About
There are more notable African Americans with Kentucky roots and ties than any one person knows about. Very little has been written about many of them and it is a challenge to find what was written in the past. For some, their stories have only been told by word of mouth. The Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (NKAA) has been developed as a finding aid to bring together a brief description of pertinent names, places, and events, and to list the sources where additional information may be found. This is not currently an all inclusive database, but we are working toward that goal and suggestions are welcomed.
Did you know?
In 1930, there was a Negro Construction Camp located in Wilmore, KY, with48men, mostfrom Alabama, with a few from Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, North…
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Horace Sudduth was born in Covington, KY, the son of Charles and Mattie Sudduth. He graduated from its segregated high school in 1906, then began…
Born in Union County, KY, Stewart became a real estate operator and builder. He led the real estate movement in Evansville, Indiana. African Americans…
Stevenson was the founder and president of the Stevenson-Gregory Co-operative Fire Insurance Company in Lexington, KY. He was married to Mary E.…
Marcellus Stepp was an African American leader in the United Auto Workers (UAW). He was born in Versailles, KY, the son of Ulysses Grant Stepp and…
Melody Mobley was born in Louisville, KY. In 1979, she was the first African American woman to graduate in forestry management from the University of…
In 1973, Arthur Sheffield, Jr. becamethe first African American fireman in Covington, KY.
Located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border around 1846, Freetown became the first African American community in Monroe County, KY. The community members…
Lexington, KY-natives Reuben Givens and Ruth Roper were the parents of actress Robin Givens, former wife of heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, and…
Founded in Harrodsburg, KY, by the Kentucky Conference of the A. M. E. Church, Wayman Institute was named after Bishop A. W. Wayman. It was an…
James Brock was the second head basketball coach at Lincoln William Grant High School (WGHS) in Covington, KY, coaching there from 1955 to 1965. Like…