African American Schools in Paris and Bourbon County, KY
Start Year : 1866
Some of the early schools in Bourbon County were built and supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, between 1866-1870 [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. The Negro common schools began around 1874, according to James R. Welch in his thesis titled The History of Education of Bourbon County. The following comes from Welch's thesis: In 1881, there were 1,765 colored school age children counted in the school census, and not many of them attended school. There were 16 colored school districts, with 15 schools. In 1885, there were 22 colored schools. In 1886, there were 24 colored schools, according to the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. All of the schools were held in full session up to the 1893-94 school year, which was about a decade prior to the beginning of a continuing decrease in the number of schools and students [source: The History of Education of Bourbon County]. The number of school districts held constant between 1890 and 1908, with 22 to 24 colored school districts and a daily attendance from a high of 1,063 students in 1893-94, to a low of 532 students in 1902-03. The attendance numbers picked up, but started to slip again in 1906. From 1908-1919, the number of colored schools decreased from 20 to 12. The following is a compilation of newspaper items on the history of Paris and Bourbon County colored Schools; the articles contained 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. In 1915, Cora W. Stewart reported that the Paris Colored Moonlight School was one of the best in the state for Negroes [source: Cora Wilson Stewart and Kentucky's Moonlight Schools by Y. H. Baldwin]. See photocopy image of Cumensville School on p.12 at Rosenwald schools in Kentucky, 1917-1932 [.pdf]. The following is additional information from Welch's thesis. The number of students had continued to decrease. During the 1908-09 school term the average elementary school attendance was 587 colored students, and by the end of the 1932-33 term, the average attendance was 296. An industrial training school opened in Little Rock in 1914, it was established with support from the Slater Fund. It was developed into the Bourbon County Training School for colored persons in 1918, and was also referred to as the Little Rock Training School. 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.
 

• Amentsville School
• Bourbon County Training School [Little Rock]
• Brentsville School
• Browntown School (submitted by Myke Carter; photo image by The Feedman)*
• Caneridge School
• Centerville School
• Claysville School
• Clintonville School
• Cumensville School
• Glentown School
• Houston School
• Jacksonville School
• Little Rock School
• Monterey School
• Millersburg School
• Millersburg Freedmen School
• Moonlight School
• North Middletown School
• Paris American Missionary Association School
• Paris Freedmen School
• Paris Western School
• Ruckerville School
• Ruddles Mills School
• Shipptown School
• Sidville School

See photo image of Clintonville Colored School building at Kentucky Digital Library - Images.
 
*Browntown was an African American Community on Townsend Valley Road in Bourbon County, KY, from the 1800s-sometime in the 1900s [source: The Feedman, Browntown Church Flickr site].
Subjects: Communities, Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Bourbon County, Kentucky: Paris, Millersburg, Ruddles Mills, Jacksonville, Glentown, Shipptown, Houston, Amentsville, Sidville, Centerville, Clintonville