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?
Roy M. Chappell, a Tuskegee Airman, was born in Williamsburg, KY. Chappell attended high school in Monroe, Michigan; he was the only African American…
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Dorothy Cross was the first African American hired by the Kentucky Education Association in Frankfort, KY. The education associations in Kentucky were…
Lee Nor Mack was a contractor who in 1965 was the first African American councilman to be electedin Shelbyville, KY since 1904.He served as a…
Friday, October 16, 1903, Tom Hall's partially nude body was found hanging in a tree in Wickliffe, KY. Hall was thought to be a man from Mississippi…
William S. Pittman was the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington. Born in Alabama and a graduate of Tuskegee Institute (1897) [now Tuskegee University]…
Professor John H. Lawson is credited with organizing Central Law School in 1890 as part of State University [later Simmons University]. When the…
Wilbur Hackett, Jr. is a 1999 Hall of Fame inductee at Manual High School in Louisville, KY, where he was a linebacker and running back on defense. He…
Within the John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader Collection are photographs of many competitive African American boxers who participated in the…
