African American Schools in Earlington, KY (Hopkins County)

Earlington Colored School was open as early as 1891; it was mentioned in a special report, "Masons Made - Mass Meetings - Visitors." Freeman, 02/28/1891, p.6. The school reopened for the year in September of 1892 [source: "School opens," Bee, 09/08/1892, p.6]. In 1894, A. R. Bailey was principal and J. E. Todd was his assistant [source: Bee, 03/22/1894, p.3]. The Colored school was located in District 7, there were 158 students enrolled with an attendance of 126, and the school was in session for nine months. In 1895, C. W. Merriweather was the assistant principal of the school. J. W. Bell was the principal in 1911 [source: "Prof. J. W. Bell...," Bee, 07/18/1911, p.5]. He was still the principal in 1920 when there were 14 students in Earlington High School (grades 9 and 10), according to author H. Ardis Simons' thesis, The History of Education in Hopkins County, Kentucky. From 1923 to 1941, the principals were Edward Dean, W. E. Strader, T. W. Austin, R. R. Buckner, Theodore Daly, W. B. Edwards, Austin Edwards, and S. S. Morris. The school still existed in the late 1940s and is mentioned in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal.  As early as 1938, the school was named  J. W. Million [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1937-1938, p.46]; the elementary school had 5 teachers and the high school had 4 teachers. The J. W. Million School was listed as a Negro school in the Kentucky School Directory right up to the last issue of the publication that indicated race [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1964-65, p.105.], and all other schools in Hopkins County, except the Earlington Elementary school for whites, are listed as integrated. See also NKAA Database entry African American Schools in Madisonville and Hopkins County, KY.

• Earlington Colored School
• J. W. Million School