From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Black, Isaac E.

(born: 1848  -  died: 1914) 

Issac Black grew up in Covington, KY. He served as the law librarian and janitor at the Kenton County Courthouse from 1869-1874. It is not known what library training Black received; he was paid only for being the janitor. He had considered suing the Law Library Association for $2,500, the wages he felt he was owed for the five years he served as a librarian. Black would go on to become a lawyer after being mentored by Lt. Governor John G. Carlisle, teaming up with Nathaniel Harper to form the first African American law firm in Kentucky, Harper & Black, located in Louisville. For more see T. H. H. Harris, "Creating windows of opportunity: Isaac E. Black and the African American Experience in Kentucky," The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 98, issue 2 (2000), pp. 155-177.

Item Relations

Cite This NKAA Entry:

“Black, Isaac E.,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed July 26, 2024, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/index.php/items/show/756.

Last modified: 2021-01-22 21:07:41