Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

Narratives of Fugitive Slaves (literature influence)
Start Year : 1845
In 1849, The Christian Examiner recognized the narratives of fugitive slaves as a new and marketable addition to American literature; it also provided an early analysis of the potential impact and influence of African American literature. Five authors were noted: Frederick Douglass (pub. 1845), Henry Watson (pub. 1848), and Kentucky authors William W. Brown (pub. 1847), Lewis and Milton Clarke (pub. 1848), and Josiah Henson (pub. 1849). The biographies were expected to have a major effect on public opinion because it was the beginning of an era of more widely-produced book-formatted literature from the voices of those who had been enslaved. The books were translated into European languages and sold overseas. William W. Brown's book had sold more than eight thousand copies in 1848, and Frederick Douglass' went through seven editions before it went out of print. The first slave narratives were written in the latter half of the 1700s and gained wider recognition beginning in the 1840s. The five mentioned narratives, and many others, are available full-text online at the UNC Documenting the American South website. For more see The Christian Examiner and Religious Miscellany, 4th Series, vol. 12 [available online at Google Book Search]; and Slave Narratives and Uncle Tom's Cabin at the PBS website.
Subjects: Authors, Freedom, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Migration North
Geographic Region: Kentucky

National Archives
The National Archives include all documents and materials relating to the business of the U. S. federal government. Within the collections is the African American Research page as well as online veterans and military records searchable by race and geographic location, including county. A search of the World War II Army Enlistment Records, using the terms "Kentucky Negro," results in more than 25,000 records, one of which is that of Easly B. Green, born in 1918, a geographer from Bourbon County who enlisted in 1942. Within the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) is the 1917 picture of Negro draftees in Lexington, KY. There is much more -- visit the National Archives website. The National Archives is located in College Park, Maryland.
Subjects: National Resources
Geographic Region: Kentucky / College Park, Maryland

National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN)
Start Year : 1908
End Year : 1949
The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) was founded in 1908 by Martha M. Franklin, and the first annual meeting was held in Boston in 1909. Members were nurses who had graduated from a training program. In 1918, the U.S. Secretary of War authorized a call to Colored nurses to come into national service. Nurses registered with the American Red Cross Society were allowed to render service to Colored Army enlistees. Colored nurses were assigned to six base hospitals, including Camp Taylor in Louisville, KY. By 1940, there were 94 professional Colored nurses in Kentucky (graduates and students): 91 women and three men. In 1949, Mrs. Alida C. Daily was president of NACGN when the national conference was held in Louisville, KY. It was during that meeting that NACGN accepted the suggestions presented by the American Nurse's Association (ANA) that it assume responsibility of NACGN and that the association be integrated. The NACGN archives were placed in the New York Public Library. For more see p. 378 of Scott's Official History of the American Negro in the World War, by E. J. Scott [available full-text on Google Book Search]; M. K. Staupers, "Story of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses," The American Journal of Nursing, vol. 51, issue 4 (Apr., 1951), pp. 222-223; E. M. Osborne, "Status and contribution of the Negro nurse," The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 18, issue 3 (Summer 1949), pp. 364-369; "New York Library receives NACGN documents," The American Journal of Nursing, vol. 54, issue 5 (May 1954), pp. 546-554; and No Time for Prejudice, by ;M. K. Staupers.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care, Nurses
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

National Convention of Colored Men of America
In 1843, the first National Convention of Colored Men of America was held in Buffalo, New York, attended by hundreds of freemen and escaped slaves from throughout the United States. The convention was also referred to as the Colored National Convention. The purpose of the organization was to bring together forces to end slavery and fight for African Americans' human rights. The convention was held in Louisville, KY, in September 1883. Frederick Douglass was president and Henry Scorff was a vice president, representing Kentucky. A digital copy of the text of the 1883 convention program is available at the Library of Congress website. See also "Frederick Douglass" at the Louisville Free Public Library, Western Branch website.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

National Youth Administration (Kentucky)
Start Year : 1935
End Year : 1943
The National Youth Administration (NYA) was established in 1935 by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration by way of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act. The Depression had drastically impeded the education and employment of more than 20 million young people. NYA provided student aid work funds for the part-time employment of persons between the ages of 16 and 25 to help them continue their education and enhance their employability and to help them develop constructive leisure activities. The Division of Negro Affairs, headed by Mary McLeod Bethune, oversaw the participation of Negro youth. Financial support and staffing were to be at the same percentage as the percentage of Negroes in a given state, though in reality the support was much less. The Kentucky NYA Office was located in Louisville at 9th and Broadway, with Robert K. Salyers as director. There were district offices in Madisonville, Louisville, Lexington, and Paintsville. Theodore E. Brown was State Supervisor of Negro Activities. For the program year 1936-37, there were 415 Negro college students who received NYA aid at Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University], West Kentucky Industrial College [now West Kentucky Community and Technical College], and Louisville Municipal College for Negroes [now merged with University of Louisville]. Funding for graduate students was administered by the Washington Office, and Negroes from Kentucky could apply for out-of-state assistance. (There were no in-state graduate programs in Kentucky for African Americans.) High school and elementary students received up to $6 per month for their work, and for the program year 1936-37, there were 1,265 Negro youth of Kentucky employed through the NYA school aid program. Participants who were out of school were certified members of relief families, and they were employed in projects such as sewing, carpentry, construction and repair work on schools and public property, child care, and recreation. There actually was not much done in the area of recreational opportunities for Negroes: projects were established for supervised play leaders at playgrounds and at nursery schools and recreational education institutes were held to train participants. The projects were located in Louisville, Covington, Bowling Green, Winchester, and Paducah. Some of the crafts and toys made by the NYA youth were given away at the Community Christmas Tree, and others were showcased at the NYA exhibit displayed during the KNEA meeting in Louisville. The recreation work was often cited as having decreased delinquency. For more detailed information see Negro Youth and the National Youth Administration in Kentucky, by T. E. Brown; and W. G. Daniel and C. L. Miller, "The Participation of the Negro in the National Youth Administration Program," The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 7, issue 3, (July 1938), pp. 357-365. National Youth Administration images are available online at Google.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Welfare (Social Services) Organizations, National Resources
Geographic Region: 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

Negro business directory and fair souvenir: a miniature list of trades, businesses and professions among the Negroes of Lexington, Kentucky
Start Year : 1899
[Lexington, Ky.] : Standard Printing Co., 1899. Housed in the University of Kentucky Special Collections Library Rare Books: call no. F459.L6 N4560 1899.
Subjects: Businesses, Colored Fairs & Black Expos
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Negro Businesses (Lexington, KY)
Start Year : 1901
In 1901, the following Lexington, KY, businesses were included in Dr. L. D. Robinson's report at the 2nd Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League in Chicago: [barbers] Benjamin Franklin, A. L. Hawkins, Anderson & Suter, A.B. Fletcher, Frank Buckner, Howard Miller; [grocery stores] John T. Clay & Sons, and A. W. Taylor; [baker and confectioner] Charles H. Allen; [cafes] Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Thompson, Walker & Roberts, Ladies Exchange, Richard Williams and Green Miller, and R. H. Gray, who owned several patents, a cafe, and an ice cream and soda parlor. For more see Dr. L. D. Robinson, "Negro Business Enterprise of Lexington, Kentucky," Records of the National Negro Business League, Part 1 Annual Conference Proceedings and Organizational Records, 1900-1919, 2nd Annual Convention, August 21-23, 1901, reel 1, frames 221-222.
Subjects: Barbers, Businesses, Bakers, Cooks and Chefs, Negro Business League
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

Negro Exodus (Hopkinsville, KY)
Start Year : 1904
In 1904, the city of Hopkinsville, KY, was a bit alarmed by the number of Negroes who had left the county due to the collapse of the tobacco market. Also in 1904, the Planters Protective Association had been formed to protect the tobacco prices against the marketing trusts. The association soon developed into a group of armed and hooded night riders whose actions went from boycotting to violence. Most of the violence was centered in the Black Patch (dark fired tobacco) area of Western Kentucky and Tennessee. Entire towns were captured, there were hangings and killings, and tobacco warehouses were burned. According to an article in the Hopkinsville Kentuckian, a large number of Negroes had quit farming tobacco in Hopkinsville and left the county for work on the railroads, the mines, or as teamsters in northern cities. A few moved as far away as Honolulu, Hawaii to farm sugar cane. Some followed Riley Ely to Ita Bena, MS, where he and his brother raised cotton on a 7,000 acre farm. The names of those who left for Mississippi included Henry Gant and family, Bud Wilson, and John Ritter. For more see "Negro exodus," Hopkinsville Kentuckian, 02/23/1904, p. 1. See also the "Black Patch War" entry in the Kentucky Encyclopedia; The Black Patch War, by J. G. Miller; and Breaking Trust (dissertation), by S. M. Hall.
Subjects: Migration North, Migration West, Rioting, Insurrections, Panics, Protests in Kentucky, Migration South
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky

"Negro Hamlets and Gentlemen Farms: a dichotomous rural settlement pattern in Kentucky's Bluegrass Region" by P. C. Smith
Start Year : 1972
Several African American communities discussed in this work are listed in the NKAA Database. Other communities mentioned in the work are: Brentsville, Centerville, and Clintonville (all in Bourbon County); Dixtown and Keene (both in Jessamine County); Frogtown, Jimtown, Jonestown, and Willa Lane (all in Fayette County); Davistown, Huntertown, and Russelltown (all in Woodford County); Pea Ridge, Watkinsville, and Zion Hill (all in Scott County); and Hootentown and Peytontown (both in Madison County). Negro Hamlets and Gentlemen Farms is available at the University of Kentucky Libraries.
Subjects: Communities
Geographic Region: Kentucky

Negro Hotels in Kentucky
Start Year : 1942
In preparation for the publication of the first Negro Handbook, compiled and edited by Florence Murray, there was a survey of Negro-owned and -operated hotels in the United States. Approximately 400 hotels were identified, including 10 in Kentucky, including the Preston Hotel in Glasgow Junction [a junction between the L&N Railroad mainline and a branch to Glasgow and a branch to Mammoth Cave]; in 1938, the name Glasgow Junction was changed to Park City. Louisville had several hotels, as well: the Allen Hotel at 2516 W. Madison Street; Knights of Pythias Temple Hotel at 10th and Chestnut Streets; and Walnut Hotel at 615 Walnut Street. The Brantsford Hotel [see Bransfords] was located at Mammoth Cave. In Mt. Sterling, the Dew Drop Inn stood on E. Locust Street. There were four hotels in Paducah: the Burlington Hotel at 48 Kentucky Avenue; the Jefferson Hotel at 514 S. 8th Street; the Washington Hotel at 805 Washington Street; and the city's oldest African American hotel, the Metropolitan, owned by Maggie Steed. For more see "Facts Concerning Hotels" in The Negro Handbook (1942), by F. Murray.
Subjects: Businesses, Bed & Breakfast, Hotels, Inns
Geographic Region: Glasgow Junction [now Park City], Barren County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Mammoth Cave National Park, Edmonson County, Kentucky / Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Negro Jury in Louisville, KY
Start Year : 1872
In 1872, a Negro jury was summoned in Louisville, KY, by the coroner for the case involving the stabbing death of John Wagner. William Reynolds was found guilty of stabbing Wagner on the steamer Robert Burns in May of 1872. The jury is thought to be the first Negro jury in Kentucky. This information comes from "The First Negro jury in Kentucky," New York Times, 06/21/1872, p. 1.
Subjects: Corrections and Police, Undertakers, Cemeteries, Coroners, & Obituaries
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Negro Traveling Library (Fulton County, KY)
Start Year : 1910
The first state-supported Negro traveling library in Kentucky was established in 1910 at a Colored school in Fulton County. By 1926 the traveling library was one of two that served African Americans; the other was in Delaware. For more see Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky, by R. F. Jones.
Subjects: Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Fulton County, Kentucky / Delaware

Negro wit and humor: also containing folk lore, folk songs, race peculiarities, race history
Start Year : 1914
In 1914, Marion Franklin Harmon published Negro Wit and Humor through his Louisville, KY, press, Harmon Publishing Company. The book was one of the joke books published by whites and distributed throughout the South for the purpose of entertaining other whites. Harmon claimed the book was meant to show the progress of the race, the content based on his observations and the words of friends "who vouch for their accuracy and originality." The book is full of supposed Negro dialect. Harmon gives thanks to Professors A. J. Aven of Mississippi College, Joseph [S.] Cotter, [Sr.] of Louisville Coleridge Taylor Colored School, and Thomas [F.] Blue, [Sr.], head of the Louisville Colored Branch Library. In 1929, Harmon produced The History of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) in Mississippi, published in Mississippi. For more see R. D. Abrahams, "Folk beliefs in Southern joke books," Western Folklore, vol. 24, issue 4 (Oct. 1964), pp. 259-261; J. Morgan, "Mammy the huckster: selling the Old South for the New Century," American Art, vol. 9, issue 1 (Spring 1995), pp. 86-109; S. A. Brown, "The Negro character as seen by White authors," The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 2, issue 2 (April 1933), pp. 179-203; and Negro Wit and Humor, by M. F. Harmon.
Subjects: Authors, Jim Crow, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Poets
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Nelson, James
Nelson was born a slave in Kentucky and later became a blacksmith. As a freeman, Nelson moved to Springfield, Ohio, where he maintained a successful business manufacturing IXL and Whiteley plows, wagons, and carts. His business catered to customers throughout the United States. Both Nelson and William Dixon are mentioned in the title The Sage of Tawawa as being "owners and operators of prosperous blacksmith shops" in Springfield [p. 33]. For more see Evidences of Progress Among Colored People, by G. F. Richings [available full view at Google Book Search]; and full text at UNC Documenting the American South website.
Subjects: Businesses, Migration North, Blacksmiths
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Springfield, Ohio

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

New Zion, Kentucky
Start Year : 1868
In 1868, Calvin Hamilton and Primus Keene bought 23 acres and sold plots to other freemen; this area developed into the community of Briar Hill, KY, later named New Zion. The community is located in southern Scott County and extends into Fayette County. Family members of Hamilton and Keene still live in New Zion. The community has a Kentucky Historical Marker [number 1938]. For more see New Zion Historic Neighborhood on the Kentucky Department of Tourism site; and M. Davis, "Settlement tales part of Fayette heritage," Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/10/1999, KyLife section, p. J1.
Subjects: Communities
Geographic Region: [Briar Hill] New Zion, Scott County and Fayette County, Kentucky

Newhouse, Richard H., Jr.
Birth Year : 1924
Death Year : 2002
Newhouse was born in Louisville, KY, the son of Richard, Sr. and Annie Louise Singleton Newhouse. He was a World War II veteran and a two time graduate of Boston University. Newhouse earned his JD at the University of Chicago Law School. Before entering law school, Newhouse had come to Chicago to work for the Chicago Defender. In 1975, he was the first African American to run for Mayor of Chicago; he lost to Richard J. Daley. [Harold Washington would become the first African American mayor of Chicago in 1983. See Roy L. Washington, Sr.] Newhouse was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1968 and retired in 1991. Newhouse founded the National Black Legislative Clearinghouse. For more see A. Madhami, "Richard Newhouse, Jr., 78, state senator, 1st Black in Chicago mayor race," Chicago Tribune, 05/02/2002, Obituaries section, p. 8; C. Lawrence, "Richard Newhouse, Jr., state senator," Chicago Sun-Times, 05/01/2002, News section, p. 77; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1975-2002.
Subjects: Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Lawyers, Migration North, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Legislators (Outside Kentucky)
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

Nichols, M. Celeste
Birth Year : 1951
Death Year : 1996
Nichols, born in Tulsa, OK, was an English professor at Bellarmine College [now Bellarmine University] in Louisville, KY. She was the Louisville coordinator for the National African American Read-In Chain. She also chaired the First National Toni Morrison Conference that was held at Bellarmine in 1995. Nichols was the first African American to earn a doctorate in English from the University of Louisville, where she wrote her dissertation, The Rhetorical Structure of the Traditional Black Church. Nichols taught at Kentucky State University before leaving to teach at Bellarmine from 1993 until her death. The Dr. M. Celeste Nichols African American Collection, works by and about African American female writers, was established in the W. L. Lyons Brown Library at Bellarmine. For more see High Upon a Hill, by W. H. Hall; and "Belknap; Bellarmine honors dynamic professor," Courier-Journal, 04/06/2001, News Neighborhoods Daily News Report section, p. 2B.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Poets, Migration East
Geographic Region: Tulsa, Oklahoma / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Nichols, Pleasant A.
Birth Year : 1863
Born near Leesburg, KY, Nichols was the son of William and Pliny Nichols. He taught for 14 years in Kentucky schools and was principal of Newport City Schools. In 1885 he became a preacher. Nichols contributed articles to many magazines and newspapers and owned and published The Negro Citizen, a weekly newspaper, in Paducah, KY. His editorials helped secure jobs for African Americans in the local hospital. He was married to Dovie Candaca Haddox, of Beattyville, KY, in 1887, and in 1916 became secretary at Wilberforce University. For more see Centennial Encyclopedia of the American Methodist Episcopal Church..., by Richard Allen and others (Philadelphia: 1816) [available online at the UNC Documenting the American South website].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Migration North, Religion & Church Work, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Leesburg, Harrison County, Kentucky / Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / Beattyville, Lee County, Kentucky

Nicodemus, Kansas
Start Year : 1877
The community was founded in 1877 by a group of African Americans from Lexington; two years later there were over 600 people. The first families to arrive lived in dugouts, homes dug into the earth. The population continued to grow until the anticipated railroad bypassed the town, and then the population began to decrease. There are about 100 people living in the town today. Nicodemus is a National Historic Landmark, the only entirely African American community in Kansas. For more see Going Home to Nicodemus, by D. Chu and B. Shaw; and The Origins and Early Promotions of Nicodemus, by K. M. Hamilton.
Subjects: Communities, Migration West, Nicodemus, Exodusters [African Americans migrating West around Reconstruction Era]
Geographic Region: Nicodemus, Kansas / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Northern Kentucky - "Stories of African-Americans in WWII went untold"
This article by Ted Harris was published in The Cincinnati Post, 02/28/02, Editorial section, p. 4K; it tells the stories of Albert Nutter Jr., George Frank Nutter, Melvin W. Walker, and Henry C. Lowe.
Subjects: Military & Veterans
Geographic Region: Northern Kentucky

Nurse, John Robert
Birth Year : 1899
Death Year : 1964
Born in Louisville, KY, Nurse was the physician-in-charge of infant welfare at Central Louisville Health Center from 1919-1935, a time when infant mortality was beginning to decline. Nurse was also medical director of the Mammoth Life Insurance Company in Louisville, beginning in 1946. He was the son of Robert L. and Pattie Nurse. In 1900 the family of four lived on Oak Street in Louisville, according to the U.S. Federal Census. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950.
Subjects: Insurance Companies, Insurance Sales, Medical Field, Health Care
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Nwangwa, Shirley A. Bacon
Birth Year : 1944
Death Year : 1996
Born Shirley Bacon in Christian County, KY, she received her B.A. in elementary education from Lane College in 1966 and her M.S. in public health and community organization from the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill in 1970. She was employed by the Halifax County Health Department and worked in the area of teenage pregnancy. Nwangwa was the executive producer of the film, The Eye Can Story, a 30-minute documentary created to promote the self-esteem of teenagers and to deter early sexual involvement. For more see Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays, by G. L. Peterson, Jr.
Subjects: Authors, Medical Field, Health Care, Poets
Geographic Region: Christian County, Kentucky / Halifax County, North Carolina