African American Schools in Muhlenberg County, KY

William H. Ross, one of the teachers at a colored school in Muhlenberg County, KY, left teaching in 1887 to open a grocery store. Between 1891 and 1893, 14 African American teachers taught in Muhlenberg County colored schools, where the  average monthly pay was $29.06 for male teachers and $28.10 for female teachers [source: History of Education in Muhlenberg County, by C. E. Vincent, pp. 92-96].

Sallie L. Waddleton Campbell, the wife of William J. Campbell, was a school teacher at the Central City Colored School in 1894. Its houses and grounds were valued at $1,258, the furniture at $74.50. A  new school was built in 1893 that cost $25. In total, there were 13 school districts with 13 schools: two schools in session for three months, two for four months, and nine for five months. Six of the schools were log buildings and three frame; there was no mention of where the remaining schools were held.

None of the schools were in good condition except  the new building) [source: History of Education in Muhlenberg County, pp. 92-96]. There were 14 colored schools in Muhlenberg County again in 1895, according to Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1895-1897, pp. 603-607. Six of the schools were held in log buildings, four in frame structures, and two of unmentioned location. Average attendance was 309 students in 1895-96 and 333 students in 1896-97. In 1909, the colored schools at Bevier and Drakesboro needed furnishings and repairs, as did most of the colored schools in Muhlenberg County [source: "A Plea to the members of the fiscal court," The Record, 3/18/1909, p. 3].

Professor William Holloway was the principal of the Drakesboro Community School in 1937; the school was the result of the consolidation of rural schools in Muhlenberg County [source: "1937 K.N.E.A. Honor Roll,"  p. 14, and "Education since the War of 1917," p. 22 in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, January-February 1937].

The Negro teachers in Muhlenberg County in 1940 were W. E. Bennett, Jennie V. Bord, Drusilla Dulin, Blanche Elliott, Willie Hightower, Amelin Jones, Louis Littlepage, Richard McReynolds, Robert Martin, Howard Mathis, Cathonia Morris, Eligh Render, Mabel W. Render, Sophronia Robinson, Corrie L. Smith, Leslie S. Smith, Naomi Smith, Lillian Tichenor, Iva Y. Traylor, Vernetta Walker, Eloise Walker, James Waterfield, and James Watson [source: U.S. Federal Census]. 

In 1949, the colored school in Greenville employed  Mrs. Blonnie Shelton as the teacher, and C. L. Timberlake was the principal of the County Teachers Training School [source: "The New president at the West Kentucky Vocational Training School, Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, March 1949, vol. 20, issue 2, pp. 12 & 18]. The St. Joseph Elementary and High School were the first schools to be listed as integrated in the Kentucky School Directory, 1962-63, p. 146.

• Colored Schools (14)
• Bevier School
• Central City School
• Drakesboro School
• Drakesboro Community School
• Greenville School