African American Schools in Lincoln County, KY

Between 1866 and 1870, there was a Freedmen School in Crab Orchard, KY [see NKAA entry Freedmen Schools, Kentucky]. It was one of the early schools for African Americans in Lincoln County. There were two colored schools in 1875, according to the thesis of Morris B. Vaughn titled History of Education in Lincoln County, Kentucky, p.123. There were 12 schools In 1880; 13 schools in 1881; 16 schools in 1887 [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky]; and in 1902 there were 17 colored schools in Lincoln County [source: Vaughn, p.123]. In 1880, the teachers at the colored schools were Emily Gogins in Hustonville; Belle Graham at Turnersville; and Ester Kincaid in Walnut [source: U.S. Federal Census].

By 1931, several of the schools had been consolidated and there were nine colored graded schools in the county. The consolidated schools were located in Stanford, Halls Gap, Hustonville, and McKinney. According to the title Lincoln County, Kentucky by Turner Publishing Company, p.121, the first colored school house in Crab Orchard, KY, was thought to have been built behind First Baptist Church on Cedar Street around 1890. The first school bus was thought to be the one used to transfer students from Cedar Ridge to the Crab Orchard Color School [see p.130]. The next school building was constructed in 1924 on Highway 150. The third building was constructed in 1937 by the Second Christian Church, located on Cedar Street, the school was off to the side and behind the church. Within the same title, on p.124, there is mention of a Colored School in District A in 1897, located in Stanford, KY.

There had been a colored school in Stanford as early as 1879, it was established by the African American community that had also hired a teacher who graduated from Berea [source: "Colored School," Interior Journal, 06/06/1879, p.3]. The teachers hiring included a school examination, followed by a parade and a festival [source: "The Colored School," Interior Journal, 06/13/1879, p.2]. In 1925, Lincoln High School in Stanford was a Class 3 school with one teacher and 16 students, and W. D. Tardif was the school principal [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, p.40]. Another school, McKinney Polytechnic Institute, opened in 1911 with three students from Iowa [source: "The McKinney Polytechnic Institute...," Stanford Interior Journal, 11/10/1911, p.1]. During the 1930s, the high school students in Stanford were bused to Bate High School in Danville; there had been a high school within Stanford School up to the 1930-31 school term, but it was deemed to be more cost efficient to bus the 22 students to Danville. The Lincoln County Board of Education paid Bate High School $5 per month for the instruction of the high school students from Lincoln County [source: Vaughn, p.124].

The Logantown School and Hubble School were merged with the Stanford School. According to the Handbook of Kentucky by the Kentucky Bureau of Agriculture for 1906-1907, p.515, there were 17 colored school districts in Lincoln County. In 1909, School No.16, located in Preachersville, was merged with the school in Walnut Flat [source: "Preachersville," Interior Journal, 06/25/1909, p.1]. The colored school in Hubble was located on Cherry Street, the building was sold in 1914 [source: "Hubble," Interior Journal, 03/13/1914, p.2].

In 1940, the Negro teachers in Lincoln County were Katie Coulter, Joe A. Gaines, Mary T. Good, Houston Graves, Thelma Graves, Susie Harris, Estella Jarmon, Elizabeth Perkins, Florence Stepp, Cordelia Wood, and Maggie Wright [source: U.S. Federal Census]. The first school in Lincoln County to be listed as integrated in the Kentucky School Directory, 1961-62 was Crab Orchard High School on p.875.

• Colored Schools (17)
• Crab Orchard Freedmen School
• Crab Orchard School
• Halls Gap School
• Hustonville School
• Hubble School
• Logantown School
• Lincoln School [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1961-61, p.874]
• McKinney School
• McKinney Polytechnic Institute
• No. 16, Preachersville School
• Stanford School [including a high school, name changed to Lincoln]
• Tunersville School
• Walnut Flat School