Mason, Jesse Edward

Born in Nicholasville, KY, Mason attended Kentucky State University and was a World War II veteran. He was the first African American licensed to sell used cars in Kentucky, operating his own business for 32 years.

In 1965, Mason also organized the first American Little League Baseball Club, the Slugger Dodgers of Jessamine County, KY. That same year, Mason was a leader in the integration of the Jessamine County public schools.

In the 1990s, he led the movement to have the newly built middle school named Rosenwald-Dunbar in honor of the African American high school that had closed following integration.

For more see "February is Black History Month," The Jessamine Journal, 2/23/2006, pp. A1 & A8.