African American Schools in Magoffin County, KY
There was never more than one colored school in Magoffin County, KY, according to author Edgar W. Bailey in his thesis, History of Education in Magoffin County, pp. 34-35, 64-66. In 1881, there were 25 colored students in the school, and $14.50 was appropriated to the school by the state. The school was mentioned in the 1886 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. For some years the school was taught in one section of Magoffin County for half a school term, and then taught in another section of the county for the latter half of the school term. The school had elementary grades only and was supported by the state for the most part, with very little local support. There was never a colored high school in Magoffin County. Author Bailey explains that the, "Negro population is very sparse in the county. The colored census is gradually decreasing." --p.67.
Between 1884 and 1931, the highest number of colored students who attended school was in 1902 with 17 students. The lowest number was 3, for the years 1914-16 and 1917-18. The teachers' average salary ranged from a low of $19.77 during the 1896-97 term, to a high of $36.75 during the 1911-12 school term. In 1925, there were no data for the colored school in Magoffin County in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926. By 1930, there was again one school listed with an average attendance of 9 students taught by one teacher who earned $518 for the school year [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1930-1931, p.78]. In 1935, Mr. Erin Patrick, in Gullett, was one the three teachers in Magoffin County, according to the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, October-November 1935, v.6, no.1, p.45 & p.61. In 1938, there were still three Negro teachers in Magoffin County, according to the "1938 K.N.E.A. Membership by counties" in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, October-November 1938, v.9, no.1-2, p.54]. The three teachers continued to be noted in the Kentucky Public School Directory until the 1941-42 directory. The first school in Magoffin County to be listed as integrated was the Kentucky Mountain Gospel Crusade School, on p.120 in the Kentucky School Directory, 1964-65.
- Colored School