African American Schools in Campbell County, KY
(start date: 1799 or 1800 - end date: 1955)One of the earliest schools for African Americans in Kentucky was Thomas S. Hinde's Sabbath School, held in 1799 or 1800. The school existed for a brief period; by 1801, Hinde was a clerk for the Kentucky Court of Appeals in Frankfort.
Within Mary Lee Caldwell's thesis, History of Education of Campbell County, KY, p.44, it was stated that all African Americans in Campbell County lived in Newport, which was not entirely true. African Americans also lived in Ft. Thomas, Alexandria, and Dayton. The African American children from these communities attended the colored school in Newport. The school was established around 1873 and Elizabeth Hudson was the teacher [source: History of the Public Schools of Newport, Kentucky by James L. Cobb]. The school was located in a cottage near Saratoga Street and Washington Avenue. In 1880, the colored teachers in Campbell County were Emma Dyonne in Highland; and Annie Henderson, Lulu Henderson, and Minnie Mosby in Newport [source: U.S. Federal Census]. Campell County was one of the few counties to not have any data for the colored schools in the commmon school report statistics within the Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1895-97, pp.272-275.
There continued to be very little or no statistical data in each of the biennial reports for the colored schools going forward into the early 1900s, though there was one or more colored schools in Campbell County, KY in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1916, the teachers were Emma J. Blanton, W. S. Blanton, A. J. Cox, and L. A. Ellis [source: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916, pp.25-27 & 39]. In 1936 the school was placed under the independent graded districts [source: Caldwell, p.45], by which time the school had been moved to Southgate Street, and the school was named Southgate Colored School. In 1941, there were 131 students taught by four teachers for grades 2-8, and first grade was taught at Corinthian Baptist Church in Newport. There was also a three-year high school from 1901- 1920, and it was taught by one teacher. After 1920, the Newport Board of Education provided the high school students with transportation and tuition to William Grant Colored High School in Covington, KY. The Southgate School was closed in 1955 when the Campbell County Schools began to integrate [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1955-56, p.206.
- Thomas Spottswood Hinde Sabbath School, 1799 or 1800
- Newport School
- Highland School
- Southgate School
- Corinthian Baptist Church School
- Southgate High School (1901-1920)
