There are more notable African Americans with Kentucky roots and ties than any one person knows about. Very little has been written about many of them and it is a challenge to find what was written in the past. For some, their stories have only been told by word of mouth. The Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (NKAA) has been developed as a finding aid to bring together a brief description of pertinent names, places, and events, and to list the sources where additional information may be found. This is not currently an all inclusive database, but we are working toward that goal and suggestions are welcomed.
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Born in Kentucky, Dave Lucas and his mother, Elizabeth Lucas, moved to Fort Lowell, Arizona, in the 1870s. He held a number of jobs before handling…
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Marianna Johnson, a contralto singer and pianist who was born in Henderson, KY, was the daughter of Mary E. Carr and Edward W. Johnson [source: U.S.…
Pierre Wallace Jackson, was born in Detroit, MI and grew up in Henderson, KY. He was a 1949 graduate of Kentucky State College (now Kentucky State…
Louis Stout was born in Cynthiana, KY, and was a graduate of Cynthiana High School. He played basketball under Joe B. Hall at Regis College [now Regis…
In April 2007, Anthony Gray, Jr. was sworn in as interim police chief of Danville, KY, the first African American to hold the post. Gray had been the…
In 1816, a notice was served to a slave named Joe, the property of W. Barret's heirs, Joe was ordered to close the school he had started for slaves.…
Barbara Shanklin, of Louisville, KY, was awarded the Anderson Laureate Award in 2006. She was elected to serve on the Louisville/Jefferson County…
