Kentucky Press Association (Integration)
(start date: 1946 - end date: 1964)The integration of the Kentucky Press Association (KPA) took 18 years, beginning April 1946 when the Louisville Defender newspaper applied for membership to KPA. The application was denied. In June of that year the request was put before the full membership and was again denied with only one dissenting vote.
H. A. Browning, President of KPA, explained that the denial of membership was to keep everyone from being embarrassed during social events since KPA was a social meeting organization.
The KPA was integrated in 1964 after some of the larger newspapers threatened to terminate their memberships.
For more see "Negro press barred," The New York Times, 6/30/1946, p. 23; and "Kentucky Press Association" in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, by J. E. Kleber.