African American Schools in Carter County, KY

For many decades there was only one colored school in Carter County, KY, beginning as early as 1874 when the Grayson colored school was mentioned in volume 1 of History of Kentucky by L. Collins and R. Collins. In 1886, the colored school was included in the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, school year ending June 30, 1886 and June 30, 1887, p.166. There was not a school building; the school was held in a church and had an average attendance of 20 students. The school still existed in 1891 and was still held in a church, according to the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, four scholastic years ended June 30, 1891, p.166 [online at Google Books].

In 1906, there were two colored schools, and by 1908, the two colored school districts (two schools) had been consolidated [source: History of Education in Carter County by D. W. Qualls pp.65 & 85]. Between 1890 and 1930, the student enrollment fluctuated from a high of 35 to a low of 16 [source: History of Education in Carter County, pp.94-95]. The school teacher did not have a college education, but was state certified for the years 1916-1919. The students were in grades 1-7; there was not a colored high school in Carter County. W. R. Calloway was the teacher at the Grayson Colored School until 1922 [source: "Grayson," The Bourbon News, 07/21/1922, p.7]. With the continued decrease in the number of colored school children, Qualls stated in his thesis that there would soon be no need for a colored school in Carter Count; however, there continued to be one colored school listed for Carter County in the Kentucky Public School Directory from 1925-1949. The first school to be listed as "integrated & white" was the Prichard School in Grayson [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1956-57, p.424]. The Gregoryville School is listed in the 1961-62 directory as a Negro school on Rt. 1 in Grahn.

• Colored Schools (2)
• Grayson School
• Gregoryville School [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1961-62, p.847]