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 1917, United States District Court Judge John Raymond Hazel ruled that Isabella Bryant was a U.S. citizen because her father, a former enslaved…
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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…
In 1911, there was a library established in Scott's M. E. Church in Maysville, KY. R. F. Broadus had placed the notice in the newspaper and was over…
Columbia Temperance Society in Adair County, KY, was probably the first white temperance society in Kentucky to have an African American member. The…
In 1909 Steed, a widow, built the first hotel in Paducah, KY, owned and operated by and for African Americans: The Hotel Metropolitan at 724 Jackson…
Born enslaved in Kentucky, Thomas Harrison escaped to Ohio around 1854 after his two brothers were sold downriver. Harrison ended up in London,…
