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

Young, Hortense Houston

(born: 1903  -  died: 1977) 

Hortense Young was the first African American woman admitted to the University of Louisville Law School, which she attended from 1951-1953 before leaving the program. She was also a librarian at the Louisville Municipal College, 1937-1943. Young was the second person to chair the newly formed KNEA Librarian's Conference, in 1938. In 1947, she ran unsuccessfully for the Louisville Board of Education.

Young was also a civil rights activist; in 1949 she made a proposal to Louisville Mayor Charles Farnsley's Legislative Committee to amend the 1908 Day Law, which had been passed to keep the education of African Americans and whites segregated in Kentucky.

Hortense Young, born in Texas, was the mother of Dr. Coleman Milton Young, III.

For more see "Hortense Houston Young," on the University of Louisville's website; Central Law School, 1890-1941; "Civic Leader Mrs. Hortense Houston Young Dies, Courier-Journal (Louisville), May 22, 1977, p. 42; and Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky, by R. F. Jones.

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Cite This NKAA Entry:

“Young, Hortense Houston,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed March 29, 2024, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1541.

Last modified: 2021-11-29 19:33:44