Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

Rabb, Maurice F., Jr.
Birth Year : 1932
Death Year : 2005
Rabb was born in Shelby County, KY, the son of Jewel Miller Rabb and Maurice Rabb, Sr. An ophthalmologist, Rabb Jr. is internationally known for his work with cornea and retinal vascular diseases. He was one of the first African American students to enroll at the University of Louisville, graduating in 1958. His residency work was completed at the University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he was the first African American chief resident; he later opened a practice in Chicago. Each year the Rabb-Venable Ophthalmology Award for Outstanding Research is awarded to an outstanding Ophthalmology student. For more see Dr. Maurice Rabb in The HistoryMakers and History of the Illinois Eye-Bank.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care, Migration North
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

Race Riot of 1917 (Lexington, KY)
Start Year : 1917
On September 1, 1917, a race riot broke out in Lexington, KY. It was one of the many riots that took place across the United States between 1917 and 1921. The country was at war abroad, while at home tensions had been created due to the demands for civil rights, and the Great Migration North had created employment and housing competition between the races. The day of the Lexington riot, there was an extremely large number of African Americans in the city; they had arrived for the week of activities at the Colored A. & M. Fair that was held on Georgetown Pike. The colored fair in Lexington was one of the largest in the South. During the same period, National Guard troops were camped on the edge of the city. On the day of the riot, three National Guard troops were passing in front of an African American restaurant, shoving aside those who were on the sidewalk. A fight broke out and reinforcements arrived for both sides, leading to a riot. The Kentucky National Guard was summoned, and once calm was restored, armed soldiers on foot and on mount patrolled the streets, along with the police. All other National Guard troops were restricted from the city streets for the duration of the fair. The story of the riot was carried in newspapers across the United States. For more see "Race rioting in Lexington," The Ogden Standard, 09/01/1917, p. 13; and "Race riot in Lexington," Raleigh Herald, 09/07/1917, p. 6.
Subjects: Colored Fairs & Black Expos, Military & Veterans, Rioting, Insurrections, Panics, Protests in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Race War in Mayfield, KY
Start Year : 1896
A couple of days before Christmas 1896, white citizens of Mayfield, KY, were preparing for an attack in response to a report that up to 250 armed African Americans were seeking revenge for the lynching of Jim Stone and the "whitecapping" of African American families. The reports had come from Water Valley and Wingo, KY, and other nearby towns. White women and children in Mayfield were ordered off the street by 6:00 p.m. Homes were barricaded. A dispatch was sent to Fulton, KY, asking for a reinforcement of white men, and guards were posted at the railroad station. When a report arrived stating that African Americans were also arming themselves in Paducah, KY, the fire bell was rung in Mayfield and a defense was positioned in the public square to await the attack. The reinforcements from Fulton arrived by train a little after midnight. Will Suett, an 18-year-old African American, was also at the train station and was gunned down. Shots were fired at three other African Americans. Hundreds of shots were fired into buildings and into the trees. Four homes were burnt down. By Christmas Eve, the threat was over. The reinforcements were sent home. A mass meeting was called, and a petition signed by more than 100 African Americans asked for peace between the races. Three people had been killed, one being Will Suett, who had arrived by train from St. Louis; he was returning home to spend Christmas with his family in Mayfield. For more see "All Mayfield under arms: excitement over the Kentucky race war," New York Times, 12/24/1896, p. 1; and "Peace reigns at Mayfield: Colored people petition for harmony and the race war is over," New York Times, 12/25/1896, p. 5.
Subjects: Lynchings, Migration West, Rioting, Insurrections, Panics, Protests in Kentucky, Railroad, Railway, Trains
Geographic Region: Mayfield, Water Valley, and Wingo, Graves County, Kentucky / Fulton, Fulton County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / Saint Louis, Missouri

Raglin Brothers
Six of the Raglin Brothers were ministers, each with his own church. They come from a long line of ministers that included their father and their grandfather and great-grandfather on their mother's side of the family. In addition to their calling to the ministry, when they were younger the brothers were also a highly sought after gospel singing group known as the Raglin Brothers. Between 1955 and the late 1970s, their singing itinerary included churches and church-related events throughout Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, and Michigan. They were featured on the original PM Magazine television program. Their mother, Susie Brooks Raglin, and her sisters had also had a gospel singing group known as the Brooks Sisters. The Raglin family is known to many in Kentucky because their family has a long history in the state: they are the descendants of slaves Ben and Sally Ragland, who migrated to Kentucky in the early 1800s. They came from Virginia with a wealthy slave owner named Harris. The Ragland family (later spelled Raglin) later lived in Sugar Hill, an African American community located on what is today Sugar Hill Road, a narrow, one-lane, dead-end road off Paynes Mill Road in Woodford County, KY. John H. and Susie Raglin, parents of the Raglin Brothers, raised their family in Zion Hill, KY, not too far from the Sugar Hill community. Their children are Argie Shackleford, John C., James E., Thomas E. (deceased), Robert L., Earl B., Bennie O., and Floyd B. Raglin. (John C. is not a minister and was not a member of the gospel singing group.) Information submitted by Ponice Raglin Cruse and her father, the Reverend Floyd B. Raglin. For more information see K. Fister, "Their ministry is a family affair," Lexington Herald-Leader, 12/31/1983, Lifestyle section, p. C1.
Subjects: Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Virginia / Sugar Hill, Woodford County, Kentucky (no longer exists) / Zion Hill, Scott County, Kentucky

Ralls, James E.
In 1971 Ralls became the first African American councilman in Mt. Sterling, KY. For more see "36 city officials include mayor, police court judge," in Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials [1972], by the Commission on Human Rights, p. 14.
Subjects: First City Employees & Officials (1960s Civil Rights Campaign)
Geographic Region: Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky

Randolph, Alma L.
Birth Year : 1957
Born in Beaver Dam, KY, Randolph was the first African American woman elected to the Beaver Dam Council (1980) and the first African American to hold office in the county. Randolph is also a gospel singer locally and nationally. In 1993, she founded the Alma Randolph Charitable Foundation, which buys school supplies and back-to-school clothing for disadvantaged children. She is the Human Rights/Community Relations Specialist for Owensboro and in 2007 was appointed to the state Human Rights Commission by then Governor Ernie Fletcher. For more see Women in Kentucky Reform; and KET's "Connections with Renee Shaw" - #308: Alma Randolph.
Subjects: Civic Leaders, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Appointments by Kentucky Governors
Geographic Region: Beaver Dam, Ohio County, Kentucky / Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky

Randolph, Benjamin F.
Birth Year : 1820
Death Year : 1868
Born in Kentucky, Randolph was a political leader during Reconstruction in South Carolina. He served as a chaplain for the 26th Colored Infantry during the Civil War. He co-founded the Charleston Journal in 1866 and became editor of the Charleston Advocate in 1867. Within the South Carolina Republican Party, he organized the Union League. In 1876 Randolph was appointed Vice President of the South Carolina Republican Executive Committee and the next year was appointed president of the committee. In 1868 he was elected to the South Carolina Senate for Orangeburg County. Randolph advocated legal equality for African Americans, including the integration of schools. In 1868, while soliciting for the Republican Party, he was shot and killed in Donaldsville, SC, a predominately white area of the state. For more see American National Biography (2004), by P. R. Betz and M. C. Carnes.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Military & Veterans, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Religion & Church Work, Migration East, Legislators (Outside Kentucky)
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Donaldsville, South Carolina / Orangeburg, Orangeburg County, South Carolina

Ransom, R. A.
Birth Year : 1886
Death Year : 1951
Dr. R. A. Ransom was born in Columbus, KY. He was one of the first African American doctors in Fort Worth, Texas. Ransom was a cousin to Bishop Isaac Lane, founder of Lane College in Tennessee. Ransom initially attended Lane College but soon transferred to Southern Illinois State Normal University [now Southern Illinois University at Carbondale] where he earned his undergraduate degree. In 1908 he graduated from the Louisville National Medical College [the school closed in 1912] as valedictorian of his class. Ransom took his state board of medicine in Oklahoma City and later settled in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was the first African American surgeon in Tarrant County. He also helped establish the first hospital for African Americans. Dr. Ransom is buried in the New Trinity Cemetery in Fort Worth; in 1986 the cemetery was declared a historical site. Markers at the site pay honor to the 100-year-old cemetery and the contributions of Dr. Ransom. For more see B. R. Sanders, “Doctor left record of early struggles” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 09/19/2003, METRO section, p. 1B; and “Black History Month” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 02/15/1994, METRO section, p. 11.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care, Migration West, Undertakers, Cemeteries, Coroners, & Obituaries, Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership
Geographic Region: Columbus, Hickman County, Kentucky / Oklahoma City, Oklahoma / Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas

Ray, Joseph, Sr.
Birth Year : 1887
Death Year : 1959
Ray was born in Bloomfield, KY. In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed him Director of the Racial Relations Service of the Housing and Home Finance Agency. He had also been the first African American appointed to the Louisville, KY, Board of Equalization. He served as a buyer and appraiser for the Louisville Housing Authority and the Louisville Board of Education. He was a World War I veteran. Joseph Ray, Sr. was the husband of Ella Hughes Ray and the father of Joseph "Joie" Ray, race-car driver. He was a graduate of Kentucky Normal and Industrial School [now Kentucky State University] and attended the University of Chicago. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; The Last and Most Difficult Barrier, Segregation and Federal Housing Policy in the Eisenhower Administration, 1953-1960, a 2005 Report Submitted to the Poverty and Race Research Action Council," by A. R. Hirsch, Department of History, University of New Orleans; and "Joseph Ray Sr., 72, U. S. Housing Aide," Special to the New York Times, 12/01/1959, p. 39.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Housing Authority, The Projects, Military & Veterans, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Appointments by U.S. Presidents/Services for U.S. Presidents
Geographic Region: Bloomfield, Nelson County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Washington, D.C.

Raynor, Sarah Harper
Birth Year : 1853
Raynor was born in Kentucky, the daughter of Jennie Harper. She was an artist in wax works. She married Reverend Jacob R. Raynor (b. 1838 in Tennessee), pastor of the Garfield Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis, IN. The Raynors are listed in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census.
Subjects: Artists, Fine Arts, Migration North
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Indianapolis, Indiana

Redd, Thomas
Birth Year : 1866
Death Year : 1944
Thomas Redd was a civil rights leader in the the railroad industry. A brakeman on the Illinois Central Railroad, he was based in Louisville, KY. Redd had been with the company since 1895. Due to his persistent appeals for fairness to Negro railroad employers, Redd was known as a troublemaker among the company officials. He was a member of the Louisville Chapter Lodge #10 of the Association of Colored Railway Trainmen and Locomotive Firemen (ACRTLF), founded in 1912. Redd was elected chair of the organization's grievance committee in 1920 and later became president. The Illinois Central did not recognize the organization. Redd fought for more than a decade to secure equal pay, job security, and employment advancement for Colored railroad employees, but with little success, so he launched an even larger campaign that led to the development of the International Association of Railway Employees (IARE). The IARE held a conference in Chicago in 1934, and all Black railroad organizations were invited to send delegates. A second meeting was held in Washington, D.C., and Redd was named president of IARE, an umbrella organization with 28 member organizations from 16 states, including Kentucky. With legal representation by attorneys Charles Hamilton Houston and Joseph Waddy, and after years of fighting, the IARE would begin to see changes made to the labor laws. Thomas Redd was born in Hart County, KY, the son of William James Redd and Mary Ophelia Redd, according to his death certificate. He was the husband of Annie Redd. In 1900, the family of three lived on Gallagher Street in Louisville. Redd was a widower when he died in Louisville on July 22, 1944. For more see Brotherhoods of Color, by E. Arnesen.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Union Organizations, Railroad, Railway, Trains
Geographic Region: Hart County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Reed, William B. "Chief"
Birth Year : 1912
Death Year : 1996
William B. Reed was born in Paris, KY. He was the last principal of the segregated Western School for Negroes. The Paris City Schools were fully integrated in 1966 and Reed would become the first and only African American Assistant Principal in the Paris City School system. He had been a star football and basketball player at Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] and he coached the Western High basketball team to a national championship in 1953. Reed was also the school's football coach. He was the first African American elected to the Paris City Council in 1977. The William "Chief" Reed Park in Paris is named in his honor. For more see "William Reed, Retired Educator, Coach, Dies," Lexington Herald-Leader, Obituaries, 10/11/96; and "Mayor, 45 councilmen are black city officials," in 1978 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Fifth Report, by the Commission on Human Rights, p. 22. Western High School's 1953 basketball championship team picture, along with that of the football team, is available at the Kentucky African American Griot website, courtesy of Lora Washington.
Subjects: Athletes, Athletics, Basketball, Education and Educators, Football, Parks, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky

Reid Slave Cemetery (Hawesville, KY)
Within the Reid Family Cemetery, the last rows, 11-17, are designated as the Slave Cemetery. The location is described as being on "a high hill overlooking Highways 334 and Muddy Gut Road, on a farm owned by Stephen Emmick. Cemetery is in poor condition." It was noted that there were sandstone markers at most of the slave graves, but no names were recorded in the report published in Forgotten Pathways, Quarterly of the Genealogical Society of Hancock County, vol. IV, issue II (Fall 1987), p. 36.
Subjects: Undertakers, Cemeteries, Coroners, & Obituaries
Geographic Region: Hawesville, Hancock County, Kentucky

Reynolds, Edgar T.
Reynolds, a barber, was the first African American elected to office in Muhlenburg County, KY. For more see Kentucky Black Elected Officials Directory [1970], p. 5, col. B, published by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.
Subjects: First City Employees & Officials (1960s Civil Rights Campaign)
Geographic Region: Muhlenburg County, Kentucky

Reynolds, Sadiqa N.
Birth Year : 1962
Reynolds was the first African American woman to clerk for the Kentucky Supreme Court, she served as the chief law clerk for Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens. She also had a private law practice for several years, and in January 2008, Reynolds was named inspector general with the Louisville Metro Government. Her duties included annual reviews and investigating complaints against nursing homes and state-run institutions. August 2009, Reynolds was sworn in as Jefferson County District Judge of the 30th Judicial District, Division 11. Her appointment was made by Governor Steve Beshear; she replaced Judge Matthew K. Eckert, who resigned. Reynolds earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and her law degree from the University of Kentucky. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta. For more see B. Musgrave, "2 lawyers get Health Cabinet jobs, both have backgrounds in public health," Lexington Herald-Leader, 01/09/2008, City&Region section, p.D2; Sadiqa N. Reynolds in Who's Who in Black Louisville, Inaugural Edition, p.123; "Governor Beshear announces landmark judicial appointments," Press Release, 07/01/2009, Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office [online]
Subjects: Lawyers, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Women's Groups and Organizations, Judges
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Rheubin [Murrell]
Death Year : 1851
Rheubin, from Bowling Green, KY, was a slave owned by Samuel Murrell, one of the largest slaveholders in Warren County, KY. In 1849, Rheubin accompanied Murrell's son, George McKinley Murrell, to California in search of the gold that had been discovered in 1848. Rheubin was one of the earliest bondsmen from Kentucky to make the trek west in search of riches. He would remain a slave once he and Murrell reached their destination. After a year and a half of hard labor and no gold, Rheubin asked to return to his family in Kentucky. But young George Murrell was not ready to leave; instead, he hired Rheubin out as a cook. By 1851, Rheubin was dead. Murrell knew nothing about the circumstances surrounding his sudden death, but he surmised that Rheubin had succumbed to the cholera epidemic that was spreading in the nearby towns and camps where Rheubin had been sent to work. George Murrell returned to Kentucky in 1854; he did not strike it rich in California and, though he wrote his family about his good intentions, never recovered Rheubin's body. For more see A. S. Broussard, "Slavery in California revisited, the fate of a Kentucky slave in Gold Rush California," Pacific Historian, vol. 29, issue 1 (1985), pp. 17-21.
Subjects: Bakers, Cooks and Chefs, Explorers, Migration West
Geographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / California

Rhodes, Todd Washington
Birth Year : 1900
Death Year : 1965
Rhodes was a pianist and an arranger, he was born in Hopkinsville, KY, and grew up in Springfield, OH, where he studied at the Springfield School of Music. He also studied at the Erie Conservatory and graduated in 1921. He began his career with William McKinney's Synco Jazz Band. Rhodes moved on to Detroit where he formed his own band, he died in Flint. Todd's albums include Your Daddy's Dogin' Around and Blues for the Red Boy. Todd Rhodes was the son of Mattie Johnson and the stepson of John Johnson. For more see "Todd (Washington) Rhodes" in Oxford Music Online Database; and Todd Rhodes by Dave Penny, a Black Cat website.
Subjects: Migration North, Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers
Geographic Region: Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky / Flint Michigan

The Richard Hazelwood Family (Henderson, KY)
The Hazelwood family members were only a few of the estimated 300,000 pioneers who made their way through the Cumberland Gap. In 1832, Daniel Hazelwood, the great-great-grandfather of Anthony Hazelwood, came through the Gap, bringing everything that he owned from Virginia to settle in Henderson County, KY. Included were his eight children and 30 slaves. One of the slaves was a young boy named Richard Hazelwood, who was born in Virginia between 1828-1830; Richard was the great-great-great-grandfather of Denyce Porter Peyton. Richard's name was among the list of slaves belonging to the estate of Daniel Hazelwood, who died in 1836. Prior to becoming a free man, Richard married Maria Floyd (or Friels), and their first child was a son named Joseph (1858-1920). When the slaves were freed, the family kept the name Hazelwood, though many of the various African American Hazelwood families in Henderson County were not blood kin. By 1900, Richard had moved his family to the city of Henderson, where he worked as a day laborer. His son Joseph would become a tenant farmer in Henderson and Daviess Counties. Joseph was married to Anna Watson in 1871; according to Denyce Porter Peyton, Anna had been an orphan and nothing is known about her family. Joseph and Anna had several children. Their daughter Edna Mae was married to James Lester Porter, the son of McDonald and Elvira Porter. The Richard Hazelwood family had been in Kentucky since 1832, but all but two of Joseph and Anna's children left Kentucky in search of better opportunities in Indiana and Ohio. In 2008, the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park completed a short film (available on DVD) of reenactments of pioneer families that came to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap; the Hazelwood family and slaves are included in the film. For more information about the Richard Hazelwood family, contact Denyce Porter Peyton. For more information about Anthony Hazelwood, see A. Stinnett, "Businessman, community benefactor Hazelwood dies," The Gleaner, 12/08/2008. For more information about Cumberland Gap, contact the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. See also M. Simmons, "On the path of the pioneers," Knoxville News Sentinel, 10/20/2008, Local section, p. 10; and The Pioneers, DVD by the National Park Service.
Subjects: Freedom, Genealogy, History, Migration North, Migration West, Parks
Geographic Region: Virginia / Cumberland Gap, Middlesboro, Bell County, Kentucky / Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky

Richards, Rosalind H.
Birth Year : 1947
Born Rosalind Hurley in Paris, KY, Richards received a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award in 1996 when she was a 5th grade teacher at Squires Elementary School in Lexington, KY. That same year she was named Elementary Teacher of the Year. Richards was also a pilot teacher for the Kentucky Department of Education's Mathematics Portfolio Research and Development Project: she developed a new instructional model for the state's mathematics instruction and assessment portfolio. In 1997, Richards was named Kentucky Teacher of the Year and was one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. For more see Rosalind Richards on the Milken Family Foundation website, and Kentucky Women, by E. Potter.
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Richardson, Lawrence
Birth Year : 1912
Richardson was born in Danville, Ky, the son of Eitherone(sp?) and Mabel Richardson. In 1920, the family lived on North First Street, according to the U.S. Federal Census. Lawrence Richardson would become a probation officer in New York. In 1940, he married Margaret Allison Bonds (1913-1972), a noted composer, pianist, and music director; in 1933, she was the first African American soloist to appear with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. For more on Bonds see her entry at AfriClassical.com.
Subjects: Migration North, Corrections and Police
Geographic Region: Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky / New York

Riggs, Arthur J.
Birth Year : 1855
Arthur Riggs was born in Shelbyville, KY, the son of Rachel and Lloyd Riggs. In 1860, the family was free and is listed in the U.S. Federal Census. Arthur Riggs is regarded as one of the founders of Elkdom among African Americans. He took the last name Riggs after being freed from slavery; his family had been owned by Reverend John Tevis, a Carmelite minister. Riggs worked a number of jobs, including a stint at the Galt House in Louisville, KY, and later left for Cincinnati, where he was employed as a waiter at the Grand Hotel. He helped organize the Knights of Pythias Lodge in 1896 and served as Grand Chancellor of the State. Riggs and B. F. [Benjamin Franklin] Howard of Covington, KY, established the Negro Elks Lodge in Cincinnati. Riggs's participation in the Elks cost him his job as a pullman porter; he had gained access to the white Elks Ritual, which was used in establishing the Negro Elks Lodge. Riggs was later run out of Cincinnati and settled in Springfield, OH, with his family. He lived under an assumed name. With assistance from lawyer William L. Anderson, Riggs had learned from the Register of Copyright of the Library of Congress that the Ritual had no copyright; therefore, it was redrafted and copyrighted to Riggs in 1898 for the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World. As the organization continued to grow and add form, Riggs received more threats. He left the Elks then for two decades. B. F. Howard took over the management of the organization and moved it to Covington, KY. Riggs died prior to the 37th Grand Lodge meeting in August 1936. For more see History of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, 1898-1954, by C. H. Wesley.
Subjects: Migration North, Pullman Porters, Fraternal Organizations, Benevolent Societies
Geographic Region: Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky / Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky / Cincinnati and Springfield, Ohio

Rioting in Louisville, KY (1968)
Start Year : 1968
In the 1960s, racial tension had been growing in Louisville. On May 27, 1968, a rally took place at 28th and Greenwood to protest the arrest of Charles Thomas and Manfred G. Reid. Earlier that month, on May 8, Patrolmen James B. Minton and Edward J. Wegenast had stopped Thomas, a schoolteacher, because he was driving a car that was similar to one used in a burglary. The stop was made in an African American neighborhood. A crowd began to gather, and Patrolmen Michael A. Clifford and Ralph J. Zehnder arrived as backup. Reid, a real estate broker, was nearby and questioned the arrest. Patrolmen Clifford ordered Reid and others to get back; he was poking Reid in the chest with his finger. A scuffle occurred between Clifford and Reid. A crowd of 200 or so African Americans gathered and began yelling at the officers. Reid and Thomas were arrested. Three weeks later, a rally was called in response to the arrests; 350-400 people attended. There were several speakers, and a rumor circulated that Stokely Carmichael would be speaking. At the end of the rally a confrontation occurred between some who had attended the rally and the police who were patrolling the intersection of 28th and Greenwood. The skirmish escalated, growing into a full-fledged riot in the West End, lasting for almost a week. Six units of the national guard, over 2,000 guardsmen, were ordered to Louisville. Looting and shooting occurred, buildings were burned, two teens were killed, and 472 people were arrested. For more see K. H. Williams, "'Oh Baby... It's Really Happening:' The Louisville Race Riot of 1968," Kentucky History Journal, vol. 3 (1988), pp. 48-64; "Troops and Negroes Clash in Louisville Disorder," New York Times, 05/29/1968, p. 17; and the many articles in the Louisville Times, Courier-Journal and other local papers beginning May 28, 1968.
Subjects: Rioting, Insurrections, Panics, Protests in Kentucky, Realtors, Real Estate Brokers, Real Estate Investments
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Robb, Thomas K.
Birth Year : 1862
Death Year : 1932
Born in Frankfort, KY, Robb worked in lumber and was Yard Master at Burnside, Williamstown, and Louisville, all Kentucky communities. In 1896 he was elected Lumber Inspector for the Frankfort Penitentiary by the State Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners, beating out the other 11 competitors, who were all white. He would become an undertaker in 1900. According to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Robb and several other members of his family lived with his mother and stepfather, Bias Combs, on East Main Street in Frankfort, and after opening his undertaker business, Robb lived on Lewis Street. He was the son of Kate Kenney Robb Combs and James Robb, and the husband of Mary E. Jackson Robb. Mary and Thomas lived at 300 Clinton Street according to Thomas K. Robb's death certificate, and Thomas Robb's funeral was handled by undertaker George W. Saffell. For more see Biographical Sketches of Prominent Negro Men and Women of Kentucky, by W. D. Johnson.
Subjects: Businesses, Undertakers, Cemeteries, Coroners, & Obituaries
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Burnside, Pulaski County, Kentucky / Williamstown, Grant County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project
Start Year : 1964
The oral history interviews conducted by Robert Penn Warren for his book, Who Speaks for the Negro?, are located in the Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project in the University of Kentucky Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. A list of the interviews available online include Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X, and James Baldwin. They can be found within the Kentuckiana Digital Library - Oral History Collection. For more on the author, who is a Kentucky native, see Robert Penn Warren Papers at the University of Kentucky Special Collections.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights
Geographic Region: Kentucky

Roberts Settlement (Indiana)
Start Year : 1800
Roberts Settlement is one of several African American farm neighborhoods formed in the early 1800s. The community of Roberts was named for the family members who were free-born early pioneers of the Roberts family from Northampton County, NC. They began settling in Indiana in the 1830s, and by the 1870s others had joined them, both free-born and ex-slaves from Kentucky and North Carolina. Those from Kentucky included Jacob Davis, who owned 130 acres in Roberts Settlement, and landowners John Roads and Edmund Hurley. For more see Southern Seed, Northern Soil, by S. A. Vincent; and H. Wiley, "Keeping history alive," The Indianapolis Star [online at Indystar.com], 01/31/1993.
Subjects: Communities, Freedom, Migration North
Geographic Region: Roberts Settlement, Indiana / Northampton County, North Carolina / Kentucky

Robinson, H.
Robinson, from Paris, KY, invented the Robinson Mechanical Book, a crank operated dictionary that spelled and defined words. For more see p. 17 of The Negro Year Book (1925).
Subjects: Inventors
Geographic Region: Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky

Robinson, James H., Sr.
Birth Year : 1887
Death Year : 1963
James Hathaway Robinson, Sr. was born in Sharpsburg, KY. He moved to Cincinnati in 1915 to teach sixth grade at Douglass School. Robinson was a World War I veteran. He would become the Executive Secretary of the Negro Civic Welfare Association, which sponsored African American social work for the City of Cincinnati. He was also author of a number of publications, including the "Cincinnati Negro Survey" (revised to "The Negro in Cincinnati"), published by the National Conference of Social Work in 1919; and "Social Agencies and Race Relations," a printed address in the Proceedings of the National Inter-Racial Conference (1925). Robinson attended Fisk University, earning his B.A. and, M.A. degrees, then pursued his Ph. D. in sociology at Yale University. He was the husband of Neola E. Woodson, who was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and a member of the newly formed Zeta Chapter in 1920. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1927; River Jordan, by J. W. Trotter, Jr.; and Race and the city: work, community, and protest in Cincinnati, 1820-1970, by H. L. Taylor.
Subjects: Authors, Education and Educators, Welfare (Social Services) Organizations, Migration North, Military & Veterans, Social Workers, Sociologists & Social Scientists, Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Sharpsburg, Bath County, Kentucky / Cincinnati, Ohio

Robinson, Kathy
Kathy Robinson came to Kentucky from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1983; she accompanied her sister, who was in the military and had been transferred to Paducah. In 1988, Robinson wanted to sell music but recognized the need for a community news outlet, so she created The Kentucky Voice. The event marked the return of a newspaper that focused on the African American community in Paducah. Editor and publisher T. A. Lawrence had published such a paper in the 1920s, as had Pleasant A. Nichols in the late 1800s. The Kentucky Voice newspaper is published monthly, and home delivery is $1 per month. Thomas Bell takes care of the graphic design and production, and the newspaper is produced by the Murray Ledger & Times newspaper. Kathy Robinson is also head of the non-profit "The Genesis House: A Place for New Beginnings," an economic development and resource center. Robinson and her husband also own a beauty supply store, which allows them to continue their ministry. For more contact Kathy Robinson at The Kentucky Voice, 1210 Bernheim Street, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, (270) 210-6874, thekentuckyvoice@hotmail.com.
Subjects: Businesses, Cosmetologists, Beauty Shops, Hairdressers, Beauty Supplies, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Religion & Church Work
Geographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky / St. Louis, Missouri

Robinson, Melford J.
Robinson, appointed in 1970 to the Lynch Independent School Board, was the board's first African American member. For more see "36 city officials include mayor, police court judge," in Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials [1972], by the Commission on Human Rights, p. 17.
Subjects: First City Employees & Officials (1960s Civil Rights Campaign)
Geographic Region: Lynch, Harlan County, Kentucky

Robinson, William H.
Birth Year : 1900
Born in Louisville, KY, Robinson was head of the Physics and Math Department at Tillotson College [now Houston-Tillotson University] and Bricks Junior College, in North Carolina, and assistant director of the Mechanical Arts Department at Prairie View College [now Prairie View A&M University] before becoming head of the Physics and Math Department at North Carolina College [now North Carolina Central University], beginning in 1938. Robinson received his Ph.D. in 1937. He was author of several articles, including "The Negro and the Field of Physics," Beta Kappa Chi Bulletin (1945). For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1950.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Migration West, Physicists, Migration East, Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / North Carolina / Texas

Roll of Emigrants to Liberia, 1820-1843, and Liberian Census Data, 1843
Start Year : 1820
End Year : 1843
-Data and Information Services Center, Online Data Archive
Subjects: Liberia, Liberian Presidents & Diplomats
Geographic Region: United States / Liberia, Africa

Rosenwald Schools in Kentucky
Start Year : 1917
End Year : 1932
Between 1917 and 1932, more than 155 new Rosenwald facilities were constructed in over half the counties in Kentucky. Logan County had the most facilities: 8 Rosenwald schools and a library. Overall, Kentucky used very little of the Rosenwald Fund - Kentucky (3%), Maryland (3%), Florida (2%), and Missouri (0%) utilized the least amounts of the Rosenwald Funds of the 15 states building Rosenwald Schools. The effort behind the schools was the result of the collaboration between African American education leader Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosewald, a German-Jewish immigrant who owned Sears, Roebuck and Co. Rosenwald schools were built throughout the South, and for African American children the schools greatly increased the opportunity for an education in a modern building. For more see Rosenwald schools in Kentucky, 1917-1932, and Rosenwald Schools in Kentucky, Exhibit Guide [includes map of school locations], both by A. Turley-Adams; Rosenwald Schools Initiative, a National Trust for Historic Preservation website; and J. S. McCormick, "The Julius Rosenwald Fund," Journal of Negro Education, vol. 3, issue 4 (Oct. 1934), pp. 605-626.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky
Geographic Region: Kentucky

Ross, J. Allen
From Frankfort, KY, Ross was secretary of the National Negro Democratic Executive Committee and organizer of the Negro Democratic Party in Kentucky following the end of the Civil War. For more see Kentucky's Black Heritage, by Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.
Subjects: Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections
Geographic Region: Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Ross, Travus
Death Year : 1908
Ross, from Kentucky, served as a body servant during the Civil War, first for Colonel Roberts and later for General Sherman. After the war, he was appointed to the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C., where he was a special messenger. He served under 17 postmaster generals. In 1901 his annual salary was increased to $1,000. For more see "Travus Ross," an article in the Special Issue to The New York Times, 09/30/1908, p. 7, and also in Every Where; an American Magazine of World-Wide Interest, vol. 23, issue 1 (September 1908), p. 173 [available full-text at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Migration North, Military & Veterans, Postal Service
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Washington, D.C.

Rounds, Ned and Ellen [Honey Island, Mississippi]
Ned (1825 - ?) and Ellen (1835 - died between 1880 and 1900) were slaves born in Kentucky and were either sold or taken down South. They were owned by Peter James, Sr. and lived on the Stonewall Plantation in the Mississippi Delta. After he was freed, Ned Rounds became one of the largest landowners in the community he helped found, Honey Island, MS. Ned could not read or write, but he could count: he served as a banker for residents of Honey Island. He was a wealthy man who had been a slave and was the son of slaves who were also born in Kentucky. By 1910, the succeeding generation of the Rounds family had heavily mortgaged the land. The family wealth was lost and family members began leaving Honey Island, moving to northern locations. For more on the history of the Rounds family see Honey Island, by J. Hunter.
Subjects: Bankers, Banks, Finance, Financial Advisors, Communities, Freedom, Migration South
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Honey Island, Mississippi

Royal Photo Company Collection
Start Year : 1903
End Year : 1972
The Royal Photo Company was founded in Louisville, KY, in 1903 by Louis Bramson and operated as a commercial photography studio until 1972. The collection is a valuable source of information about commerce, industry, and major construction during this important period. In addition, there are significant groups of photographs showing workers, family groups, and minorities in Louisville. Available at the University of Louisville Libraries Photographic Archives.
Subjects: Photographers, Photographs
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Roye, John Edward and Nancy [Edward James Roye]
John Roye (d.1829) told others that he had been born a slave in Kentucky. He and his wife Nancy (d. 1840) moved to Newark, OH, where Roye became a prosperous land owner. He was also part owner in a river ferry, and left all that he owned to his son Edward J. Roye, who is said to have been born in Kentucky in 1815. Edward Roye was a barber and he owned a bathhouse in Terre Haute, IN. He left the U.S. for Liberia in 1846 and became the Chief Justice and Speaker of the House. In 1871 Edward became the fifth President of Liberia. During his presidency, he was accused of embezzlement and jailed. He escaped, and it is believed he drowned trying to reach a ship in the Monrovia harbor. For more see "Edward Jenkins Roye," Newark Advocate, 04/22/1984; and C. Garcia, "TH barber Edward James Roye became 5th president of Liberia," Tribune Star, 02/24/2007, pp.1&5.
Subjects: Barbers, Businesses, Fathers, Freedom, Liberia, Liberian Presidents & Diplomats, Migration North, Mothers, Migration Outside the U.S. and Canada
Geographic Region: Kentucky / Newark, Ohio / Liberia, Africa

Rudd, Robert R.
Birth Year : 1860
Rudd was born in Nelson County, KY, and settled in Ohio. It is not known if he was ever enslaved. He was captain of the "I" Company of the 48th Infantry during the Spanish-American War. Rudd's military career had begun in 1875, when as a teen he served with the Ohio National Guard, then later became a captain in 1881. The 48th Infantry began as a volunteer unit, one of the temporary regiments that was finally authorized by Congress. African American volunteers had not been accepted at the recruitment stations, so they formed their own volunteer units and appealed to the President of the United States and to Congress for military acceptance. The 48th Infantry served mainly in the Philippine Islands between 1900-1901, where some of the men died of diseases such tuberculosis and small pox. After the war, the 48th Infantry was mustered out of the service as a volunteer unit. Captain Robert R. Rudd was well respected for his command; he did survive the war. For more about his service life, see the Robert Rudd Papers, 1875-1906, at the New York Public Library, Schomburg Center. For more about other African American men who served in the 48th Infantry during the Spanish-American War, see On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier II, by I. K. Schubert and F. N. Schubert.
Subjects: Migration North, Military & Veterans
Geographic Region: Nelson County, Kentucky / Ohio

Rules and regulations of the annual fair of the Colored A. & M. Association Incorporated: to be held on the grounds of the white fair association, Lexington, Ky., September 8, 9, 10, 11
Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Association. Lexington, Ky.: Standard Print, 1897. Title available at Transylvania University Library's Special Collections (call no. S552 .C65 1897z) in Lexington, KY.
Subjects: Colored Fairs & Black Expos, Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering
Geographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Russell, Green P.
Birth Year : 1863
Death Year : 1936
Born in Logan County, KY, Russell was the first licensed African American teacher in Lexington, KY; Russell School is named for him. He was the first Supervisor of Negro Schools in Lexington, KY, 1896-1912. He was twice president of Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University]. Russell was the son of Green and Frances Russell, and the husband of Lila E. Willis Russell, from Tennessee. The family resided in Frankfort,KY. Russell was an 1885 graduate of Berea College, and a 1913 graduate of Wilberforce University. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915; and J. A. Hardin, "Green Pickney Russell of Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons," Journal of Black Studies, vol. 25, issue 5 (May 1995), pp. 610-621.
Subjects: Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Logan County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Russell, Harvey C., Sr.
Birth Year : 1883
Death Year : 1949
Harvey C. Russell, Sr. was born in Bloomfield, KY. He was Dean of Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] and president of West Kentucky Industrial College [now West Kentucky Community and Technical College] in Paducah, KY. He organized the first State Parent-Teachers Association and the first State Inter-High School Athletic Association. The Russell Neighborhood in Louisville, KY, was named in his honor; the area has been recognized with a Kentucky Historical Marker [number 2017]. He is author of The Kentucky Negro Education Association, 1877-1946. He was the husband of Julia Jones Russell and the father of Harvey C. Russell, Jr. and Bessie Tucker Russell Stone. For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan.
Subjects: Authors, Communities, Education and Educators
Geographic Region: Bloomfield, Nelson County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Russell, Samuel and Harriet
In 1841, the Russell family was purchased by philanthropist and abolitionist Gerrit Smith (1797-1874) and given their freedom. Samuel Russell died in 1857 and Harriett in 1886; both were born in Maryland. As a child, Harriet was nursemaid to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, who lived in New York (Fitzhugh would later become the wife of Gerrit Smith). Prior to being reunited with Fitzhugh, Harriet was a slave in Kentucky, as was Samuel and the five children they had while in Kentucky. Their sixth child was born free in Peterboro, New York. For more see "Born a slave, died free; at least 30 African-Americans buried in Peterboro Cemetery," The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), 02/24/05, Madison Edition.
Subjects: Freedom, Migration North
Geographic Region: Maryland / New York / Kentucky