Hines, Carl R., Sr.
(born: March 23, 1931 - died: September 7, 2016)In 1977, Carl R. Hines, Sr. was the first African American state representative elected from the 43rd House District (Louisville). He was re-elected in 1979 and continued to be re-elected until 1987.
Prior to being elected to the Kentucky Legislature, Hines was appointed to the Louisville Board of Education in 1968, one of the two African American members on the board. Hines was to serve out the remaining time of Mrs. James S. Tate, who had resigned. The other African American member, Neville Tucker, had nominated Hines for the board. At the time, Hines was employed as the district manager of the Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company. In November 1968, he was successful in his bid for a full-term seat on the Louisville Board of Education.
In 1970, Hines was elected secretary of the Louisville-Jefferson County Community Action Commission and named director of the Housing Opportunity Center in Louisville. In 1977, he defeated former House Speaker Norbert Blum for his first term in the Kentucky Legislature.
Hines was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War. A 1971 graduate of the University of Louisville, he later attended its law school.
Hines was born in Louisville, the son of Ruth L. Johnson and Frederick R. Hines and husband of Teresa Churchill Hines (Ancestry). He is buried in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery in Radcliff, KY.
For more see "Four blacks make up Kentucky's black representation in legislature," in 1982 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Sixth Report, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, p. 17; Who's Who Among African Americans, 1988-2006; "Louisville School Board picks 2nd Negro member, The Courier-Journal, 8/20/1968, p. 17; Linda Stahl, "Council plans program to train poor to improve their own lives," The Courier-Journal, 1/14/1970, p. 15; "Carl R. Hines named Housing Center head," The Courier-Journal, 8/7/1970, p. 24; and contact the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission.
