From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Brown, James and Bridgett
In 2006, the husband and wife team of James (born 1970 in Chicago) and Bridgett (born 1973 in Louisville, KY) opened Brown's Bakery in Lexington, KY. James received his culinary degree from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (CHIC). He had been a retail manager at Morrison Healthcare Food Services and was employed at Kroger and the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea.Brown's Bakery is not the first African American-owned bakery in the city, but it is a continuation of a long history of African American bakeries and bakers dating back to the 1800s. Author John D. Wright mentions in his book that there was a black-owned bakery in Lexington between 1870-1880. In 1901, Charles H. Allen, a baker and confectioner who owned his own business, was included in the Negro Business League's 2nd Convention report by Dr. L. D. Robinson on Lexington businesses.
Brown's Bakery, located on Leestown Road, was the most recent African American owned bakery in Lexington. In 2011, the bakery moved to Versailles Road in Lexington. The bakery closed in 2013.
James .
For more see S. Thompson, "I yam what I yam," Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/05/2006, A La Carte section, p. J1; "Next Great Baker's James Brown, Post Brain Surgery Update", ACE, 1/16/2018 [online]; Sweet Treats, on Connections with Renee Shaw, video #441; and "Brown's Bakery in Lexington to close," ACE, 12/28/2013 [online].
For more about earlier bakers see Lexington, heart of the Bluegrass, by J. D. Wright. See also the Kentucky bakers entry in the NKAA.