Early Schools for Negro Deaf and Blind Children

In 1884, the Kentucky School for Negro Deaf was established in Danville, KY, as a division of the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb. The Colored Department was managed by Morris T. Long, William J. Blount, Frances Barker, and Mabel Maris.

The first African American student, admitted in 1885, was 25-year-old Owen Alexander from Owenton, KY; he remained at the school for one year. He had become deaf at the age of 3 after having scarlet fever.

The Kentucky Institute for the Education of the Negro Blind was located in Louisville, KY, in 1886.

Both schools are listed in Adjustment of School Organization to Various Population Groups, by R. A. F. McDonald [available fulltext via Google Books].

For more about the early years of the Danville school, see volume 1 of Histories of American Schools for the Deaf, 1817-1893, edited by E. A. Fay. See also G. Kocher, "Diplomas bring tears of joy - blacks who attended from 1930 to 1955 get overdue awards," Lexington Herald-Leader, 8/04/2011, p. A1. See a photograph of the Kentucky School for the Blind Colored Department Building at the Pinterest website. See also entries for African American Schools in the NKAA Database.