranch on Louisville television. Miller was the second African American president of the Kentucky Library Association. The Barbara S. Miller Multicultural Children's Literature Collection is in the University of Louisville Library. For more see Who's Who Among American Women, 8th-10th ed.; and 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. Additional information provided by Fannie Cox.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Television
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Miller, Emma Jean Guyn
Birth Year : 1901
Death Year : 2009
Miller was a life-long educator in Nicholasville, KY. She was born in Woodford County, KY, and her family moved to Nicholasville the following year. She attended the town's Colored School, grades 1-8, and continued her education in Lexington, KY, at Russell High School. She graduated in 1920 and went on to earn her teaching certificate in 1921 at Turner Normal School [in Negro Education 1917] in Tennessee. She began teaching in a one-room school house in Nicholasville in 1922, teaching grades 1-3. She taught for more than 40 years. Emma Miller was the wife of William Miller. For more see M. Davis, "Educator will be remembered for caretaking, faith," Lexington Herald-Leader, 03/05/2006, front page; and "Tribute to Emma Jean Guyn Miller," Congressional Record - Senate, 03/11/2009, p. S3022 [.pdf available online].
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Woodford County, Kentucky / Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Kentucky

Moorman, Marnel C.
Birth Year : 1943
Death Year : 1994
Moorman was born in Daviess County, KY, according to the Kentucky Birth Index. He taught in Shelby County schools. Moorman was the first African American vice president (1986-1990) and president (1992 & 1994) of the Kentucky Education Association. He was a graduate of Western Kentucky University (WKU) [B.A.] and Georgetown College [M.A.]. The Marnel C. Moorman Family Life Center of the Clay Street Baptist Church was named in his honor. Moorman was also named a Great Black Kentuckian by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights. For more see WKU Hall of Distinguished Alumni.
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Daviess County, Kentucky / Shelby County, Kentucky

Morton, Andrew W.
Birth Year : 1921
Born in Madisonville, KY, Morton graduated from Louisville Central High School, Louisville Municipal College, and Meharry Medical College. He was an instructor at Meharry Dental School before establishing his dental practice in Paducah, KY, in 1946. Morton was also a captain in the U.S. Army Dental Corp from 1943-1945 and again from 1949-1951. After serving in the army, he returned to his private dental practice in Paducah and retired in 1995. He was a member of the Board of Regents at Kentucky State University for eight years and was the first African American in Paducah to run for the board of education. For more see Profiles of Contemporary Black Achievers of Kentucky, by J. B. Horton; and Dr. Andrew Morton, a Map to Success website.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Board of Education, Dentists
Geographic Region: Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Morton-Finney, John
Birth Year : 1889
Death Year : 1998
Born in Uniontown, KY, Morton-Finney was a Buffalo Soldier with the U.S. Army during World War I and also served during World War II. He taught school in Missouri and Indiana while earning five law degrees; he earned a total of 11 degrees, the last at the age of 75. He continued teaching until he was 81 years old and practiced law until he was 106; he is believed to have been the longest-practicing attorney in the U.S. Morton-Finney was inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame in 1991. For more see his Indiana University Alumni Association Alumni Profile.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Lawyers, Migration North, Migration West, Military & Veterans
Geographic Region: Uniontown, Union County, Kentucky / Missouri / Indiana

Mullins, By, et al. v. Belcher
Start Year : 1910
End Year : 1911
During the 1910-11 school year, Pike County school trustee Edmond Belcher notified the guardian of Troy and Loucreta Mullins that the children could not attend the school for whites because the Mullins children were "Colored." The guardian sued Belcher. The trial judge of the Pike County Circuit Court found that the children had at least 1/16 Negro blood, therefore considered Colored, and would not be allowed to attend the school for white children. The children's guardian filed an appeal. The Court of Appeal of Kentucky concluded that Negro and white children were never meant to be educated in the same school, and moral and mental chaos were likely to occur if that were to change. And, any traceable amount of Negro blood in an individual required that the person be considered "Colored." The injunction was denied and the judgment of the Pike County Circuit Court was affirmed. The decision came more than 30 years prior to Asher v Huffman. For more see "Mullins, By, et al. v. Belcher," Reports of Civil and Criminal Cases Decided by the Court of Appeal of Kentucky, v.35 McBeath Reporter, v.142 Kentucky Reports, p.673 [online at Google Book Search]; and Legal History of the Color Line by F. W. Sweet. This entry was suggested by Kentucky author and researcher Ben Luntz.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Pike County, Kentucky

Murry, Philip H. [The Colored Kentuckian]
Birth Year : 1842
Murry was born in Reading, PA, the son of Samuel and Sarah Murry. His family was free born and had not been slaves. Murry was a school teacher and advocate for the education of African American children; he taught school in Kentucky and several other states. He was also a journalist and newspaper publisher, and is recognized along with J. P. Sampson for establishing the first African American newspaper in Kentucky, in 1867: The Colored Kentuckian. For more see "Philip H. Murry" in Men of Mark [available full-text at Google Book Search], by W. J. Simmons and H. M. Turner; and "He prefers Sherman," Titusville Herald, 08/10/1887, p. 1.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Migration South
Geographic Region: Reading, Pennsylvania / Kentucky

Neal, Homer Alfred, Sr.
Birth Year : 1942
Neal was born in Frankfort, KY. He is a graduate of Indiana University and a two time graduate of the University of Michigan, earning his Ph.D. in physics in 1966. He was the 2003 recipient of the the Edward A. Bouchet Award for his contributions to experimental high energy physics. Neal is a professor at the University of Michigan and has served as chair of the Physics Department and as Interim President of the University. He has also served on a number of other organization boards. A joint resolution appointed Neal a Citizen Regent on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institute. In 2007, it was announced that Michigan University physicists, including Homer Neal, had made a significant contribution toward the discovery of a new particle, Cascade b (Xi-b) baryon. For more see T. Davis, "Physics: U-M physicists contribute to new particle discovery," Ann Arbor News, 07/02/2007, p. C1; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1977-2006.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration North, Physicists, Researchers
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Flint, Michigan

Nelson-Johnson, Esther Byrd
Birth Year : 1931
Death Year : 2008
Nelson-Johnson was born in Hickman, KY, one of the six children of Louis and Hestella Holmes Byrd. In 1982, Nelson-Johnson became a part of the history of the female leadership of the Sacramento NAACP: she was the fourth woman elected president of the Branch, serving four terms. For 30 years, she was a counselor at the American River College. She had taught school in Virginia and Missouri before moving to California in 1963. Nelson-Johnson is remembered for her leadership and advocacy for women, young people, and African Americans, and the programs she developed to assist students. She is also remembered for her research and the resulting exhibits she created to show the contributions of African Americans and women. When the NAACP Office in Sacramento was bombed in 1993, the organization's history was safe with Nelson-Johnson. She was a historian and collected resources that documented the history of civil rights in Sacramento. She was the author of A Model Community Counseling Program for Ethnic Minority Low Income Women, Leaving on the Black Star Line and Cotton Patch Cooking. Nelson-Johnson was the first person in her family to attend college, earning a bachelor's degree at Kentucky State University, a master's at Chapman University, and a doctorate at Nova University. For more see R. D. Davila, "Former NAACP chief fought for education and civil rights," Sacramento Bee, 02/13/2008, Metro section, p. B4.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Education and Educators, Historians, Migration West, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Geographic Region: Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky / Sacramento, California

Nichols, Paul
Birth Year : 1939
Death Year : 1990
Nichols was born in Bowling Green, KY, the son of Mary and George Nichols, Sr. He was a graduate of Virginia Union University, Presbyterian School of Christian Education [now Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education], and American University. From 1976-1984, Nichols was dean of the School of Theology at Virginia Union. He was vice president of the National Ministers Council/American Baptist for three years and in 1989 was named to the executive director of the Board of National Ministries for the American Baptist Churches USA, making him the highest ranking African American of the 1.6 million member organization. Nichols was also pastor of the Good Shepherd Baptist Church. He was well respected in the Richmond, VA, community. Noted among his many achievements was the renaming of the Shockoe Bridge for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For more see T. Muller, "Hundreds here celebrate the life of beloved pastor," Richmond Times-Dispatch, 06/02/1990, Area/State section, p. 2; "Paul Nichols, 50, dies, was Baptist executive," New York Times, 05/30/1990, p. B20; Who's Who Among African Americans, 1977-1995.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Religion & Church Work, Migration East
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / Richmond, Virginia

Norman, Florence K. Morton
Birth Year : 1894
Death Year : 1944
Norman was born Florence K. Morton in Mason County, KY. Her mother, Sallie Morton, was a widow and the mother of three girls: Mary, Florence, and Susan. In 1900 the family lived at 570 E. Fifth Street in Maysville, KY, according to the U.S. Federal Census. Florence would become the wife of musician and music arranger Fred Norman (1910-1993). The couple lived in New York. Florence Norman was the past president of the National Council of Negro Women. She had attended Howard University and the Jenifer Business College and managed the Washington Business Institute in D.C. She had also been employed as secretary to Carter G. Woodson at the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. For more see "Mrs. Fred Norman," New York Times, 02/11/1944, p. 19.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Education and Educators, Migration North, Women's Groups and Organizations, National Council of Negro Women
Geographic Region: Mason County, Kentucky / New York

O'Rourke, James Ralph , Sr.
Birth Year : 1913
Death Year : 1999
In 2008, it was discovered that James R. O'Rourke, Sr. was the first African American graduate of the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science. He graduated in 1957. Prior to his enrollment, O'Rourke had been named head librarian at Kentucky State University (KSU), a position he held from 1949-1970. Before coming to Kentucky, O'Rourke was a history instructor and served as head librarian of Stillman Junior College [now Stillman College]. O'Rourke was a 1935 graduate of Stillman Junior College, a 1947 sociology and economics graduate of Talladega College, and a 1947 graduate of Atlanta University [now Clark Atlanta University], where he earned a B.S. in Library Science. He had owned a drug store and a shoe repair shop. He had been a singer, an actor, a barber, a Pullman Porter, and shoe shiner. In Kentucky, he was a library leader. O'Rourke was the author of several articles and co-authored the Student Library Assistants of Kentucky (SLAK) Handbook, which was distributed throughout the United States and to some foreign countries. O'Rourke and C. Elizabeth Johnson, Central High School Librarian, had co-organized SLAK in 1952; it was the only state-wide organization of its kind in the United States. The organization was created to spark students' interest in library science and provided scholarship opportunities to seniors who planned to go to college. O'Rourke also led an annual workshop to assist public library employees in getting certification, and he provided library training. He was one of the first African American members of the Kentucky Library Association (KLA). He also held several positions in community organizations. He was a civil rights advocate and served as presiding chairman of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Lexington, KY, 1966-67. He was a member of the Governor's Planning Committee on Libraries, 1967-68, and co-chairman of the Lexington (KY) Librarians Association. O'Rourke was the last chairman of the Librarian's Conference of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, 1952-1956. He was a member of the American Library Association, the Southeastern Library Association, and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He was a member of the Kentucky Black History Committee of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, and was a co-contributor to the Commission's publication, Kentucky's Black Heritage. He left Kentucky a few years after his retirement from KSU in 1970 and settled in North Carolina. James R. O'Rourke, Sr. was born in Tuscaloosa, AL, the oldest child of Sally Reese and Timothy R. O'Rourke. He was the husband of George M. Wright O'Rourke [also a UK Library School graduate, 1966], and the great-grandson of Evalina Love and Shandy Wesley Jones. Shandy Jones was a slave who was freed in 1820 and later became an Alabama Legislator, 1868-1870 [see Descendants of Shandy Wesley Jones and Evalina Love Jones by Pinkard and Clark, availble full text at the Family History Archives website and in paper at the UK Libraries]. This information comes from the vita and the memorial tribute to James R. O'Rourke, Sr., provided by Dr. James R. O'Rourke, Jr. In 2009, the University of Kentucky Libraries and the School of Library and Information Science nominated James R. O'Rourke for the Lyman T. Johnson Torch Bearer Award (posthumously) for his work and dedication to librarianship in Kentucky. The award was received by his son, Dr. James R. O'Rourke, Jr.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Actors, Actresses, Authors, Barbers, Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Pullman Porters, Fraternal Organizations, Pharmacists, Pharmacies, Shoes: Finishers, Makers, Repairers, Shiners, Stores
Geographic Region: Tuscaloosa, Alabama / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / North Carolina

Packer, Zuwena "ZZ"
Birth Year : 1972
Packer was born in Chicago and grew up in Louisville, KY, where she attended Seneca High School. Packer published her first story in Seventeen Magazine. She is the author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, has won a number of awards and recognitions for her writing, and has taught English. She now lives in California with her family. Zuwena Packer is a graduate of Yale University (B.A.), Johns Hopkins University (M.A.), and the University of Iowa (MFA). For more see "The ABC's on ZZ," Courier-Journal (Louisville), Features, 03/03/2003; "Robert Birnbaum talks with the author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," on identitytheory.com, 04/29 /2003; and "ZZ Packer" in World Authors 2000-2005 (2007).
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration West, Poets
Geographic Region: Chicago, Illinois / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / California

Parrish, Charles H., Jr.
Birth Year : 1899
Death Year : 1989
In 1951, Parrish was the first African American faculty member at the University of Louisville (U. of L.) after the segregated school, Louisville Municipal College for Negroes, was closed. Parrish was also the first African American faculty member at a white school in the South. A sociologist, he chaired the Sociology Department. Parrish was also a civil rights activist. The Charles Parrish, Jr. Papers are at the U. of L.. A Kentucky Historical Marker [#2008] has been placed at the U. of L. Belknap Campus in his honor. For more see History of Blacks in Kentucky, by G. C. Wright; and The Charles H. Parrishes, by L. H. Williams.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Sociologists & Social Scientists
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Passmore, Norman L., Sr.
Birth Year : 1916
Death Year : 2003
Passmore was born in Columbus, GA. He was an exceptional student who played quarterback on the Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] football team that won national championships in 1934 and 1937. He graduated from Kentucky State University and the University of Kentucky. He later was the head football coach of the old Lexington Dunbar Bearcats, beginning in 1951 and continuing for 16 years, accumulating a record of 98 wins, 16 losses, and 6 ties while winning three state titles. He also coached for one season at Kentucky State College. He retired as principal of Henry Clay High School in 1984. Passmore was also a pastor and a World War II veteran. For more see M. Davis, "A classic game for a classic educator," Lexington Herald-Leader, section C, l8/29/04; and J. Hewlett, "Long time educator dies at 87 - N. L. Passmore Sr. taught at Dunbar," Lexington Herald-Leader, 03/19/2003, City&Region section, p. B1. See also the sound recording interview of Norman Passmore in the Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project, 1900-1980 at Special Collections and Digital Programs, University of Kentucky.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Football, Migration North, Military & Veterans, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Columbus, Georgia / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Pegram, Amelia Blossom
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Pegram is a teacher, writer, performer, and poet. She began teaching in South Africa, then left the country in 1963. She studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has acted on stage, radio, and television in England and the United States. Pegram came to the U.S. in 1972. She has won many awards, including the Louisville Board of Alderman Literary Award. She is author of several books, including Our Sun Will Rise: poems from South Africa, and she is included in Conversations with Kentucky Writers II. For more see Biography Index A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines, vol. 20: Sept. 1991-Aug. 1995; and the Amelia Blossom Pegram at the South African Women for Women Annual Awards website.
Subjects: Actors, Actresses, Artists, Fine Arts, Authors, Education and Educators, Poets
Geographic Region: Cape Town, South Africa / England / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Penn, Anna Belle Rhodes
Birth Year : 1865
Death Year : 1930
Penn was born in Paris, KY, the only child of William and Sophia Rhodes. The family moved to Lynchburg, VA, when Anna was a small child. Educated by private teachers, she is a graduate of Shaw University. Penn was a school teacher and noted essayist and poet. Her published works include "Grief Unknown," and her handwritten collection includes "Light Out of Darkness." She was the wife of I. Garlan Penn, with whom she had seven children: Anna, Marie, Louise, Elizabeth, Georgia, Irvine, Jr., and Wilhelmina. The family moved to Cincinnati, where Anna Belle Rhodes Penn was a well-known social worker. For more see "Anna Belle Rhodes Penn" in Noted Negro Women: their triumphs and activities, by M. A. Majors; and The Life and Times of Irvine Garland Penn, by J. K. Harrison and G. Harrison.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Migration North, Poets, Migration East
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Lynchburg, Virginia / Cincinnati, Ohio

Perry, William H., Sr.
Birth Year : 1860
Death Year : 1946
Perry was born in Indiana. After the death of his father, he and his mother moved to Louisville, KY. He was a graduate of Louisville Central High School, becoming a teacher at the school following his graduation in 1877. He was also a graduate of the Illinois Medical College. In 1908 Perry became the first African American physician to receive his license by passing the Kentucky State Board of Medical Examiners. He was also one of the co-founders of the Louisville Red Cross Hospital. The Perry School in Louisville was named in his honor posthumously in 1952; Perry had been head principal of the school, 1891-1927. The school was later merged with the Roosevelt School, and the name was changed to the Roosevelt-Perry Elementary School. William H. Perry, Sr. was the husband of Ana Ridley, from Nashville, a concert pianist and vocalist. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; and "Professor William H. Perry, Sr. passes," KNEA Journal, vol. 18, issue 1 (1946), pp. 12-13. Mark Shepard provided additional information from the Personal Papers of William H. Perry, part of the grass-roots collection, the Lost Creek Historical Society.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Medical Field, Health Care, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Migration South, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Indiana / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

"Petition of Colored People of [Owensboro] Kentucky"
Start Year : 1867
In July 1867, Chief Agent A. W. Lawvill, of the Bureau Refugees, Freemen and Abandoned Lands, forwarded a petition to Congress from the Colored people of Owensboro, KY, concerning unjust taxation by state authorities. African Americans were being taxed $4, while Whites were taxed $2. The complaint also addressed the issue of the school trustees being given the power to decide if there would be a school for Colored children. The petition was signed by 52 African Americans from Owensboro, KY. For more see House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 70, 40th Congress, 2nd Session: Freedman and Taxation: Communication from the Commissioner of Freemen's Affairs, Petition of colored people of Kentucky in relation to unjust taxation by State authority.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Freedom, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky

Pine Grove College (Jackson County, KY)
Start Year : 1882
Pine Grove College was a grade school founded by Berea College in Jackson County, KY, in 1882. The school was open to the white and the "slightly colored" children in the community who had been attending school together; their families had been attending the same church, Walnut Chapel, founded by Rev. John G. Fee. The school had been built in response to the Kentucky school law that mandated common schools be segregated. As a result, there were so few colored children that no school district was organized for them. Pine Grove College was an alternative to the state-run common school, and allowed for children of both races to attend school together. Reverend William Kendrick of Oberlin had purchased the land for the new school building, and there were a number of financial supporters. The school was managed by a board of trustees and run by Berea teachers, Maria Muzzy and Kate Gilbert. For more see E. H. Fairchild, "Pine Grove College, Kentucky," The American Missionary, 08/01/1882, vol. 36, issue 8, pp. 240-242 [available full-text online at Making of America by Cornell University Library].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Jackson County, Kentucky

Porter, William Edward "Bill"
Birth Year : 1918
Death Year : 1985
Porter, born in Stanley, KY, was the second son of James Lester Porter and Edna Mae Hazelwood Porter. The family left Daviess County when William was a small child and moved to Gary, IN, where his father worked in the steel mills; the family later moved to Lima, OH. William Porter was a star athlete at Central High School in Lima, where he played football and set a number of track records. In 1936, he enlisted in the Army and served in North Africa during World War II, later serving in Italy with the 92nd Infantry, 366th Regiment, Company B. Porter was a 1st Lieutenant and was awarded a Purple Heart, a Silver Star, and Bronze Star for his service in World War II. During the Korean War, he was a Captain; he received a second Purple Heart and a Silver Star during that conflict. After his retirement in 1958, Major William Porter began his second career with the ROTC and served as a military police instructor in Kansas City, MO, and Monrovia, Liberia, Africa, while still on active duty. Porter died in November 1985 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. William E. Porter was the grandson of McDonald and Elvira Porter and the great-grandson of Richard Hazelwood. This entry was submitted by Denyce Porter Peyton. For additional information see Lima News articles 1933-1936 and 1958; for photos and additional information see William Porter at the Buffalo Soldiers from World War II website; and the William E. Porter recording in the Black Military Oral History Project at Howard University.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Education and Educators, Migration North, Military & Veterans, Corrections and Police
Geographic Region: Stanley, Daviess County, Kentucky / Gary, Indiana / Lima, Ohio

Porterfield, Rosella F.
Birth Year : 1919
Death Year : 2004
Porterfield was born in Daviess County, KY. She was a teacher and the first African American librarian in the Elsmere-Erlanger School System in northern Kentucky. She retired from the Elsmere-Erlanger System. The Elsmere Park Board rededicated the Rosella French Porterfield Park in 2002. She is referred to as the Rosa Parks of Northern Kentucky. In 1955, while head teacher at the African American School, Wilkins Heights, Porterfield approached the Elsmere superintendent and said that it was time to integrate the schools. The request was taken to the school board and approved. Porterfield was a 1940 graduate of Kentucky Normal and Industrial School [now Kentucky State University]. In 2007, Rosella French Porterfield was inducted into the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Hall of Fame. For more see "Civil-rights pioneer Porterfield honored," The Enquirer (Cincinnati.com), 07/25/02; and C. Meyhew, "Rosella Porterfield, 85, helped integrate schools," The Cincinnati Enquirer, 11/10/2004, Metro section, p. 4C.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Parks, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Daviess County, Kentucky / Elsmere and Erlanger, Kenton County, Kentucky