African American Schools in Allen County, KY
As early as 1874, there were five colored school districts in Allen County, KY; two of them had schools that were in operation when the common school report was published in 1876 [source: Legislative Document No. 2: Report of the Auditor of Public Accounts of the State of Kentucky for the fiscal years ending Oct. 10, 1874, and October 10, 1875, pp. 173-172]. Forty years later, Jesse M. Hudson was a school teacher in Scottsville, KY (according to the list on p. 30 of the Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916). At least five colored school teachers taught in Allen County in 1919 when the County Illiteracy Agent, Elizabeth Baker, secured their pledge for a Moonlight School [source: Day By Day County Illiteracy Agent's Record Book, Allen County, KY]. The colored Moonlight School was held at the Zion School in Scottsville.
There was also a county colored school in Maynard, a Rosenwald School built next to the Caney Fork Baptist Church around 1922. It was closed in 1933 when the Allen County colored schools were merged with the colored city school in Scottsville. A photo of the Maynard School and additional history are available at Kenny Browning's Flickr site, including a list of teachers: Garnett Holder, Jessie Hudson, Clara Whitney, Sarah Hughes, and Nintha Shipley Ponds. Other Scottsville school teachers are mentioned in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal: Miss Lottie M. Hughes, Miss Lucy V. Lee, and Mrs. Chlora B. Whitney (all in the April 18-21, 1923 issue). Two Allen County Negro teachers are listed in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census: Nintha Ponds, principal of the Maynard School, and Geannie P. Smith at the Scottsville School.
The Scottsville Independent schools were the first to be listed as integrated in the Kentucky School Directory, 1962-63, p. 100.
- Colored Schools (5)
- Zion School
- Maynard School
- Moonlight School
- Scottsville School
