Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

African American Schools in Adair County, KY
Start Year : 1886
End Year : 1956
There were colored schools in Adair County in 1886, according to the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. There are references to the schools in William G. Aaron's thesis History of Education in Adair County, Kentucky. In 1912, the Columbia Colored School was taught by Parker Jackman; he had been teaching since shortly after the end of the Civil War and was one of the first African American teachers in Adair County and Russell County. There were as many as 14 colored schools in Adair County, but the number decreased to 10 by 1933 [Aaron, p.112]. In 1917, bids were accepted for the building of a colored school in Kelleyville [source: "Notice," Adair County News, 07/25/1917, p.4]. In 1920, bids were accepted for the building of the Elroy Colored School in District G, Division 2 [source: "To Contractors," Adair County News, 01/28/1920, p.4]. In 1921, the colored teachers earned between $65-$75 per month, and in 1931, they earned between $44-$56 per month [Aaron, p.86]. Attendance ranged from 384 students in 1901 to 161 students in 1931 [Aaron, p.89]. The Columbia County High School for colored students opened in 1925; the school was funded by the County Board of Education and cost $3,800 [Aaron, p.107]. There was also the Rosenwald School built on Taylor Street and named Jackman High in honor of Parker Jackman. There were 10 high school students for the 1931-32 term. Integration of the schools in Adair County occured in 1956 after parents of Negro studens filed a lawsuit via the NAACP (James A. Crumlin, Sr.), [source: "Court orders Adair Board to end segregation, Leader, 12/01/1955].

• Colored Schools (14)
• Columbia School
• Jackman High School
• Kelleyville School
• Elroy School

African American Schools in Anderson County, KY
Start Year : 1880
End Year : 1963
There were colored schools in Anderson County, KY prior to the year 1900 and the exact date of the first colored school is not known. In 1880, 21 year old John Trunt(sp) was listed in the U.S. Federal Census as a school teacher who lived in the East District of Lawrenceburg, but there is no indication as to where the school was located. Trunt(sp) was a boarder with the John Penny family. {Trunt may not be the correct spelling of the last name, it is difficult to read the handwriting of the census taker}. There were still colored schools in Anderson County in 1895, according to the Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky...for the two years beginning July 1, 1895 and ending June 30, 1897, there were five districts, each with one school that was taught five months per year. Three of the school buildings were frame structures, and the other two schools were taught in churches or other buildings. The colored schools were under the county system. There were six teachers and an average of 113 students attending school on a regular basis. By 1901, there were still five districts with five schools and six teachers [source: Biennial Report...beginning July 1, 1899 and ending June 30,1901]. One of the schools was taught more than five months. In 1901, there were four school buildings, one made of log and three frame structures, and the fifth school was taught in a church, or rented building, or in the teacher's home. The average attendance was 169 students for the school year 1899-1900, and the teachers earned an average of $46.61 per month. There was an average attendance of 135 students from 1900-1901, and the teachers earned an average of $41.55 per month. For both years, the Negro teachers earned more than the white teachers. There was one student from Anderson County who graduated from the State Normal School for Colored Persons for the scholastic year 1900 and 1901 [now Kentucky State University]. In 1916, there were two teachers listed in the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916: Mary W. Coleman [known as Mrs. Wally], p.26; and J. C. Diggs, p.27. By 1926, Raymond I. Pleasant had replaced J. C. Diggs and the Lawrenceburg Colored School was located in the Grove, it was Pleasant's first teaching job and he would become principal of the school. His wife, Catherine Utterback Pleasant taught at the Georgetown School in Anderson County, the school was in the African American community of Georgetown located off Lock Road in the area known today as the Georgetown School Road. Catherine and Raymond Pleasant are listed in the History and Families, Anderson County, Kentucky, by Turner Publishing, p.139. By 1935, William Coleman was a teacher and would become principal of the Lawrenceburg Colored School [source: KNEA Journal, v.6, no.1, p.52]. Prior to his arrival, Raymond I. Pleasant and Mary Coleman had added an unaccredited 2 year high school to the Lawrenceburg Colored School and there were 3 students [sources: Turner Pub., p.136; and KNEA Journal, Feb. 1931, v.1, no.3, p.11, and v.2, no.1, p.24]. William and Mary Coleman continued the unaccredited high school department, though in 1936, the school was still referred to as a city elementary school [source: KNEA Journal, October-November 1936, p.40]. Mrs. Lorelia C. Spencer was a teacher at the school in 1938 and she was principal of the high school department [source: KNEA Journal, v.9, no.1-2, p.52, and v.9, no.3, p.14]. According to historian Gary Brown, it was also in 1938 when the Lawrenceburg Colored School in the Grove burnt down and the new school was built on Lincoln Street. W. M. Thomas was a teacher at the school, and he left in 1939 to become principal of the Knob City High School in Russellville, KY [source: KNEA Journal, Jan.-Feb 1940, v.10, no.2, p.34]. L. L. Owens was principal of the Lawrenceburg Colored School in 1940 [source: KNEA Journal, October-November 1940, v.11, no.1, p.32]. Mrs. C. B. Daily was principal in 1945 [source: KNEA Journal, April-May 1945, v.16, no.2-3, p.29]. In 1949, William M. Coleman was principal of the junior high grades of the Lawrenceburg Colored School [source: KNEA Journal, March 1949, p.19]. The Anderson County colored schools were consolidated around 1950 and students from the county were bused to the Lawrenceburg Colored School on Lincoln Street. William M. Coleman would again be named principal of the school. There was never an accredited high school for Negro children in Anderson County and the unaccredited high school department at the Lawrenceburg Colored School were dropped in 1945. According to Lawrenceburg resident Ethel Thurman and historian Gary Brown, Anderson County paid for Negro high school students in Lawrenceburg to be bused to Lincoln Institute in Shelby County and to Simmons High School in Versailles, and there were a few students bused to the old Dunbar High School in Lexington. The Anderson County Schools began to integrate in 1963 when Negro high school students were given the option of attending the white high school in Lawrenceburg, or Lincoln Institute, or the high school in Versailles. According to historian Gary Brown, the following year, all other grades were integrated, and Robert Bird was the Superintendent of Schools. For this entry, assistance with geographic locations and names, the names of teachers, and school integration information were also provided by Jane Jones and Cathy L. Green.

• Colored Schools (5)
• Georgetown School
• Lawrenceburg School (burnt in 1938)
• Lawrenceburg School

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

African American Schools in Bath County, KY
Start Year : 1880
End Year : 1963
In 1880, there were at least two colored schools in Bath County, KY, according to the U.S. Federal Census, Elijah Grigsby was the teacher in Owingsville and Walace Smith was the teacher in Sharpsburg. By 1886, there were eight colored schools in Bath County, KY [source: NKAA entry for African American Schools, 1886], and in 1897, there were ten schools, according to the Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky...July 1, 1895 and ending June 30, 1897, pp.216-219. All were rural elementary schools under the county school system. The schools were in session for nine months, and there were nine frame school houses and one made of logs. There were 11 school teachers, two of whom were female, and the Owingsville school teacher was M. C. Lasswell. In 1897, the average monthly salary for the female teachers was $32.91, and the wages of the male teachers was an average of $31.84 per month. The average attendance was 152 students in 1897, and four students graduated (from 8th grade). The number of colored schools had declined by 1925, there were six schools with seven teachers [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, p.67], and the numbers had declined again by the 1936-37 school term when there were four teachers, and there were three teachers during the 1940-41 term. The names of teachers at the Owingsville School can be found in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal for the years 1925-1941. The following information comes from the Bath County News-Outlook newspaper. The newspaper copies and the research were provided by the Bath County Memorial Library in Owingsville, KY. -- In 1953, there were 32 students enrolled in the Owingsville Colored School, and 75 students at the Bethel and Sharpsburg colored schools [article: "1500 are enrolled in county schools," 09/10/1953, p.1]. Mrs. Nannie M. Powell was the teacher at the Owingsville Colored School as early as 1953, and Mrs. Carie Lee Clemmons and Mrs. Mary F. Williams were the teachers at Sharpsburg Colored School [article: "Owingsville School," 09/03/1953]. Beginning in 1958, Mrs. Clemmons and Frank C. LaPrelle were the teachers at the Sharpsburg Colored School [articles: "Teachers placed," 04/30/1958; "Bath County schools to open Monday, August 29," 08/25/1960; and "County schools start Sept. 7, teacher list is announced," 07/26/1962]. In 1954, it was recommended that contractual arrangements be made for Negro high school students to attend the Negro high schools in adjacent counties or Lincoln Institute in Shelby County [article: "Negro schools," 02/18/1954]. The Owingsville Colored School on Harrisburg Street was the last one-room school house in Bath County, the school had students in grades 1-8 [article: photo caption "One big family," 01/12/1961], the school building was sold to George Harris for $1,555 in 1963 [article: photo caption "'Little Red Schoolhouse' auctioned to high bidder," 10/24/1963]. The Sharpsburg Colored School property was on the south side of Montgomery Street in Sharpsburg, and was to be sold at public auction after the Owingsville Colored School was sold [article: "5 Surplus schools go under auction hammer," 10/10/1963]. -- There was never a high school for Negro students in Bath County. The schools in Bath County were integrated during the 1963-64 school term [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1963-64, p.94].

• Colored Schools (10)
• Owingsville School
• Sharpsburg School
• Bethel School

African American Schools in Boone County, KY
Start Year : 1882
End Year : 1954
In 1882, the Kentucky Legislature passed an act for the benefit of the colored schools in Petersburg, KY, granting that lots 172 and 173 be used for schools for the colored children. The lots had belonged to Samuel Yowell, who died without any heirs in 1872 and the property was taken over by the state. Petersburg is an unincorporated community in Boone County, KY. It is not known if a school house was ever built on the lots, but by 1886, there were a few colored schools in Boone County [see NKAA entry African American Schools, 1886]. In 1891, the school superintendent complained that the schools were poorly financed and there were no school buildings amongst the three districts and the school sessions were held in churches [source: A History of Blacks in Kentucky, v.2 by G. C. Wright, p.108]. In 1911, the average salary for the teachers was $42.31 per month [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1911, p.48]. Blanche Robinson was a teacher in Boone County in 1935, and Wallace Strader was the principal of Boone County High School, located in Burlington, KY, in 1937 [source: Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal - October-November, 1935, v.6, no.1, p.21 and January-February, 1937, pp.14 & 16]. In 1954, there were 11 students in the Burlington Colored School, and there were two students attending Lincoln Institute, their tuition was paid by the school board ["Walton-Verona parents vote integration now," Louisville Courier Journal 07/09/1954 - online at nkyviews.com]. There was also colored school in Idlewild. In 1894, the Hopewell Baptist Church in Beaverlick was also used as a school [source: Mr. Robert Lett, "Hopewell Baptist Church," at the Boone County Public Library website]. In 1883, the African Americans in Florence, KY, had a picnic benefit for their school [source: Boone County Recorder, 05/30/1883, online note, Boone County Public Library website].

• Colored Schools
• Boone County High School
• Burlington School
• Idlewild School
• Hopewell Baptist Church School
• Florence School

African American Schools in Boyle County, KY
Start Year : 1837
End Year : 1964
Between 1866 and 1870, there were at least four colored schools in Boyle County that were supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see the NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. According to William F. Russell's thesis, The History of Education of Boyle County, pp. 217-221, Willis Russell taught the first colored school in Danville, located in a frame house on Green Street (around 1837); a second school on Green Street was taught by Gib Doram. There were also schools taught at the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist Churches. There was also a private school that cost $2.00 per month. The colored schools in Boyle County were counted in the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In 1881, John W. Bate came to Danville and took over teaching at what had been the Danville Freedmen School [source: Russell thesis, pp. 218 & 228]. The school house was described as a "barn-like frame structure" that was replaced by a brick school building in 1912. The school was under the county school system until 1892 when it was placed under the newly established city school system; all other colored schools remained under the county system. During the 1920s, the Danville Colored School had over 400 students in grades 1-12 taught by 12 teachers, four of whom taught the high school classes [source: Russell thesis, pp. 219-221]. High school students were bused to the school from Lancaster and Stanford, KY. From 1880-1881, there were seven colored schools reported by the county commissioner of schools [source: Russell thesis, pp. 208-210, & 227]. The schools had one room with one teacher. More county schools opened after 1881. The highest average attendance was 1,009 students in the year 1900. By 1928 many of the schools had been discontinued and there were only six colored schools in the county. In 1885, a school was established for the colored deaf children within the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb, located in Danville [see NKAA entry Early Schools for Negro Deaf and Blind Children]. The colored school for the deaf was actually a department--it opened on February 2, 1885, with eight pupils, Morris T. Long as teacher and supervisor and his wife, Nannie R. Long, the matron [source: Russell thesis, pp. 149-155]. In 1929, the instructors were Mrs. Mary Fosdick and A. D. Martin. Between 1885 and 1929, there were never more than 16 students in the *colored department. The Danville schools were integrated in 1964.

• Danville Freedmen School
• Danville American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Parksville American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Shelby City Freedmen School
• Danville School #1 on Green Street (Willis Russell)
• Danville School #2 on Green Street
• Methodist Church School
• Presbyterian Church School
• Baptist Church School
• Stony Point School
• Wilsonville School
• Perryville School
• Zion Hill School
• Atoka School
• Junction City School
• Colored Department of the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb

African American Schools in Breathitt County, KY
Start Year : 1886
End Year : 1956
In 1886, there were two colored schools in Breathitt County, KY, according to the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 1907, there was one colored school with 100 children, the school was located in Jackson [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction]. According to McClure's Magazine, October 1922, v.54, no.8, p.17, the Breathitt County inter-racial committee secured three acres of land and built a school for the Negroes of Jackson. During the 1930-31 school term, the colored school had an enrollment of 27 students who were taught by one teacher [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1930-1931, p.51]. There is also mention of the colored school in Jackson on pp.6-7 in the report titled "Education - Jackson City Schools," a WPA document written sometime around the 1938-39 school term [source: Kentucky Education Collection, Series 1, Box 4, File: Breathitt County Education]. The school was a two classroom room frame building that was in bad condition, the school building was old, it was located on the west slope side of Yo Hill. One room was sometimes used as a gymnasium and was fitted for basketball. There were also two small dressing rooms and a small room that had been used as a kitchen, workshop, library and store room. The school had grades 1-8 taught by Mrs. Katheryn Gatewood. Outside the school was a playground of hard packed red clay about 50 x 50 feet. There were also two outside toilets, one for the boys and one for the girls. In a 1940 letter from the Breathitt County Board of Education, written to the Kentucky Writer's Project, it was reported that that there were 49 Negro children in the city and 7 in the county [source: Kentucky Education Collection, Series 1, Box 4, File: Breathitt County Education, Letter from Marie R. Turner, County Superintendent, Breathitt County Board of Education, pp.1-2]. The county school system did not have a colored school, but rather paid tuition to the city school board for the county students who attended the Jackson colored school. According to the title Breathitt County by S. D. Bowling, p.54, the elementary Rosenwald School in Jackson was located on Hurst Lane. The Rosenwald School probably replaced the former school because there continued to be only one colored school in Jackson. There was not a high school for Negro children in Breathitt County. The Breathitt County Schools are noted as integrated in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1956-57, p.402.

• Colored School
• Jackson School

African American Schools in Bullitt County, KY
Start Year : 1827
End Year : 1956
According to author Daniel Buxton*, in his article, "African American Education in Bullitt County," schools for African Americans were attempted as early as 1827. Other early schools in Bullitt County were supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, from 1866-1870 [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools - Kentucky]. The schools were not welcomed; the teacher at the Shepherdsville Freedmen School was threatened, the Noble School was burnt down in 1867, and the schools held in churches resulted in the churches being burnt down. In spite of the resistance that was encountered, there were still colored schools in Bullitt County, with eight schools in 1880 [source: Ockerman, p. 127], and the 1886 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction noted seven colored districts in the county. In 1890, the industrial school, Eckstein Norton University, opened in Cane Springs. The school was founded by William J. Simmons and Charles H. Parrish, Sr. both of whom would become president of the school. Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N Railroad) gave $3,000 toward the development of the school, and in return the school was named for Eckstein Norton, a banker and president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad [source: The History of Education in Bullitt County, by H. N. Ockerman, pp. 76-96]. The school was situated along the Bardstown Branch of the L&N Railroad on 75 acres of land that had been purchased from Austin Speed. L&N Railroad built a station [Lotus, KY] just for the students and school personnel. There were seven buildings on the campus: the main building, a brick structure, and six frame buildings that were used as dormitories, a printing office, a laundry, and a blacksmith shop. There was a primary department, grades 1-5; a training department, grades 6-8; a normal and preparatory department, grades 9-12; and the college department, which offered a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Sciences degree. In 1911, Eckstein Norton University merged with Lincoln Institute, and the Eckstein Norton campus was closed in 1912. The school had awarded 189 bachelor's degrees. During the 12 years that Eckstein Norton existed, there were still seven colored public schools in Bullitt County, including the Copera Hollow School mentioned in the article by Daniel Buxton. After the closing of Eckstein Norton, the Bullitt County Board of Education established a contract with Lincoln Institute for the education of high school students. According to Buxton, the number of county public colored schools was six by 1905, reduced to four schools by 1910. According to Ockerman [p. 127], three colored school districts were eliminated in 1913. Another school opened around 1922: Central Christian Institute, owned by the Christian Woman's Board of Missions of the Disciples of Christ United Missionary Society; that school closed in 1927. It had been one of the five schools in Bullitt County for African Americans, along with Shepherdsville Colored School, Lebanon Junction Colored School, Mt. Washington Colored School, and Bowman Valley Colored School, which opened around 1916. All of the public colored schools were taught by African American women teachers; in 1908 their average monthly salary was $26.14 [source: Ockerman, p. 115]. Many of the county public schools were consolidated beginning in 1922, and in 1932 Bowman Valley Colored School became the only school for African American children. The school building was located between Shepherdsville and Bardstown Junction. In 1947, the teachers were Miss Maggie Owens and Miss Mattie Owens [source: Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, vol. 18, issue 2, (March-April, 1947), p. 27]. The schools of Bullitt County began to integrate in 1956.

• Shepherdsville Freedmen School [teacher threatened]
• Noble School supported by the Bureau [burnt down in 1867]
• Church School supported by the Bureau [church was burnt down]
• Church School supported by the Bureau [2nd church burnt down]
• Colored School Districts (8)
• Eckstein Norton University (1890-1912)
• Copera Hollow School
• Shepherdsville School
• Lebanon Junction School
• Mt. Washington School
• Bowman Valley School
• Central Christian Institute (c.1922-1927)

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 George interview 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]

African American Schools in Campbell County, KY
Start Year : 1873
End Year : 1955
Within Mary Lee Caldwell's thesis, History of Education of Campbell County, KY, p.44, it was stated that all African Americans in Campbell County lived in Newport, which was not entirely true. African Americans also lived in Ft. Thomas, Alexandria, and Dayton. The African American children from these communities attended the colored school in Newport. The school was established around 1873 and Elizabeth Hudson was the teacher [source: History of the Public Schools of Newport, Kentucky by James L. Cobb]. The school was located in a cottage near Saratoga Street and Washington Avenue. In 1916, the teachers were Emma J. Blanton, W. S. Blanton, A. J. Cox, and L. A. Ellis [source: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916, pp.25-27 & 39]. In 1936 the school was placed under the independent graded districts [source: Caldwell, p.45], by which time the school had been moved to Southgate Street, and the school was named Southgate Colored School. In 1941, there were 131 students taught by four teachers for grades 2-8, and first grade was taught at Corinthian Baptist Church in Newport. There was also a three-year high school from 1901- 1920, and it was taught by one teacher. After 1920, the Newport Board of Education provided the high school students with transportation and tuition to William Grant Colored High School in Covington, KY. The Southgate School was closed in 1955 when the Campbell County Schools integrated.

• Newport School
• Southgate School
• Corinthian Baptist Church School
• Southgate High School (1901-1920)

African American Schools in Carroll County, KY
Start Year : 1879
End Year : 1961
When R. W. Bevarly was completing his master's thesis in 1936, articles about the colored schools of Carroll County in 1879 were located in the Carrollton Democrat newspaper; the colored school at Liberty Station was attended by children in the day and by adults at night; in Carrollton, Maggie Woods was the teacher [source: History of Education in Carroll County by R. W. Bevarly, p.66]. There were three schools in 1880. In 1881 there were 226 students in the four colored schools [source: Bevarly, p.50]. In 1882 there were 268 students in the schools located in Carrollton, Ghent, Above Ghent, and Liberty Station [source: Bevarly, p.51]. There were five colored school districts in 1885: No.1 Carrollton, No.2. Ghent, No.3 Lynan Craigs, No.4 Sanders, and No.5 Worthville [source: Bevarly, p.30]. All of the schools were under the county school board with the largest colored school in Carrollton and James K. Polk was the teacher. Polk was a graduate of Gaines High School in Cincinnati, OH [source: Bevarly, p.66]. He taught at the colored school for one year and was replaced by J. E. Jackson, and in 1889 Jackson was replaced by Fred W. Burch, also a graduate of Gaines High School. There continued to be five colored schools in Carroll County until 1900 when there was six, and by 1933, there were two [source: Bevarly, p.94]. Dunbar Colored School, in Carrollton, was a brick building and was under the city school board, Bessie Whitacker was the teacher and had a monthly salary of $69, while her husband Dudley Whitacker had a salary of $75 for teaching at the Ghent Colored School that was held in a rented building that was in poor condition [source: Bevarly, p.94]. After WWII, a new colored school building was constructed in Ghent and it served as the county school for all African American children. There was never a colored high school in Carroll County, and the city and the county provided transportation for high school students attending Lincoln Institute [source: A History of Carroll County, Kentucky: containing facts before and after 1754 by M. A. Gentry, p.53]. The school systems of Carroll County began to integrate in the 1960s, starting with the first grade students [source: "Schools due to integrate at Carrollton," Louisville Courier-Journal, 04/22/1961].

• Carrollton School
• Dunbar School
• Ghent School
• Above Gent School
• Lynan Craigs School
• Sanders School
• Worthville School
• Liberty Station School

African American Schools in Casey County, KY
Start Year : 1880
In 1880 there were four colored school districts in Casey County, KY, with two schools and 190 students on the enrollment list [source: History of Education in Casey County, Kentucky, Lloyd Bryant Cox, p.111]. In 1886, there were five colored schools [source: 1886 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction]. In 1890, there were still five colored schools, each with one teacher, and there were 94 students on the enrollment list. There were six schools during the 1901 and 1902 school terms [source: Cox, p.112]. By 1914, there were two schools, one in Liberty and one in Indian Creek, and by 1931, there was an average attendance of 23 students for both schools [source: Cox, p.113-114]. High school students from Casey County went to the colored high school in Stanford, KY.

• Colored Schools (5)
• Liberty School
• Indian Creek School

African American Schools in Clark County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1956
According to the personal interviews conducted by Fred Allen Engle for his 1928 education thesis, there were some slaves who received an education in Clark County, KY. The slaves were taught by their owners, Judge Charles Stephen French, Mrs. Telitha Clay, Laura Bramlett, Mrs. Josephine Peterson Rogers and Mr. Samuel Rogers, and Philip B. Winn [source: The History of Education of Clark County (thesis) by F. A. Engle, pp. 28-29]. Engle also notes that, in 1866, at the first colored school in Clark County, (located in Winchester), classes were held in a rented building; it was the only colored school in the county for a few years. The teacher was Mrs. Amanda Faulkner [source: Engle, p. 43]. In 1869, the Freedman's Bureau provided funding for a new school building that was constructed on a lot at the corner of Broadway and Wall Streets; the land was secured from money raised by the African American community. The school was built by Kirkpatrick Brothers, a plumbing business [source: Engle,p. 43], and by the time the building was completed, the school teacher, Mrs. Amanda Faulkner, had died of tuberculosis and was replaced by John C. Hubbard. The new school was referred to as a Freedmen School [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. The school term was four months and was extended to nine months, and there would later be three African American trustees who oversaw the school: J. T. Taul, Dan Baker, and M. M. Bell [source: Engle, p. 117]. Other city schools included a log school building at the corner of Maple and Washington Streets and a third colored school at No.24 Second Street [source: Engle, pp. 43-44]. In addition to Mrs. Amanda Faulkner and John C. Hubbard, the first colored teachers in Winchester were George Cary, Miss Delilah Culbertson, Miss Malinda Smith, Miss Sue Henry, and James S. Hathaway. School teacher George Cary had replaced John C. Hubbard; Cary was from Canada and was remembered for his brilliance and for greatly increasing the enrollment and attendance at the Freemen School. A disagreement of some sort arose between George Cary and members of the African American community, resulting in the construction of the Washington Street Colored School with Miss Delilah Culbertson as the teacher. Culbertson was later replaced by Miss Melinda Smith, who was replaced by Miss Sue Henry in 1877. George Cary left the Freedman School in 1882 and was replaced by James S. Hathaway and Miss Sue Henry. During this period, colored schools were begun in the county; one of the first was located at Howard's Creek around 1870, a log building later replaced by a frame building [source: Engle, p. 29]. The following quotation comes from the 1884 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, p. 28: "Some of the districts depend on their churches as school-rooms. Immediate wants: School-houses and smaller districts." The report contains a discrepancy as to the number of school-aged children in Clark County [source: 1884 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Colored. Table II. p. XXVII]: 967 children between the ages of six and 20 were reported to the auditors by the assessors for 1885; 1,628 children reported to the superintendent for 1885; there was a difference of 661 children. "Schools were taught in every colored district except one; there the house was not completed in time for school. Teachers were comparatively well-qualified. A majority were educated at Berea College, in the adjoining county." -- [source: Engle, p. 22]. In 1886, 11 colored schools were located in Clark County, KY, according the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The schools were supported by taxes, subscription fees, and donations [source: Engle, p. 30]. Additional information about the Freedmen School and the names of the teachers and principals can be found on p. 45 of The History of Education of Clark County (thesis), by F. A. Engle. In 1893, there were 15 colored school districts in the county with an average attendance of 575 students, and half the schools were still being taught in churches and other buildings. In the 1880s there was a disagreement: the African American community spoke out about the condition of the city colored schools, which resulted in all of the colored school buildings being closed. According to author F. A Engle (p. 118), in response to the closing of the schools, the African American community opened a new school in an old laundry building at the corner of Washington and Oliver Streets, and Mrs. G. S. Benton, a teacher and Berea College graduate, opened a school in her home on Third Street. Mrs. Benton had been the school principal at the Freedmen School. The interim schools continued until a bond issue was successfully voted into action by the city for a new colored school building on Oliver Street. The Oliver Street Colored School opened in 1892 and closed in 1969. The first principal, Mrs. G. S. Benton, was replaced the following year by J. H. Mingo, a graduate of the Chandler School in Lexington. The teachers were Miss C. N. Willis, Miss Flora Z. Barbee, Miss Willie Woodford, Mrs. Nettie David and Mrs. Julia A. Benton. In 1894, Principal Mingo was replaced by James H. Garvin. Within the Oliver Street School, the students were taught music, cooking, sewing, shoe making, brick laying, and business and literary courses [source: "The Colored School," Winchester News, 10/12/1908, p. 3]. Both Prof. Garvin and his wife, Lillie B. Garvin, were school teachers. Prof. Garvin was principal at the school for 24 years, retiring in 1918 [source: "Education," The Crisis, March 1918, vol. 15, no. 5, p. 215]. The Oliver Street Colored School contained grades 1-12. Early pictures of the Oliver Street Colored School are on pp. 123-124 of The History of Education of Clark County (thesis), by F. A. Engle. Another school, the Clark County Moonlight Colored School, was first held in 1915; considered one of the four best Moonlight Schools for Negroes in Kentucky, it had an enrollment of 203 students [source: Cora Wilson Stewart and Kentucky's Moonlight Schools, by Y. H. Baldwin]. The colored school in Indian Fields was taught by Maggie Kidd in 1919 [source: Day By Day County Illiteracy Agent's Record Book, Fanny Curry - Clark County Agent, 07/01/1919]. In 1924, there was a Rosenwald School in Jouett's Creek; a photograph of the school can be seen on p. 13 of Rosenwald Schools in Kentucky, 1917-1932 [online .pdf]. In 1928 the Freedmen School building was still standing; it was used as a manual training shop for the city colored school [source: Engle, p. 29]. A picture of the school building is on p. 125 of The History of Education of Clark County (thesis), by F. A. Engle. The Oliver Street High School was closed in 1956, and in 1957 the Clark County high schools began to integrate. The remainder of the Oliver Street School continued until 1969.

• Slaves educated by owners
• Colored School (1866)
• Winchester Freedmen School (Broadway and Wall Streets)
• Maple & Washington Street School
• Second Street School
• Howard's Creek School
• Colored Schools (1884)
• Washington & Oliver Street School
• Mrs. G. S. Benton's School
• Indian Fields School
• Moonlight School
• Oliver Street School 
• Jouett's Creek School (photo image, p. 13, Rosenwald)

African American Schools in Clinton County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1956
There was one colored school in Clinton County, KY in 1866, according to the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, for the School Year Ending December 31, 1864. Between 1895-1897, there were two colored schools in Clinton County, one school was constructed of logs and the other was a frame building [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, pp.312-316]. There was one teacher at each school and the schools were in session for five months. During the 1896-97 school term there was an average attendance of 52 students. During the 1925-1926 school term, there was one school with one teacher and 10 students [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, p.67]. The school continued with one teacher and around nine students into the 1950s. There was no high school for Negro children in Clinton County, KY. During the 1956-57 school term the Clinton County Schools were listed as integrated in the Kentucky Public School Directory, though the colored school was listed until the 1957-58 school term. The Albany Independent School also was integrated during the 1957-58 school year.

• Colored Schools (2)

African American Schools in Cumberland County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1959
Record of the first colored school in Cumberland County was for the school built by white citizens in Burkesville, KY, between 1866-1870. The school was supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see NKAA entry African American Freedmen Schools]. In 1870, Mag Taylor was the school teacher [see NKAA entry Migration from Canada to Kentucky]. Taylor was from Canada and lived with the Owsley family in Burkesville [source: 1870 U.S. Federal Census]. In 1886, there were six colored school districts in Cumberland County [see NKAA entry African American Schools, 1886]. One of the schools was located in Marrowbone, today within the Marrowbone Historic District. Other colored schools were located in Bakerton, Beech Grove, Burkesville, Clay Lick Bottom, Coe, and Lawson's Bottom [source: History of Cumberland County by J. W. Wells]. John E. Burbridge (1867-1914), from Adair County, was the school teacher at the Burkesville Colored School for several years, until his death in 1914 [sources: "Last week we wrote a notice of the death of John Burbridge..." The Adair County News, 06/03/1914, p.1; and Kentucky Death Certificate, File No. 12587]. In 1923, the school teachers were J. M. and Kate Alexander at Burkesville; Miss Stella Baker at Waterview; Mrs. Flora V. Allen at Leslie; Thomas E. Cox at Black Ferry; Mrs. Eliza Ellington at Marrowbone; Mr. W. J. Lawson and Miss Susie Lee Scott at Bakerton [source: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 18-21, 1923, pp.49, 50, 55, 57, 66, & 74]. The number of colored schools would decrease to where there was only the one in Burkesville. There was not a high school for Negro children in Cumberland County. The Cumberland County Schools began to integrate during the 1959-60 school term [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, p.784], and the Cumberland County High School was noted as integrated the following school year. John W. Burbridge was principal of the Burkesville Negro School, grades 1-8, and both the school and the principal are listed in the Kentucky School Directory up to the 1966-67 school term.

• Burkesville Freedmen School
• Burkesville School
• Marrowbone School
• Bakerton School
• Beech Grove School
• Clay Lick Bottom School
• Coe School
• Lawson's Bottom School
• Waterview School
• Leslie School
• Black Ferry School

African American Schools in Earlington, KY (Hopkins County)
Start Year : 1891
End Year : 1947
Earlington Colored School was open as early as 1891; it was mentioned in a special report, "Masons Made - Mass Meetings - Visitors." Freeman, 02/28/1891, p.6. The school reopened for the year in September of 1892 [source: "School opens," Bee, 09/08/1892, p.6]. In 1894, A. R. Bailey was principal and J. E. Todd was his assistant [source: Bee, 03/22/1894, p.3]. The Colored school was located in District 7, there were 158 students enrolled with an attendance of 126, and the school was in session for nine months. In 1895, C. W. Merriweather was the assistant principal of the school. J. W. Bell was the principal in 1911 [source: "Prof. J. W. Bell...," Bee, 07/18/1911, p.5]. He was still the principal in 1920 when there were 14 students in Earlington High School (grades 9 and 10), according to author H. Ardis Simons' thesis, The History of Education in Hopkins County, Kentucky. From 1923 to 1941, the principals were Edward Dean, W. E. Strader, T. W. Austin, R. R. Buckner, Theodore Daly, W. B. Edwards, Austin Edwards, and S. S. Morris. The school still existed in the late 1940s and is mentioned in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal. See also NKAA Database entry African American Schools in Madisonville and Hopkins County, KY.

• Earlington Colored School

African American Schools in Elliott County, KY
There is not a record of a colored school or Negro students in Elliott County, KY [sources: Kentucky Public School Directory; Kentucky School Directory; Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky; and Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky]. It is unclear if the children attended school with the white children, or attended the colored schools in a nearby county, or there were other arrangements. In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census, there were seven Collins children between the ages of 5 and 17, and two Howard children ages 10 and 7, all in Elliott County. In 1880, there was one African American child of school age; in 1900 there were five Leadenham children of school age; and in 1920 there were four children of school age.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Elliott County, Kentucky

African American Schools in Fleming County, KY
Start Year : 1884
End Year : 1956
As early as 1884, there were colored schools in Fleming County, KY, when the Kentucky General Assembly passed an act to support the schools with fines and forfeitures from the courts [source: Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Passed, v.1, Chapter 356, pp.652-653]. In 1886 there were six colored school districts in Fleming County, the schools were held in churches [see NKAA entry African American Schools, 1886]. During the 1909-10 school term, there were 241 students in the colored schools, grades 1-8 [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Kentucky, 1909-1911, Part I, p.14]. The average monthly salaries for the Negro teachers during the 1911-12 school term was $67 for the male teachers, which was the highest salary in the county, and $39.91 for the female teachers, which was the lowest salary in the county [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1911-1913, p.47], and there were at least 6 colored schools [p.56], and the colored high school was located in Flemingsburg, it was rated as a 2nd class high school [p.330]. In 1923, the six Fleming County teachers listed in the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 18-21, 1923, were Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Adams in Flemingsburg [p.49], Miss Bertha Brown in Flemingsburg [p.52], Mr. Abel N. Hewitt in Shurburne [p.62]; Mrs. Alma Iles in Flemingsburg [p.63]; and Mr. E. L. Moore in Flemingsburg [p.69]. In 1925, there were three colored elementary schools and one high school, with a total of seven teachers, two of whom taught in the high school, all in the rural area of Fleming County [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, p.67]. Three of the teachers were listed in the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 22-25, 1925: Mrs. Romania Flournoy in Nepton [p.58]; Mr. E. L. Moore in Flemingsburg [p.70]; and Miss Emma L. Walker in Flemingsburg [p.80]. In 1936, there were two colored elementary schools, one in Nepton and one in Flemingsburg, both listed on p.39 in A Study of School Attendance Areas in Fleming County, Kentucky by the Department of Education , Frankfort, KY, 11/01/1936 [within the Kentucky Education Collection, Series 1, Box 15]. The Nepton School had one teacher and the Flemingsburg School had three teachers. The colored high school was closed by 1936 and the students attended the colored high school in Maysville, KY [A Study, pp.24-25]. By 1955, there were still two colored schools in Fleming County with 57 students [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1955-56, p.210]. The following year, the Fleming County High School was integrated [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1956-57, p.427], and the city schools began to integrate in 1959 [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1959-60, p.786]. After the schools integrated, there was a a court case that went before the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1964 to determine the rightful owners of the property where a colored school had been located, for more see "Fleming County Board of Education et. al., Appellants, v. Martha V. Anna Hall, Widow, et. al, Appellees."

• Colored Schools (6)
• Shurburne School
• Nepton School
• Flemingsburg School
• Flemingsburg High School

African American Schools in Frankfort and Franklin County, KY
Start Year : 1820
According to author Marion B. Lucas, there was a day school for Black children in Frankfort, KY as early as 1820, a grammar school was established in 1859, and there were five schools in Franklin County prior to 1900 [source: A History of Blacks in Kentucky, pp.141, 144, & 266]. That total may include the Freedmen School in Frankfort that was constructed between 1866-1870, and supervised by the Bishop of the Episcopal Church [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. In 1871, Mattie E. Anderson opened the Frankfort Female High School, using her own money. The school trained students to become teachers. A colored high school was located on Clinton Street in the 1880s, and in 1907, the Board of Education had an addition built onto the school for the teaching of domestic science: cooking, sewing, and general housekeeping. The school principal was W. H. Mayo and the teachers were Winnie A. Scott, Margaret E. Gray, Bianca Parker, Sadie M. Kibby, Katie Smith, Virginia M. Madison, Julia M. Spencer, Lettye A. Williams, Martha E. Williams, Charity A. Boyd, and Annie L. Fairs. In 1887, State Normal School for Colored Persons opened to train teachers. For more see "Improvement of Colored School," The Frankfort Roundabout, 01/12/1907, p.3; "The commencement of the High School for girls..." The Frankfort Roundabout, 07/04/1891, p.6; and "Colored School," The Frankfort Roundabout, 06/22/1907, p.4.

• Clinton Street High School
• County Schools No.1-5
• Day School
• Female High School
• Frankfort School
• Frankfort School [Freedmen School under Bishop of Episcopal Church]
• State Normal School for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University]

African American Schools in Gallatin County, KY
Start Year : 1869
In 1869 there were two colored schools in Warsaw, KY, and one of the schools was established by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see the NKAA entry for Freedmen Schools in Kentucky]. There was a school in the Parkridge community and according to author Anderson Bell Moore, the school was a log building "erected by free[d] slaves and southern sympathizers." -- source: History of Education in Gallatin County Kentucky by A. B. Moore, p.49. The teacher was Rev. J. P. Maxwell who taught at the Warsaw school for two winters [source: The Sons of Allen by H. Talbert, p.97] The other school was first located upstairs in the Methodist Church, the school did not have a name, and the teacher, Mr. Sim Craig, was a Yale University graduate who taught the students Latin and geometry [source: Moore, p.52]. The tuition was $3 per month. There would later be a colored school building in Warsaw. In 1892, there were four Negro districts with three teachers at two schools [source: Moore, p.51], and in 1900 the average attendance was 68 students [source: Moore, p.52]. In 1908, there were still two colored schools with one teacher at each school [source: Moore, pp.62 & 63]. In 1935, the Parkridge and Warsaw Schools were consolidated into one school in Warsaw and transportation was provided for the students [source: Moore, p.71]. There was not a colored high school in Gallatin County.

• Parkridge School
• Methodist Church School
• Warsaw Schools (2)

African American Schools in Grant County, KY
Start Year : 1881
End Year : 1958
The date of the first Negro school report in Grant County is said to be 1881 according to Samuel Elmore King's 1934 thesis titled A History of Education in Grant County, Kentucky, p.61. There was one school and one school district located in Dry Ridge [source: King, p.65]. There was a school census of 100 Negro children. Five years later, there were four school districts [source: 1886 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky]. One of the colored schools was located in Williamstown in 1891, the teacher was Miss Grace Lewis [source: "The Williamstown Colored School," Williamstown Courier, 01/19/1891, last page - Grant County Public Library record]. By 1892, there were five colored schools and two were taught in school houses [source: King, p.62]. The number of school districts was reduced to three by 1905. A County Institute for Colored Teachers was held in Grant County in 1907-1908 [source: King, p.64]. There would be only the one colored school in Dry Ridge by 1934, and Zadah Thompson was the teacher [source: King, p.89]. The Dry Ridge Consolidated Colored School was restored as a a project of the Northern Kentucky African-American Task Force and the building opened in June of 2011 as the Grant County Black History Museum [source: N. Jameson, "White woman's passion leads to black history museum," Associated Baptist Press, 06/20/2011]. The museum was burned down by an unknown arsonist in October 2012 [source: "Arson destroys Black History Museum in Grant County," kypost.com, 10/15/2012, online]. The Grant County schools were integrated in 1958.

• Dry Ridge School
• Williamstown School

African American Schools in Grayson County, KY
Start Year : 1877
In 1940, the available records indicated that the first colored school in Grayson County, KY, was located in Leitchfield, according to the thesis of E. E. McMullin, History of Education in Grayson County, p.79. There is mention of the school on p.293 in Collin's Historical Sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky, published in 1877. There was never more than three colored schools in Grayson County. There was never a colored high school in Grayson County. In 1901, there were two colored schools [source: McMullin, p.54]. In 1908, there were three colored schools, one each in Leitchfield, Grayson Springs, and Caneyville [source: McMullin, p.126]. By 1940, there was only the one colored school in Leitchfield which had been under the county until 1934 [source: McMullin, p.79]. There were 18 students and the teacher was Miss Annie Clements [source: McMullin, p.79] and, in 1945 she was Mrs. Annie C. Johnson and still the Leitchfield Colored School teacher [source: KNEA Journal, v.16, April-May 1945, no.2-3, p.29].

• Leitchfield School
• Grayson Springs School
• Caneyville School

African American Schools in Greenup County, KY
Start Year : 1874
One of the earliest known colored schools in Greenup County, KY, was in session in 1866, according to the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky [see NKAA entry African American Schools, 1866]. The first colored school districts in Greenup County were established in 1874, per capita funding for the students came about in 1875, and in 1876 the city of Greenup had 1 school district with 73 students, and in Fulton there were 2 school districts with 54 students, all according to The History of Education in Greenup County, Kentucky by Benjamin F. Kidwell, pp.45 & 62-63. The school teachers were hired from up north, and were consider unprepared for teaching in the colored schools. By 1891, there was a school in Wurtland, and the two school districts in Fulton no longer existed. The Wurtland School was merged into the school in Greenup in 1911 [source: Kidwell, pp.158-160]. The Greenup and Wurtland colored schools had an all time high of 51 students in 1891, and by 1928, there was only the Greenup school with 27 students. The decrease in students was said to be due to Negro families leaving the area for work in the mines in Ohio and West Virginia. The Greenup Colored School was referred to as school number A, and during the 1928-29 school term, there was one teacher and 57 students [source: Kidwell, p.159].

• Colored School (1866)
• Greenup School
• Fulton Schools (2)
• Wurtland School

African American Schools in Hardin County, KY
Start Year : 1867
End Year : 1959
The first colored school in Hardin County, KY, is thought to have been located in Elizabethtown in 1867, according to the thesis of Hubert W. Comer, History of Education in Hardin County, p.74-75. The school term was three months and there was an average attendance of 45 students. The average monthly salary in 1893 was $26, and by 1908, the average salary was $37. The first school may or may not be the same school that existed in 1869, referred to as the African School of Elizabethtown by author Lottie Offett Robinson in The Bond-Washington Story, on p.28. The African School was a subscription school and members of the African American community had purchased a lot to build a school house at the corner of Lincoln and Kennedy Avenue. Another school mentioned in Robinson's book, was run by Reverend George W. Bowling (b.1849 in VA), classes were held in a two room cabin on Dixie Avenue [source: Robinson, p.28]. Another school, District A School, came under the county jurisdiction, but was located in town [source: Robinson, p.36]. In the county area, there were 11 colored schools in 1880, and that would increase to an all time high of 15 schools with 17 teachers in 1893 [source: Comer, p.76]. The number of county schools had decreased by 1908 to 10 schools with 11 teachers. The average attendance was about 50% of the overall colored school student census. Two of the county colored schools were located in Glendale [source: Robinson, p.57]. There was also the West Point Colored Independent School, grades 1-8. In 1933, the county teachers' average monthly salary was $82.30, and in 1935, there were four teachers with an average salary of $85.36 [source: Comer, p.114-115]. The only colored high school in Hardin County was located in Elizabethtown, it was named East Side High School [source: Robinson, p.40]. The school opened in 1921 with a two year curriculum, and became a four year high school in 1926 [source: Comer, p.115]. There were four teachers and 31 students. Two years later, the high school was renamed Bond-Washington High School in honor of James M. Bond and Booker T. Washington [source: Robinson, p.40]. The high school was attended by African American students within the entire Hardin County area, and those in LaRue County who paid tuition, and those from Ft. Knox whose tuition was paid by the military. The Elizabethtown schools were desegregated in 1959.

• Colored County Schools (15)
• African School
• Reverend Bowling's School
• District A School
• Glendale Schools (2)
• East Side High School
• Bond-Washington High School
• West Point Independent School

African American Schools in Harrison County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1963
According to the 1866 Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, there was a colored school in Harrison County in 1866. It may have been one of the two schools in Cynthiana that were funded by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands between 1866-1870 [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. A history of the colored schools was found in the Harrison County Historical Society files and reprinted in the Harrison Heritage News, with editing by William A. Penn. The original author is unknown. According to the article, it was thought that the first colored school in Harrison County opened in 1868 and was the beginning of formal education for African Americans in the county. The school was located on the "Commons" near the river [source: History of Education in Harrison County, by Mrs. H. E. Young, p.115]. According to the article in the Harrison Heritage News, a second school was located on Water Street. In 1870, a colored school was constructed in Cynthiana by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, and in December of 1869, there was an American Missionary Society (AMS) school [source: Tenth Semi-annual Report on Schools for Freedmen, July 1, 1870, by J. W. Alvord]. The schools were independently managed, and it was after 1875 that the colored schools came under the Harrison County Board of Education [source: History of Education in Harrison County, pp.32-33]. In 1885, there were nine colored school districts with eight schools. The teachers were from Xenia, OH. In 1892, there were 11 colored school districts with 11 common schools, and the school terms lasted for 3 months (2 schools), 4 months (2 schools), 5 months (5 schools), and more than 5 months (2 schools) [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1892, p.357-361]. Three of the school buildings were made of log, seven were frame structures, and 1 was made of brick. There were 1,165 school age children, of which 602 were enrolled in the colored common schools and they were taught by 13 teachers. In 1890, there was an all time high of 14 teachers in the colored elementary schools [source: History of Education in Harrison County, p.70]. In 1893, a new colored school was opened, bringing the total number of schools to 12; ten of the schools were taught for 5 months, and two were taught for more than 5 months. All but one of the schools were located in the county. Beginning in 1895, the colored schools were in session for nine months [source: History of Education in Harrison County, p.121]. By 1908, there were eight colored school teachers. The city school, Cynthiana Colored School, had three teachers, and was soon overcrowded. In 1921, the Board of Education purchased the old hospital in Cynthiana, had the building remodeled, the name Cynthiana Colored School changed to Banneker School, and two years of high school were added to the curriculum [source: History of Education in Harrison County, pp.116-124]. Mr. Newsom was principal. At the end of the school term in 1925, there were 150 students enrolled in Banneker School. The teachers earned a little more than $400 annual salary and the principal earned $1,000. By 1926, the number of colored teachers had decreased to 5, and the reason given was due the decrease in the African American population in Harrison County. The first high school graduation took place in 1928 [source: Harrison Heritage News]. The school systems were integrated in 1963 and became the Harrison County School System. For more see "African American Education in Harrison County," Harrison Heritage News, vol. 6, issue 2, February 2005 [available online]; and Welcome to Harrison County, KYGenWeb [online]. See photo image of Colored and Negro schools in Cynthiana by M. B. Kennerly.

• Banneker School, 1921-1963
• Cynthiana American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Cynthiana Freedmen School
• Colored Schools, 1885-? (12)
• Cynthiana School, ?-1921
• Leesburg School
• Water Street School

See photo images in Cynthiana by M. B. Kennerly, pp.51-55, via Google Books.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky

African American Schools in Henderson County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1965
Between 1866-1870, there was a school in Henderson County, KY, that was supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. The school didn't last: the teachers were threatened and run out of town [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools]. There was a colored school in Cairo in the early 1870s [source: Starling, p. 378], and Dr. Pickney Thompson is credited as the author of the 1871 act that created a colored school in the city of Henderson, KY [source: History of Henderson County, Kentucky, by E. L. Starling, p. 719]. The act was amended in 1872 because of a wording error, "...be so amended as to read between the ages of six and twenty years, instead of between the ages of sixteen and twenty years..." -- [source: Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, December 1871, Chapter 112, p. 194]. The trustees of the school were all white: Dr. Pickney Thompson, H. S. Park, A. F. Parker, Jacob Held Jr., and Y. E. Allison [source: History of Education in Henderson County, Kentucky, by Hal E. Dudley, pp. 91-92]. A school house was built on the lot located at the corner of First and Alves Streets; the lot was purchased by the Trustees. Classes started September 2, 1872, and Samuel Harris, who was also white, was the superintendent and one of the teachers. He was assisted by Mrs. E. P. Thompson, an African American, who resigned after three months. She was replaced by Mrs. Mary W. Letcher, also African American; she had been a school teacher in Henderson County since before the 1871 colored school opened in the town of Henderson. Both Mary Letcher and William W. Gilchrist were two of the African American teachers in Henderson County as early as 1870, according to the U.S. Federal Census. In 1880, the teachers listed in the census were Mary Letcher, Addy Letcher, Elija Ash, John K. Mason, and William H. Hall who lived at the home of Aaron Cabell. Teacher John Mason had also been employed as the Henderson colored school superintendent in 1874, and his wife Martha was the assistant teacher [source: Dudley, p. 92]. There were 145 students attending the school [source: Dudley, p. 93]. The Masons were from Louisville, KY, and had been teachers at Runkle Institute in Paducah, KY. Runkle Institute was one of the early schools supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Four years after the Masons arrived in Henderson, KY, in 1878 another room was added to the Henderson colored school and Miss Virgie D. Harris, a graduate of the school, was added to the teaching staff. During the 1882-83 school term, another addition was made to the school, and there were four teachers: the Masons, Miss Alice B. Moting, and William H. Hall. Two other schools in Henderson were the High Street School built in 1881 and the Alves Street School, which was built in 1889; a colored high school was established on the third floor of the Alves Street School [source: Dudley, p. 93]. The county colored schools were developed after 1871, and in the year 1880 there were 16 colored schools, and in 1892 there were 37 [source: Dudley, p. 121]. By 1908, there were 663 students enrolled in the Henderson County colored schools [source: Dudley, p. 93]. In 1916, the expected attendance at the Anthoston Colored School was 19 [source: Library of Congress, PPOC]. In 1935, the number of county colored schools had decreased to 15 one-room schools and a three-room school. [source: Dudley, p. 177]. The school in Corydon had three teachers, and there was also a two-year high school. The new Douglass High School, built in 1931-32 on the corner of Alvasia and Clay Streets, was in the city of Henderson and served as the high school for all the other colored schools in Henderson County [source: Dudley, pp. 177 & 155]. In 1951, G. Brisco Houston was principal of the Henderson County Consolidated Schools [source: "Notes on district officers," KNEA Journal, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 6 (online at Kentucky Digital Library)]. The Henderson County schools were fully integrated in the fall of 1965.

• Freedmen School
• Colored Schools (37)
• Henderson School
• High Street School
• Alves Street School
• Douglass High School
• Cairo School
• Anthoston School
• Corydon School
• Henderson County Consolidated Schools
• J. Boyd School [see p. 23 in Kentucky Historic Schools Survey by R. Kennedy and C. Johnson]
• Scuffletown School [see p. 23 in Kentucky Historic Schools Survey by R. Kennedy and C. Johnson]

 
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Henderson County, Kentucky

African American Schools in Hickman County, KY
Start Year : 1866
Between 1866-1870 there was a Freedmen School in Columbus, KY, [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. Six Hickman County colored schools are included in the title Hickman County, Kentucky, One Room Schools by LaDonna Latham. The schools are listed below. In 1880, Myra Ashley was a teacher at the Clinton School, and George E. Nall, from Alabama, was a teacher at the Columbus School [source: U.S. Federal Census]. Beginning in 1911, the Clinton colored school served as a traveling library station, and there was a second station for African Americans in Columbus, both in Hickman County [source: Kentucky Library Commission, Biennial Report, 1910-1929]. A new brick school house was completed in 1915 for the colored students in Clinton, KY [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1915]. In 1928, there were seven teachers in the Hickman County colored schools [source: Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, April 18-21, 1928, p. 25]. There were nine teachers during the 1933-34 school term, two of whom had two years of college and four had one year of college, and there were two new school buildings constructed in the county for the colored children [source: History of Education in Hickman County, Kentucky (thesis), by V. A. Jackson, pp. 121 & 127]. In 1947, the Hickman County school teachers listed in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, vol. 18, issue 2, p. 28, were Mrs. Christine Cole, Mrs. Vivian Jones, Grant Martin Jr., Mrs. Melvan Martin, and Mrs. Susie M. Powell.

• Clinton School
• Columbus Freedmen School held in rented school house
• Columbus School
• Hailwell School
• Hayes School
• Moscow School
• Oakton School
• Springhill School
• Wolf Island School

African American Schools in Jessamine County, KY
Start Year : 1868
End Year : 1963
One of the earliest African American schools in Jessamine County, KY, was Arial Academy, founded in 1868 at what had been Camp Nelson then renamed Arial. The school was funded by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (see NKAA entry for Freedmen Schools). Ariel Academy was open to both girls and boys, then became an all girls school. The school was renamed Camp Nelson Academy, and in 1871, it became Fee Memorial Institute, organized by Rev. John G. Fee about a mile from the national cemetery on Danville Pike, according to the thesis of James Edward Nankivell, The History of Education of Jessamine County, pp.111-121. The school had an independent board of trustees before it was turned over to the Presbyterian Church. There were 12 acres of land, a three story framed dormitory, and a school building. The school contained grades 1-8, and any continuing students went to Berea College for high school. The three teachers earned between $10-12 per month, with free room and board. In 1904, Berea College was segregated. Fee Memorial Institute continued with grades 1-8, until 1916 when a normal school training program for teachers was added, and the graduate students would do their practice teaching at Fee Memorial Institute. In 1924, fifteen acres of land was purchased on the eastern border of Nicholasville and a new brick school house was constructed. The cost was $10 per month, per student, for room and board. In addition to Fee Memorial Institute, a second colored school in Jessamine County was established in 1873 in Sulphur Well [source: Nankivell, p.121]. By 1880, there were seven colored school districts in the county: three with frame school houses, districts 5-7; school was held in a tent in district 4; and there were no school houses in districts 1-3. The tuition was between 60 cents and $2.28 per three months of instruction [source: Nankivell, p.122]. The Nicholasville school had the lowest attendance with 11 students, and the Lee and Hervytown Schools had the highest attendance with 30 students. All of the teachers were males, and they earned between $12-$27.68 per month. In 1888, a Colored Teachers Institute was organized [source: Nankivell, p.123-127]. By 1890, there was a school house in all of the colored school districts [source: Nankivell, p.128]. In 1891, there were four more schools, and there would be as many as 12 colored school districts before the number was reduced to seven by 1927. All of the schools, except the one in Nicholasville, were under the county board of education and had grades 1-8 [source: Nankivell, pp.130-134]. The Nicholasville school was under the city board of education and had grades 1-8 and a two year high school program. A new school building was constructed in 1930. A private school, Keene Industrial Institute, was opened in 1900 by Prof. W. H. Parker [see NKAA entry for Keene Industrial Institute]. The school was moved to Beattyville in 1903. The schools in Jessamine County were integrated in 1963.

• Arial Academy
• Camp Nelson Academy
• Fee Memorial Institute
• Sulphur Well - District 6 (frame school house)
• Nicholasville School - District 1 (no school house)
• Hervytown School - District 2 (no school house)
• Keene School - District 3 (no school house)
• Lee School - District 4 (school held in a tent)
• Camp Nelson School - District 5 (box structured school)
• Marble Creek School - District 7 (frame school house)
• Troutman School - District 8
• Troy School - District 9
• Hickman School - District 10
• Clear Creek School - District 11
• Keene Industrial Institute
• Rosenwald-Dunbar School

African American Schools in Kenton County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1964
Between 1866-1870, there were schools for African Americans held in churches in Kenton County, KY, and there were schools led by the American Missionary Association and a Freedmen School that were supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see NKAA entry for Freedmen Schools]. After the Freedmen's Bureau left Kentucky, the Covington Board of Education hired the first African American teacher in 1873, she was paid $30 per month according to the thesis of Howard H. Mills, A History of Education of Covington, Kentucky, p.65. Classes started the first Monday of September in the Second District School on Greer Street. The school had been used by white students up until 1871. Several years later, in 1879, the African American school had grown considerably, and with an average attendance of 173 students who were instructed by the principal and two teachers [source: Mills, p.72]. There was also a school in Milldale, in 1883 there was a search for a teacher [see NKAA entry for Milldale Colored School]. In Covington, the colored school was moved to the southside of 7th Street between Scott and Madison Streets [source: William's Covington and Newport Directory,1882, p.15], it was named 7th Street Colored School and Samuel R. Singer was the principal [source: William's, p.134], Clara B. Grandstaff, from Cincinnati, was a teacher [source: William's, p.65] along with Minnie Moore who was also from Cincinnati [source: William's, p.107]. In 1884, Andrew Jackson was the janitor at the school [source: William's, 1884, p.95]. A new school building for the 7th Street Colored School was completed in 1888 [source: B. L. Nordheim, Echoes of the Past]. By 1893, there was an average attendance of 287 students taught by nine teachers: Samuel R. Singer, Principal; Minnie Moore; Lillian Armstrong; Tillie Young; Laura A. Tray; Mary E. Allen; Annie Price; Charles Haggard; and Edwin H. Ball [source: Mills, p.82]. A woman teacher taught high school classes beginning in 1895, the program was named William Grant High School. William Grant (info at nky.com) was a Kentucky Legislator from Covington who had followed through on his promise of an African American public school in exchange for the African American vote in 1876. The first William Grant High School graduation was held June 21, 1889, with two graduates, Annie E. Price Hood and Mary E. Allen [source: "Lincoln-Grant School" by T. H. H. Harris in The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky, pp.552-554]. Both graduates had been elementary school teachers at the 7th Street Colored School. In 1909, the city of Latonia was annexed to Covington and the Lincoln Colored School in Latonia was merged with the 7th Street Colored School in Covington, and the combined school was named Lincoln-Grant School, while the high school kept the name William Grant [source: "William L. Grant" by T. H. H. Harris on p.413 in The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky]. The number of school age children increased to 44 high school students and 360 students in the elementary grades [source: Mills, p.103]. In 1914, the night high school was established in Covington for students who had completed 8th grade and were at least 14 years old [source: Mills, p.107]. In the colored night school, students were taught basic English and arithmetic. By 1924, within the colored day school, there were 519 students with a teaching faculty of 4 high school teachers and 18 elementary teachers [source: Mills, p.114]. The number of students had outgrown the size of the building, and in 1928, a bond was issued and passed with $250,000 approved for the building of a new colored school on Greenup Street, to be completed by September of 1930 [source: Mills, p.117]. The plans had to be changed due to the down turn in the economy and the school was completed in 1932. [For an early history of the William Grant School see "History of the School" on pp.1 and 2 of The Lincoln-Grant Herald, v.1, no.1, January 1913.] Another colored school in Covington was the United Bible School at 801 Russell Avenue, it opened around 1940 and is listed in William's Covington (Kenton Co., Ky) City Directory. In 1943, J. M. Gillian was the teacher at this school [source: Williams, p.411]. There was also a school for African American children in Elsmere, KY, Wilkins Heights. The head teacher was Rosella F. Porterfield who is recognized for encouraging the integration of Elsmere schools in 1955. Dunbar School was also located in Elsmere at 421 Spring Street with Thomas R. Lewis as the teacher 1936-1939 [source: William's Elsmere Directory for 1936-37, p.599, and for 1938-39, p.562]. The Covington Schools were desegregated in the mid-1960s. See also The Life and Legacy of Lincoln-Grant School, Covington, Kentucky, 1866-1976 by J. M. Walton.

• Church Schools
• American Missionary Association Schools
• Freedmen School
• Second District School
• 7th Street School
• Lincoln Colored School in Latonia
• Lincoln-Grant School in Covington
• William Grant High School
• Milldale School
• United Bible School
• Wilkins Heights in Elsmere
• Dunbar School in Elsmere

African American Schools in Larue County, KY
Start Year : 1880
End Year : 1956
In 1880, Molly Clagett was a teacher in the colored school in Hodgenville, KY [source: U.S. Federal Census]. There is a paragraph written about the colored schools in Larue County, KY, on page 72 in the 1885-1887 Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky. By 1895, there were 4 colored schools, and the following year, there were 5 [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1895-1897, pp.484-487]. Each of the schools had one teacher. The school term was five months and all the buildings were frame structures. The average student attendance was 106 in 1895-96, and 113 in 1896-97. In 1919, there was a Colored Moonlight School held in the school house in Buffalo, KY, the teacher was Bessie Ford, and there were 12 students [see NKAA entry African American Moonlight Schools]. Some of the teachers at the colored schools are listed in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal: B. H. Larke in Hodgenville (1916, p.31); Miss Lucile Curle in Upton (1928, p.37); Rev. Claud and Mrs. Cecilia Taylor in Hodgensville (1929, p.55); and Mr. Amos Lasley in Hodgensville (1935, p.58). There was not a high school for Negro students, the students attended Bond-Washington High School in Hardin County. Below are the names of the colored schools that were in Larue County, KY, [sources: Old Schools in LaRue County by Edward Benningfield, and the 1914-1915 Census of LaRue County Schools (Colored Schools) by L. L. Salsman and C. L. Owens]. The schools in Buffalo, Hodgenville, and Magnolia, were listed as white and integrate in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1956-57, p.436. It would take several years of effort for all of the schools in Larue County to be desegregated in 1967.

• Buffalo School
• Hodgenville School
• Knob School
• Lincoln Springs School
• Lyons Station School
• Moonlight School in Buffalo
• Orrender School
• Upton School
• Siberia School

African American Schools in Lawrence County, KY
Start Year : 1866
Education for African Americans in Lawrence County, KY, began after the Civil War. The early schools were held in the homes of ministers and by sympathetic whites, according to John E. Elkins in his thesis, The History of Education of Lawrence County. "Later Negro teachers were secured and the school was conducted in the church." --[source: Elkins, p.101]. In 1886, there were two colored schools in Lawrence County, KY, according to the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the school year ending June 30, 1886 and for the school year ending June 30, 1887. At some point after 1887, there was only the one school in Louisa [source: Elkins, p.101]. Though the school was located in Louisa, it came under the county school system. In 1900, the teacher's salary was $28.79 per month, and the student enrollment was 45. There were 44 students in 1916, and by 1935, there were 30 students. The first colored school building was constructed in 1923, it was a one-room frame building that cost about $1,500, of which $800 was received from the Julius Rosenwald Fund and the remainder was paid by the Lawrence County Board of Education. Grades 1-8 were taught at the school. In 1933, the school teacher was Mrs. Bertha Murphy who was a graduate of Kentucky Institute for Colored Persons [now Kentucky State University] and her salary was $84 per month. There was not a colored high school in Lawrence County; the county board of education paid $50 per year for Negro high school students from Lawrence County to attend Booker T. Washington High School in Ashland, KY. In 1935, there were four students who traveled each school day from Lawrence County to attend high school in Ashland.

• Early Church Schools
• Colored Schools (2)
• Louisa School

African American Schools in Leslie County, KY
Start Year : 1883
There was only one colored school in Leslie County, KY, and it existed as early as 1883, when H. C. Napier, the school commissioner, failed to report that there were 11 colored children attending school in the county [source: Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Passed, 1883, chapter 405, p.731]. As a result of the oversight, the Superintendent of Public Instruction authorized that $15.40 be withdrawn from the common school fund and be paid to the teacher of the Leslie County colored school, approved March 17, 1884. Eleven years later, there was still one colored school in Leslie County, according to the Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1895-1897, pp.504-507. There was one teacher for an average of 31 students 1895-96, and for 33 students 1896-97. In 1925, there were 12 students in the school [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, p.67]. The school still existed in 1943 when the the Asher v Huffman case went before the Kentucky Court of Appeals in an attempt to allow Bruce Asher to attend the Leslie County School for white children, rather than forcing him to attend the colored school. By the late 1940s, the Leslie County colored school had closed and there were 2 Negro students counted in the county in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1958-59, p.1011.

• Colored School

African American Schools in Lewis County, KY
Start Year : 1885
End Year : 1959
In 1885, there was one colored school in Vanceburg, KY, the school was held in a church [see NKAA entry African American Schools, 1886]. At times, there were two colored schools, one in each of the colored districts, though the County Superintendent was not always able to verify that the schools were in session, and he wrote that the majority of the colored students did not go to school on a regular basis [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1885-1887, p.128 and pp.193-194]. By 1895, there were two schools with an average attendance of 19 students 1895-96, and an average of 11 students 1896-97 [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1885-1887, pp.513-516]. There was one teacher at each school. The average attendance was about the same for the next several years. The average salary for the teachers was $33.66 from 1909-10, and $33.08 from 1910-1911 [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1909-11, p.49 and p.151]. By 1925, there was one colored school in Lewis County [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, p.67]. The Lewis County Schools started to integrate during the 1959-60 school term, according to the Kentucky Public School Directory, p.799.

• Colored Schools (2)

African American Schools in Lincoln County, KY
Start Year : 1866
Between 1866-1870, there was a Freedmen School in Crab Orchard, KY [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. It was one of the early schools for African Americans in Lincoln County. There were two colored schools in 1875, according to the thesis of Morris B. Vaughn titled History of Education in Lincoln County, Kentucky, p.123. There were 12 schools In 1880; 13 schools in 1881; 16 schools in 1887 [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky]; and in 1902 there were 17 colored schools in Lincoln County [source: Vaughn, p.123]. By 1931, several of the schools had been consolidated and there were nine colored graded schools in the county. The consolidated schools were located in Stanford, Halls Gap, Hustonville, and McKinney. According to the title Lincoln County, Kentucky by Turner Publishing Company, p.121, the first colored school house in Crab Orchard, KY, was thought to have been built behind First Baptist Church on Cedar Street around 1890. The first school bus was thought to be the one used to transfer students from Cedar Ridge to the Crab Orchard Color School [see p.130]. The next school building was constructed in 1924 on Highway 150. The third building was constructed in 1937 by the Second Christian Church, located on Cedar Street, the school was off to the side and behind the church. Within the same title, on p.124, there is mention of a Colored School in District A in 1897, located in Stanford, KY. There had been a colored school in Stanford as early as 1879, it was established by the African American community that had also hired a teacher who graduated from Berea [source: "Colored School," Interior Journal, 06/06/1879, p.3]. The teachers hiring included a school examination, followed by a parade and a festival [source: "The Colored School," Interior Journal, 06/13/1879, p.2]. Another school, McKinney Polytechnic Institute, opened in 1911 with three students from Iowa [source: "The McKinney Polytechnic Institute...," Stanford Interior Journal, 11/10/1911, p.1]. During the 1930s, the high school students in Stanford were bused to Bate High School in Danville; there had been a high school within Stanford School up to the 1930-31 school term, but it was deemed to be more cost efficient to bus the 22 students to Danville. The Lincoln County Board of Education paid Bate High School $5 per month for the instruction of the high school students from Lincoln County [source: Vaughn, p.124]. The Logantown School and Hubble School were merged with the Stanford School. According to the Handbook of Kentucky by the Kentucky Bureau of Agriculture for 1906-1907, p.515, there were 17 colored school districts in Lincoln County. In 1909, School No.16, located in Preachersville, was merged with the school in Walnut Flat [source: "Preachersville," Interior Journal, 06/25/1909, p.1]. The colored school in Hubble was located on Cherry Street, the building was sold in 1914 [source: "Hubble," Interior Journal, 03/13/1914, p.2].

• Colored Schools 1-17
• Crab Orchard Freedmen School
• Crab Orchard School
• Halls Gap School
• Hustonville School
• Hubble School
• Logantown School
• McKinney School
• McKinney Polytechnic Institute
• No. 16, Preachersville School
• Stanford School [including a high school]
• Walnut Flat School

African American Schools in Logan County, KY
Start Year : 1866
The colored school in Logan County, KY, was one of the 13 counted in the 1866 publication titled Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, for the School Year Ending December 31, 1864. Between 1866-1870, there was to be a colored school established in Auburn and supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, but the plans were scrapped due to a mob's reaction. In spite of the opposition, by 1879, there were 26 colored school districts in Logan County, according to the thesis of Charles Thomas Canon, History of Education in Logan County, p.43. The enrollment and attendance records, if they ever existed, were no longer available when Canon completed his thesis in 1929. However, records from 1881 showed that there were 18 log house buildings and 9 frame houses [source: Canon, pp.47-48]. In 1886, there were 21 teachers in the colored schools in Logan County, and many of the schools were taught in churches [see NKAA entry for African American Schools, 1886]. By 1901, there were 9 log house schools and 16 frame schools [source: Canon, p.92]. In 1917, the number of log house schools had decreased to 2 and there were 21 frame schools. Between 1917 and 1932, Logan County would have more Rosenwald structures than any other Kentucky county; there were 8 schools and a library [see NKAA entry for Rosenwald Schools]. The school in Adairville was supported by the Jeanes Fund and had a two year high school that was attended by 8 students in 1925 (Logan County Trade School), and there were 155 elementary students [source: Canon, pp.66-68]. The county school system would pay the tuition of students who wanted to attend Russellville City High School, a four year high school. The highest attendance at the Logan County colored schools was 1,049 for the school terms in 1904 and 1905 [source, Canon, pp.93-94]. By 1927, the attendance had decreased to 459. In 1930, the colored school in Knob City was taught by John Cooper [see M. Morrow, "The History of Russellville's Uncovered Cabin," News Democrat Leader, 03/04/2009, Opinions section, p.A4 [available online].

• Colored Schools (23)
• Adairville School
• Russellville School
• Knob City School
• Logan County Trade School (principal A. M. Todd - source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926)

African American Schools in Madison County, KY
Start Year : 1825
End Year : 1963
In his master's thesis, History of Education in Madison County, Robert E. Little wrote that in the first quarter of the 1800s, slave owner Green Clay taught his Negro overseers to read and write [p.42]. Also according to Little, it was around 1850 that slave owner Cabell Chenault built a school on his property for his slaves [p.42]. Chenault and his daughter taught the school. It was in 1866 that the first public colored school was held in Madison County with as many as 34 students [sources: History of Education in Madison County, p.43; the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Education in Kentucky; and the NKAA entry African American Schools - Kentucky, 1866]. According to author Richard D. Sears, John H. Jackson taught a school class in Madison County in 1868, and Cornelius C. Vaughn taught at a freedmen's school in Richmond in 1870 [source: A Utopian Experiment in Kentucky by R. D. Sears, p.91]. There were several colored schools in Madison County that were supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. From 1880 to 1881, there were 14 colored schools and 14 teachers [Little, p.44], the schools were taught in churches and rented buildings, and there were only two or three colored school buildings [Little, p.45]. According to Little, in 1886, there were 27 colored schools [Little, p.172]. In 1888, there were still 27 colored school districts in Madison County, KY [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the school year ending June 30, 1886 and for the school year ending June 30, 1887]. There were as many as 34 colored schools in 1893 and in 1897 [Little, p.172], and the highest attendance was during the 1893-94 school term with 975 students [Little, p.174]. In 1903, there was a colored school in Berea [source: "Berea and vicinity," The Citizen, 11/26/1903, p.6; and the Joshua Crenshaw Report on the Berea Colored School 1905-06]. Within the Black American Series title, Berea and Madison County by J. G. Burnside, there are pictures of former students, teachers, and principals at Madison County colored schools. The pictures were taken prior to school desegregation in Bobtown, Farristown, Middletown, Peytontown, and Richmond. Also included are students and faculty at Berea College prior to segregation in 1904. Other Colored schools in Madison County in 1912 were Concord School, Richmond City School, Valley View School, and Calloway Creek School [source: "Graduation Diplomas," Richmond Climax, 02/07/1912, p.4]. During the school year 1932-33, there were 14 colored schools in Madison County [Little, p.172-173]. The Madison County Board of Education paid $4 per month, per county high school student who attended Richmond Colored High School; there was not a colored high school in the county. The Madison County schools integrated in 1963.

• Colored Schools (34)
• Berea School
• Berea Freedmen School
• Bobtown School
• Calloway Creek School
• Concord School
• Farristown School
• Kingston American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Middletown School
• Peytontown School
• Richmond American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Richmond Freedmen School
• Richmond High School
• Valley View School 

African American Schools in Magoffin County, KY
Start Year : 1881
There was never more than one colored school in Magoffin County, KY, according to author Edgar W. Bailey in his thesis, History of Education in Magoffin County, pp. 34-35, 64-66. In 1881, there were 25 colored students in the school, and $14.50 was appropriated to the school by the state. The school was mentioned in the 1886 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. For some years the school was taught in one section of Magoffin County for half a school term, then taught in another section of the county for the latter half of the school term. The school had elementary grades only and was supported by the state for the most part, with very little local support. There was never a colored high school in Magoffin County. Author Bailey explains that, "Negro population is very sparse in the county. The colored census is gradually decreasing." --p.67. Between 1884 and 1931, the highest number of colored students who attended school was in 1902 with 17 students. The lowest number was 3, for the years 1914-16 and 1917-18. The teachers' average salary ranged from a high of $36.75 during the 1911-12 school term to a low of $19.77 during the 1896-97 term.

• Colored School

African American Schools in Marshall County, KY
Start Year : 1874
End Year : 1928
The colored school districts in Marshall County, KY, were established in 1866, but with no schools until 1874, which was the only year that the two schools were open according to the thesis of Tullus Chambers, History of Education in Marshall County, p.39. The reason given for the closing of the schools was that there were too few students. Though attendance may have been low, there were more than a few Negro children in the county; according to the U.S. Federal Census, there were more than 100 Negro children in Marshall County between 5 and 18 years old in 1870 and in 1880. In 1886, there were still 3 colored school districts [see NKAA entry African American Schools, 1886]. There is a photo image online of the Walnut Grove, No.2 Colored School, the picture was taken between the 1880s and 1890s [source: Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives Electronic Records Archives]. There were still more than 100 Negro children of school age in Marshall County in 1900, according to the census records, but the numbers would be greatly reduced as Negroes left Marshall County for other locations. The last colored school is listed in the Kentucky Public School Directory for 1927-1928, p.64; it was a county school with eight students and one teacher. In 1935, Tullus Chambers noted that there were only 5 Negro children in Marshall County, and the prior year, one of the children had attended the colored school in McCracken County because there was no longer a colored school in Marshall County [p.57]. The child's tuition had been paid by the Marshall County Board of Education. There was only one child of school age listed in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census and none in the 1940 Census. In 1938, there was a colored school at the Negro Village Site in Gilbertsville, KY; the school was part of he African American community that had been established by the Tennessee Valley Authority for work on the Kentucky Dam Project [see NKAA entry Negro Village Site]. The school was not included in the public school directory.

• Colored Schools (2)
• Negro Village School
• Walnut Grove School [photo image at KDLA Electronic Records Archives]

African American Schools in Mason County, KY
Start Year : 1865
End Year : 1930
According to Kentucky author Marion B. Lucas, freemen in Maysville, Kentucky, opened a school prior to the end of the Civil War. There were at least four schools in Mason County that were supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands from 1866-1870 [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. According to Elizabeth Jefferson Dabney, in her thesis, The History of Education in Mason County, Kentucky, "There is little statistical material available in regard to the general report of the Negro schools. The only years between 1874 and 1890 for which a report could be found were the years 1880 and 1881" [p.68]. There were nine colored schools in Mason County in 1880, and 12 schools in 1881 [Dabney, p.68]. A year later, in 1882, one of the colored schools had a high school, and there were 40 students. The principal D. L. V. Moffitt resigned at the end of the school year [see citation below]. In 1891, there were 15 colored schools [Dabney, p.160], one of the schools was in Maysville led by Charles Harris, the principal, and three assistants, Miss Britton, Miss Barbee, and Miss Smith. Another school was in the community of Washington and was led by Miss Belle F. Chew, from Cleveland, OH, and she was assisted by Miss Mary Bookram from Oberlin, OH [source: "About men and women," Cleveland Gazette, 05/09/1891, p.3]. According to author Dabney, the 1891 superintendent's report stated that most of the teachers at the Mason County colored schools came from Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland, and Stubenville, Ohio [p.160]. Other colored schools that existed during the 1890-1891 school term are listed in Dabney's thesis as Dover School No.106; Minerva School No.105; Mayslick District No.101; Charleston No.109; and Murphysville No.110 [pp.171-172]. The Maysville Colored School continued into the 1900s, and in 1904, there was a complaint made to the Maysville Board of Education that there were not enough teachers at the colored school [source: "There was no business...," Evening Bulletin, 10/01/1904, p.1]. In 1915, the Maysville Colored Moonlight School was reported by Cora W. Stewart to be one of the best for Negroes [source: Cora Wilson Stewart and Kentucky's Moonlight Schools by Y. H. Baldwin]. By 1930, there were eight colored schools according to Dabney [p.160]. For more see A History of Blacks in Kentucky by M. Lucas; see "D. L. V. Moffitt...," and "Our public schools," both articles in the Evening Bulletin, 06/01/1882, p.3; "The Colored school commencement in every way excellent - interesting program rendered," Evening Bulletin, 06/14/1902, p.1; and see the c.1910 photo image of the Maysville and Mason County colored schools at the Northern Kentucky Views website.

• Colored Schools (15)
• Charleston School
• Dover School
• Mayslick - American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Mayslick School
• Maysville School
• Maysville American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Maysville Freedmen School
• Maysville John Fee High School
• Minerva School
• Moonlight School
• Murphysville School
• Washington School
• Washington Freedmen School

African American Schools in McLean County, KY
Start Year : 1886
End Year : 1957
Within the 1886 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it was reported that McLean County had five colored district schools that were taught in churches [see the NKAA entry African American Schools, 1886]. The schools were held three to five months [source: A History of Education in McLean County, Kentucky by Leonard C. Taylor, p.33]. There were seven colored schools in 1890, and by 1939, there were three [source: Taylor, pp.58 & 62]. The Livermore Colored School operated for nine months and had 17 students. The other colored schools were in Calhoun and Sacramento [source: "Sacramento Black School by Janey Johnston - 1992" in Down Memory Lane in Sacramento, Kentucky]. Miss Geneva Clayborne, Miss Mary E. Eads, and Mrs. M. L. Humphrey, all of whom lived in Calhoun, were the teachers listed in the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 18-21, 1923, pp.54, 57, & 63. The Sacramento school was a one room building located behind the Sacramento Methodist Church. There is a picture of the teacher and students on the page titled "Sacramento Black School 1918-1920" in Down Memory Lane in Sacramento, Kentucky. The school closed sometime between 1941-1945, which left only the Calhoun colored school. There was not a colored high school in McLean County; the high school students were transported each day to Western High School in Owensboro, and the transportation was paid by the county board of education. In 1939, the school attendance for Negro children in McLean County was 40 and five were high school students [source: Taylor, p.63]. Siblings Betty Jean and Henry Thomas were the first Negro students from Sacramento, KY, to graduate from high school [source: Down Memory Lane in Sacramento, Kentucky]. The Sacramento schools began to integrate in 1957.

• Colored Schools (7)
• Livermore School
• Calhoun School
• Sacramento School

African American Schools in Menifee County, KY

• Colored School

African American Schools in Mt. Sterling and Montgomery County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1964
Between 1866-1870, there were two schools supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. The first school for Colored children in Montgomery County was thought to be established in 1881 with Mrs. Anna Thompson as the teacher, according to Montgomery County Kentucky Bicentennial, 1774-1974, by S. A. Harris. The school was held in a one-room building located at the corner of Queen and Locust Streets, the present location of Keas Tabernacle CME Church. The early colored schools in Montgomery County were mentioned in the 1886 Report of the Superintendent. The first commencement of the Mt. Sterling Colored School was held in 1891, and Professor J. S. Estill had completed his first year as principal of the school. In 1892, J. Green Trimble offered a lot on his farm for a colored church, and he also offered for sale, at the lowest price, a lot for a colored high school [source: "Highland Park," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 07/05/1892, p. 4]. In 1899, Professor Estill presented diplomas to the graduates during the commencement exercises at the court house [source: "Colored School commencement," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 05/09/1899, p. 3]. It was reported in the Mt. Sterling Advocate, 09/04/1900, p. 7, that there were no colored county schools in Montgomery County, "as there are not exceeding ten colored children of school age in the county." This wasn't exactly true; according to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, in Montgomery County, KY (including Mt. Sterling) there were at least 891 Blacks who were 10 to 20 years old. In 1914, the Colored Moonlight School held classes in the Mt. Sterling Colored School: there were 75 students, the most at any one Moonlight School in Montgomery County [source: "Moonlight schools," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 09/09/1914, p. 1]. In 1915, Cora W. Stewart reported that the Mt. Sterling Colored Moonlight School was one of the best for Negroes [source: Cora Wilson Stewart and Kentucky's Moonlight Schools, by Y. H. Baldwin]. In 1918, the Mt. Sterling Colored School principal was Prof. George W. Adams, who had come to the school in 1914. At the end of the school year in 1915, the school had the first grammar school commencement [sources: Mt. Sterling Advocate, 10/01/1918, "The School children of the city...," p. 1, and "A Nice compliment," p. 2; and "Commencement exercises of colored school," 06/02/1915, p. 1]. The previous principal, Professor Estill, had left in 1914 for a teaching position at the Colored Normal School [today Kentucky State University]; his replacement was Prof. George W. Adams, who came from the Glendale Reform School in Lexington [source: "Goes to Frankfort," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 10/14/1914, p. 5]. Professor Adams resigned in 1918 to take a position with the National Benefit Life Insurance Company in Washington, D.C. and was replaced by Mrs. Robert [Cathryn] Gatewood [source: "Colored principal resigns," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 01/29/1918, p. 4]. Prof. George W. Adams was back in 1919, serving as superintendent of the Mt. Sterling colored schools [source: "Colored commencement," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 05/20/1919, p. 9]. Professor Adams return coincided with the organizing of the colored county school system in Montgomery County, one of whose schools was named Prewitt School, mentioned under the heading "Prewitt Descendants" on p. 25 in Montgomery County Kentucky Bicentennial, 1774-1974, by S. A. Harris. In the fall of 1919, plans were made for the construction of the Colored Training School to serve Mt. Sterling and Montgomery County [source: "The Right spirit," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 09/09/1919, p. 5]. J. W. Muir was the Mt. Sterling Colored School principal in 1922, and the new teachers were Miss Barnes, Miss Coons, and Miss Keller [source: "Teachers selected for city schools," Mt. Sterling Advocate, 06/08/1922, p. 1]. In 1930, there were two high schools: Montgomery County Colored School and Mt. Sterling Colored School [source: "Colored high schools--Kentucky, 1930-31," Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, vol. 1, issue 1, pp. 23-24]. The two high schools were consolidated in 1952, and in 1964 the schools in Montgomery County were integrated after DuBois High School was burned down. For more on the history of the colored schools in Mt. Sterling and Montgomery County, see the "Schools - 1881-1964" on pp. 17-18 in Montgomery County Kentucky Bicentennial, 1774-1974, by S. A. Harris.

• Colored School (1881)
• DuBois School (built in 1939)
• Montgomery County High School
• Moonlight School
• Mt. Sterling American Missionary Association School supported by the Bureau
• Mt. Sterling Freedmen School
• Mt. Sterling School
• Mt. Sterling High School
• Prewitt School
• Training School of Mt. Sterling and Montgomery County

African American Schools in Nicholas County, KY
Start Year : 1867
End Year : 1955
One of the earliest colored schools in Nicholas County, KY, was located in Carlisle, it was a Freedmen School supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools]. The year 1867 is the date given as the beginning of the colored school system in Nicholas County by author Mary Bradley Moss, in her thesis The History of Education of Nicholas County, p.104. The first report about the schools was recorded in 1881. There were four colored schools, one of which was held in the old jail house in Carlisle, and the other three were held in log cabins [source: Moss, p.104]. The schools sessions were held for 2-3 months per year. By 1891, there were seven colored school districts with one school in each district, and the overall attendance ranged from 228 students to 150 students. Male teachers earned $30.16 per month and female teachers earned $30.47 per month [source: Moss, p.105]. In 1897, the school in Henryville was replaced with a new two story, frame building and there were two teachers [source: Moss, p.106]. The number of colored schools began to decrease in 1894, and by 1928, there were four: Henryville (2 schools), Moorefield, and Headquarters [source: Moss, p.107]. The principal at the Henryville Colored School taught the high school department and two female teachers taught the other grades [source: Moss, pp.107-108]. At the Henryville school, the principal was a high school graduate and earned $75.00 per month, while the female teachers had two years of college and earned $93.15 per month. All three were the highest paid teachers at the colored schools. The colored schools were under the county school system [source: Moss, p.109]. In 1916, Mary E. White and Mary F. Williams were two of the three teachers who were members of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association [source: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916, p.38]. Mrs. Lizzie D. McGowan was one of the school teachers in 1923 [source: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 18-21, 1923, p.67]. Prior to the beginning of school desegregation at the Carlisle High School in 1955, Negro high school students in Nicholas County were bused to Western High School in Paris, KY [source: Finding the Fifties by D. J. Dampier; and History of Nicholas County by J. W. Conley].

• Freedmen School
• Colored Schools (7)
• Carlisle School
• Henryville School (2)
• Moorefield School
• Headquarters School

African American Schools in Owen County, KY
Start Year : 1877
End Year : 1959
During the 1877-78 school term, there was a total of three colored schools in Owen County, KY, according to the thesis of Capitola Simpson, History of Education in Owen County, p.111-119. One school was located in Owenton and two in New Liberty, and the following school year, two more schools were established, one in Harrisburg (Long Ridge) and one in Dallasburg. Gratz Colored School was added during the 1881-1882 year and over the next few years there were also schools in New Columbus, Sparta, Monterey, Maple Grove, and Buck Run. The earlier schools were taught in churches, and later in log cabins, frame buildings, and a box building. The teachers were brought in from other states because it was felt that there were no qualified Negro teachers in the county. The schools were in session two or three months in the 1880s; five months starting with the 1893-94 school terms; and six months starting with the 1907-08 school term when there was an average school attendance of 145 students. The teachers average monthly salary during the 1893-94 term was $33.00 for Negro male teachers and $25.00 for Negro female teachers. The salaries would fluctuate over the years, and during the 1908-09 school term, the average monthly salary for Negro males was $32.00 and Negro females earned $30.00. By 1912, the number of colored schools decreased to seven; there were five schools in 1913; and four in 1915 [source: Simpson, p.222-228]. The average daily attendance for the term 1915-1916 was 100, and by 1929-1930, the average attendance was 86, with 15 in high school. The schools in Owen County began to integrate in 1959. 

• Owenton School
• New Liberty School
• Harrisburg School
• Dallasburg School
• Gratz School
• New Columbus School
• Sparta School
• Monterey School
• Maple Grove School
• Buck Run School

African American Schools in Paducah and McCracken County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1942
One of the early colored schools supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, was Runkle Institute located in Paducah, KY, established between 1866-1870 [see NKAA entry Freemen Schools]. The act to establish public schools for African American children in McCracken County was approved by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1873. There would be an annual tax to support the schools: 20 cents on each one hundred dollars of property owned by persons of color, and a poll tax or per capital tax of $1 for each Colored male resident over the age of 18. In 1893, there were 13 colored school districts with 13 school houses in McCracken County: 6 log buildings, 1 frame building, and 6 brick buildings [source: History of Education in McCracken County, Kentucky by Francis M. Irwin, pp.63-66]. There were 13 teachers, 7 males and 6 females, who taught an average of 340 students each day during the 8 month school term. In 1909, Dennis Anderson began building West Kentucky Industrial College, the school offered secondary education (high school) and junior college for the training of teachers. In 1928, the faculty members and their annual salaries were the following: D. H. Anderson, President, $3,000; H. S. Osborne, Dean, $2,000; W. W. Maddox, $1,233; Mrs. M. J. Egester, $1,080; J. A. Walker, $1,110.78; Mrs. A. H. Anderson, $1,008; Mrs. M. V. McGill, $900; R. W. Daevson, Manual Training, $1,008; Mrs. S. E. Poston, Domestic Science, $810 (second wife of Ephraim Poston); Miss M. A. Robison, Matron and Teacher, $540; Mrs. B. A. Dawson, $945 [source: History of Education in McCracken County, Kentucky by Francis M. Irwin, pp.110-112]. The school had an average attendance of 343 students, and there were extra-curricular activities such as football, tennis, croquet, basketball, and volleyball. Lincoln High School opened in 1908, and in 1926, there were four teachers, all graduates of a four year college [source: History of Education in McCracken County, Kentucky]. In 1916, Paducah Public High School (Lincoln) was listed in the Bureau of Education Bulletin on Negro Education. J. B. F. Prather was principal of the four year high school and the eight elementary grades that were also within the school. There were 39 students and four teachers. There had been a public high school for African Americans in Paducah since the 1890s. By the 1940s, the city of Paducah had seven public schools for Colored children; the schools were listed in Caron's Paducah, KY City Directory, 1941 and 1942: Dunbar School at 2510 Yeiser Street (Lexie B. Mays was the teacher); Garfield School on Harris, southeast corner of Ninth Street, (Mattye O. Strauss was the principal); Lincoln School on the west side of Eighth Street and Lincoln Jr. High and Lincoln High School, both at 1715 S. Eighth Street (E. W. Whiteside was principal of all three schools); Rowlandtown School at 1400 Thompson Avenue (Henrietta Brogwell was the teacher); and Sanders School on the east side of Levin Avenue, north of 32nd Street (Kate O. Smith was the teacher). For more see Chapter 998, pp. 509-510, Acts Passed at the ... Session of the General Assembly for the Commonwealth, 1873 [available full-text at Google Book Search]; and Paducah Public High School on p. 280 in Negro Education, Bulletin, 1916, No. 39, vol. 2, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. See photocopy image of Union Station School in McCracken County on p.31 at Rosenwald schools in Kentucky, 1917-1932 [.pdf].
 

• Runkle Institute
• Colored Schools (13)
• Dunbar School
• Garfield School
• Lincoln School
• Paducah Public High School
• Rowlandtown School
• Sanders School
• Union Station School
• West Kentucky Industrial College 
• West Paducah School
• Woodland School

 See photo image of West Paducah Negro School in Kentucky Digital Library - images.
Subjects: Education and Educators, Grade Schools & High Schools in Kentucky, African American Schools in Kentucky (Counties A-Z)
Geographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

African American Schools in Pendleton County, KY
Start Year : 1866
End Year : 1955
The first colored school in Pendleton County, KY, was probably the American Missionary Association School supported by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands between 1866-1870 [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools]. The first school mentioned in the thesis of Elbert Wallace Richmond, A history of Education in Pendleton County, Kentucky, pp.48-49, was established in 1878 in Falmouth. By 1885, there were two other schools, one in Levengood and one in Clays Run. The first colored school report for the three districts in Pendleton County was filed in 1888. The school terms were three months, and the average monthly salary of the three teachers was $25. By 1900, two of the schools had closed, leaving only the Falmouth school [source: Richmond, p.71]. The county school board provided transportation for the children in the county to attend the school in Falmouth. A new school house was constructed in 1907 [source: "Pendleton County" on p.161 in Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky for the Two Years Beginning July 1, 1905 and Ending June 30, 1907]. In 1916, the teachers were Grace Ayers and Imogene Ayers [source: "Membership Kentucky Negro Educational Association 1916," Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916, p.24]. In 1932, the teacher was Mrs. Bertha Chambers [source: Richmond, p.71]. The average salary was $80 per month and the average attendance was 33 students with a school term of seven months. There was not a colored high school in Pendleton County, KY. In 1955, the Falmouth Colored School was closed, the building was sold, and the students were bused to the colored school in Harrison County [source: "Pendleton County Public Schools" on p.708 in The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky].

• Falmouth School
• Levengood School
• Clays Run School

African American Schools in Powell County, KY
Start Year : 1886
There were three African American schools in Powell County, KY, in 1886, according to the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 1906, the examination for Colored school teachers was held in Stanton, KY [source: "Examination for colored school teachers...," Clay City Times, 06/24/1906, p. 3]. Within the Powell County Educational Division No. 1, the teacher at West Bend Colored School was Valeria Samuels in 1916, and the Clay City Colored School teacher had not been selected [source: "Teachers selected," Clay City Times, 06/08/1916, p. 4]. In 1927, Scott Mitchell was the teacher at West Bend Colored School, which included a two year high school [sources: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, 04/20-23/1927, p. 53, and 04/18-21/1928, p. 19]. In 1941, Allie Gentry was the principal at West Bend Colored School [source: Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, vol. 11, issue 2, p. 19].

• Clay City School
• Stanton School
• West Bend School

African American Schools in Taylor County, KY
Start Year : 1886
End Year : 1961
As early as the 1886-87 school term, there were colored schools in Taylor County, KY [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1888, p.130]. In 1916, the following school teachers were listed in the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916: Fannie B. Gaddie and J. H. Gaddie, Saloma (p.28); Norian E. Harris, Campbellsville (p.29); Ethel Von Lewis, Campbellsville (p.31); C. B. Nuckolls [or Nuchols], Campbellsville (p.33); and Maxwell Philpott, Campbellsville (p.34). Mrs. G. E. Philpott taught the Colored Moonlight School in Campbellsville, beginning in 1915, with students between the ages of 18 and 55 [source: "Mrs. G. E. Philpott...," Freeman, 02/13/1915, p.3]. Robert L. Dowery conducted night school for colored soldiers at Camp Zachary Taylor during WWI. In 1937, there were seven, one room, colored, elementary schools in Taylor County, KY, according to the thesis of John Albert Jones, History of Education in Taylor County, p.77. One of the schools was in Campbellsville and in 1939 that school was replaced by the newly constructed Durham School, grades 1-12; the school received funding from the Rosenwald Fund and it housed the second high school for African Americans in Taylor County [source: Images of America: Campbellsville by DeSpain, Burch, and Hooper, p.92-93]. The earlier high school, Taylor County Industrial High School for Negroes, existed in 1922 when teacher C. B. Nuchols [or Nuckolls] left the school for a teaching job with Booker T. Washington School in Ashland, KY [see NKAA entry African American Schools in Boyd County, KY]. The Taylor County Industrial High School, located in Campbellsville, was established between 1911 and 1919, and was funded by the John F. Slater Fund [source: A History of Education in Kentucky by W. E. Ellis, p.179]. The Taylor County schools began to integrate in 1961 when basketball player Clem Haksins transferred from Durham High School to Taylor County High School. See also the unpublished manuscript [1939-1940] titled "Public Education in Taylor County (con.)" by Nelle B. Crawley, 507 Central Avenue, Campbellsville, KY., p.4, section Colored:, in the Kentucky Education Collection, Series 1, Box 25, 0000UA129, File: Taylor County Education, at the University of Kentucky Special Collections.

• Taylor County Industrial High School for Negroes
• Durham School
• Campbellsville Colored Moonlight School
• Camp Zachary Taylor Colored Night School
• Shady Grove School
• Burdick School
• Smith Ridge School
• Saloma School
• Sweenyville School
• Old Pitman School
• Pleasant Union School
• Moonlight School

African American Schools in Washington County, KY
Start Year : 1886
The first Negro school in Washington County was established in 1868, according to the thesis of William L. Case, A History of Education in Washington County, Kentucky. The colored school district had an average of 29 children attending each colored school during the five month school term. According to author Case, between 1879-1880, there were seven school districts with seven schools, 1 log building and six frame buildings. The colored school teachers earned an average monthly salary of $25.44. The the first school report from the county school commissioner was in 1880. It was in 1883 that the colored students and the white students of Washington County received the same per capita amount, $1.30 per student. The colored schools still existed in Washington County, KY, in 1886, according to the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In the 1897 Report, on pp. 716 & 718, there were 13 schools in 13 districts during the 1895-96 school term, with the same number of schools and districts during the 1896-97 school term. Ten of the schools were held in log or frame school houses, with about 200 students attending the schools during each term. The first commencement of the Springfield Colored School was held at the Opera House on July 17, 1902 by Principal M. B. Givens; reserve seats cost 25 cents, general seats 15 cents [source: "Commencement exercises," News-Leader, 07/17/1902, p. 3]. In 1905, the school principal was Mrs. Eliza Davison, and her assistant was Miss H. E. Wells [source: "The Entertainments given by the pupils of the Springfield Colored School...," News-Leader, 02/16/1905, p. 5]. That same year, school was held in Randall's Chapel in Springfield, KY [source: "Will Best, a Negro...," Springfield Sun, 01/25/1905, p. 5]. In 1908, an election for the formation of a new colored school district was held in Washington County [source: "Election Notice! of colored graded school," Springfield Sun, 10/07/1908, p. 2]. There was a two year high school, the Washington County Training School in Springfield, with Principal C. V. Haunes who earned $125 per month [source: A History of Education in Washington County, Kentucky]. There were 19 high school students and the school was in session for eight months of each year. In 1931, Prof. G. W. Adams was the principal of the Washington County Training School; he was previously the principal of the colored school in Paris, KY [source: Prof. G. W. Adams...," KNEA Journal, vol. 2, issue 1, p. 26]. In 1935, there were 402 children in the colored county school district and the Springfield district [source: "Letter on salary schedule," KNEA Journal, vol. 5, issue 2, p. 20]. A pioneer teacher in Washington County was Mrs. Elizabeth Goodloe Clark, who died in 1942; she started teaching at the age of 16 at the Mackville Colored School [source: "The Late Mrs. E. G. Clark, Historian, Kentucky Negro Education Assn.," KNEA Journal, vol. 13, issue 1, pp. 19-20].

• Colored Schools (13)
• Mackville School
• Randall's Chapel School
• Springfield School
• Washington County Training School

African American Schools in Wolfe County, KY
Start Year : 1885
In 1885 the colored school in Wolfe County had 55 students [source: "Our county schools," The Hazel Green Herald, 04/01/1885, p. 3]. In 1886 the school was included in the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. P. E. Davenport was the school teacher in 1891 [source: "The Following endorsement ...," The Hazel Green Herald, 12/11/1891, p. 5]. In 1897, Prof. Austin from Paris, KY, was the school teacher at the Daysboro Colored School [source: The Hazel Green Herald, "Prof. Austin began teaching the colored school Monday," and "Prof. Austin of Paris...," 12/09/1897, p. 1]. It was the only colored school in the county [source: Document No. 11, Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1895-1897, pp. 733-737]. The building was a log cabin with furniture worth $20; it was to seat the 43 students studying at the elementary level. Wolfe County had no high school for African Americans. The teacher, Prof. Austin, was paid $24.57 per month. W. C. Crawford, also from Paris, became a school teacher in Wolfe County in 1898 [source: "W. C. Crawford, of Paris...," The Hazel Green Herald, 07/28/1898, p. 3]. There were no schools listed for Wolfe County in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, 1916-1952.

• Daysboro School