African American Schools in Caldwell County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1962
Between 1866-1870, there was a freedmen school in Princeton, KY [see NKAA entry African American Freedmen School]. There are several photo images of colored schools in Caldwell County, taken during the 1880s-1890s. The images are within the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives [KDLA] Electronic Records Archives, and includes the schools in Chapel Hill, Freedonia, Princeton, and Walnut Grove. Ella O'Hara was the school teacher at the Princeton Colored School in 1880 [source: U.S. Federal Census]. The colored school in Princeton was one of the few in Kentucky to have a Colored superintendent in 1925 [see NKAA entry Colored Superintendents]. During the school term, there were four colored schools in the county, with five teachers and 547 students [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, pp.67 & 69]. There were also four elementary schools in Princeton, and Princeton High School, all with a total of 264 students. The high school was later named Dotson High School. The St. Paul School in Princeton is listed in the Kentucky School Directory, 1962-63 as the first school in Caldwell County to become integrated. The public high schools started to integrate in 1963 [source: Patricia Georgeinterview in the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky Oral History Project at the Kentucky Historical Society website].

• Freedmen School supported by the Bureau
• Princeton School [image in KDLA Electronic Records Archives] / later Dotson School
• Chapel Hill School [image in KDLA Electronic Records Archives]
• Freedonia School [image in KDLA Electronic Records Archives]
• Freedonia School (1926-1948, image at westernkyhistory.org website]
• Walnut Grove School [image in KDLA Electronic Records Archives]
• Dotson School [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1961-62, p.845]

See photo image of Caldwell County colored school and students - KDLA Electronic Records Archives
See 2nd photo image of Chapel Hill School and students - KDLA Electronic Records Archives
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Caldwell County, Kentucky