African American Schools in Barbourville and Knox County, KY
Start Year : 1907
The Barbourville Colored School was taught by Zuetta Minor in 1907 and by Prof. Edward Kirtley in 1908 [source: "Colored School," Mountain Advocate, 12/25/1908, p. 1]. The seven colored schools in Knox County, KY, included the new brick school building in Barbourville, and there were plans to combine two of the school districts [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1905-1907, pp. 135-137]. In 1910, the Barbourville School, considered a county school, had 35 students on the first day of classes; Mary Dee Robinson was the teacher [source: "Colored School Opens," Mountain Advocate, 07/15/1910, p. 3]. The Bertha Colored School held its commencement in January of 1910. Miss Laura Gibson had been the school teacher for two years [source: "Commencement: Colored School of Bertha," Mountain Advocate, 01/14/1910, p. 3]. Gibson lived in Emanuel [source: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 18-21, 1923, p. 59]. The Barbourville schools had been overseen by a white school board until 1921, when the Board of Council of the City of Barbourville ordained that the white school have a white board of education, and the colored school have a colored board of education [source: "Ordinance," Mountain Advocate, 09/16/1921, p. 4]. In 1940, R. H. Thompson was principal of the Rosenwald High School in Barbourville [source: Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, vol. 11, no. 1, October-November 1940, p. 32]. Miss Laura Gibson retired from teaching at Barbourville Independent in 1942 [source: "Honor to whom honor is due," Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, November-December 1942, p. 7].

• Colored Schools (7)
• Barbourville Independent School
• Barbourville School
• Bertha School
• Rosenwald High School
• Rosenwald Elementary School

  See photo image of teacher and basketball students at Rosenwald Elementary School in 1950 on p. 94 in Rosenwald Schools in Kentucky, 1917-1932 [.pdf].
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Barbourville and Bertha, Knox County, Kentucky