Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

U. S. Congressional Hearings on Northern Emigration
Start Year : 1879
End Year : 1880
So many African Americans [Exodusters] were moving to Nicodemus, Kansas, that the U. S. Congress held hearings to find out why. A Select Committee was appointed by the Senate on December 15, 1879, charged with finding out why African Americans were emigrating north, especially those going to Nicodemus. The committee interviewed 153 African Americans (none from Kentucky) from January 19, 1880 to February 23, 1880. The investigation had ten summary points, the first being that the exodus was not the work of Republican leaders from the North. For more see "Report and Testimony of Select Committee to Investigate the Causes of the Removal of the Negroes From the Southern States," U.S Senate, Executive Document no. 693, 46th Congress 2nd Session, GPO 1880. Available at the University of Kentucky Libraries, Storage.
Subjects: Migration North, Nicodemus, Exodusters [African Americans migrating West around Reconstruction Era]
Geographic Region: Nicodemus, Kansas

Underwood, Edward Ellsworth
Birth Year : 1864
Death Year : 1942
A physician, Underwood moved to Kentucky to become Assistant City Physician in Frankfort. He organized and was the first president of the Frankfort NAACP Chapter. He was the first African American to sit on the Board of Trustees at Kentucky State University. In 1898 he formed the State League of Republican Clubs in Kentucky and was its first president. He was also a Kentucky delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1904. Underwood is author of the book, A brief history of the colored churches of Frankfort, Kentucky (1906) [full-text available in the Kentuckiana Digital Library], as well as several poems; and he was editor of the Blue Grass Bugle for ten years. He was born in Ohio, the son of Harriet and Reverend Johnson P. Underwood, and the husband of Sarah Walker Underwood, according to his death certificate. For more see Who's Who in Colored America 1927.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Authors, Education and Educators, Journalists, Newspapers, Magazines, Book Publishers, Music Publishers, Poets, Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections, Migration South, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Geographic Region: Ohio / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten
Start Year : 1861
The United Brothers of Friendship, originally a benevolent order established in 1861 in Louisville, KY, had both freemen and slave members. The organization later became a secret society with more than 60,000 members in various U.S. states, Liberia, Canada, and the West Indies. This membership included females referred to as the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten. For more see History of the United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, by W. H. Gibson, Sr. (1897); and United Brothers of Friendship Cemetery, by Juanita White.
Subjects: Fraternal Organizations, Women's Groups and Organizations, Benevolent Societies
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Liberia, Africa / Canada / West Indies

University of Louisville Basketball Team
Start Year : 1979
End Year : 1980
According to Billy Reed, former Executive Director for Communications at the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet, the 1979-1980 University of Louisville (U of L) men's basketball team was the first team to win a national basketball championship with an all-African American starting lineup since Texas Western defeated the University of Kentucky in 1966. The U of L starters were Darrell Griffith, Rodney McCray, Derek Smith, Wiley Brown, and Jerry Eaves. For more see the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet [renamed June 2008 to Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet] Press release dated 02/21/05, "Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch Represents Pinnacle of Proud African-American Athletic Tradition at U of L: Cards a Leader in Integrating Southern Sports."
Subjects: Basketball
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

University of Louisville Libraries' Special Collections
Special Collections in the Ekstrom Library at the University of Louisville (U of L) contains the departments of Photographic Archives and Rare Books. Included within the 1.5 million images and 75,000 rare books are considerable materials concerning African-American issues. See the Electronic Finding Aids to the University Archives and Records Center. Submitted by James Manasco, U of L Librarian.
Subjects: Genealogy, History, Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Unseld, Westley "Wes"
Birth Year : 1946
Wes Unseld was born in Louisville, KY, and attended Seneca High School, where he played on the basketball team that won two state tournaments. Unseld was also the 6' 7" center for the University of Louisville basketball team, for which he was a three year letter winner, two time All American, and three time All Conference player. He scored 1,686 points, had 1,551 rebounds and led the conference in rebounds for three years. He played 13 years in the NBA with the Baltimore Bullets [later the Washington Bullets, now the Washington Wizards] and retired as the NBA's 7th all time leading rebounder. From 1987-1994, Unseld was the head coach of the Washington Bullets, the second African American from Kentucky to become an NBA head coach [Bernie Bickerstaff was first and Dwane Casey was third]. In 1988, Wes Unseld was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. For more see Who's Who Among African Americans, 1977-2008; Basketball Biographies. 434 U.S. players, coaches and contributors to the game, 1891-1990, by M. Taragano; and "The 2004 Racial and gender report card: National Basketball Association" 05/02/2005, by Richard Lapchick [available online .pdf]..
Subjects: Basketball
Geographic Region: Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky / Baltimore, Maryland / Washington, D.C.