African American Schools in Butler County, KY
In 1886, there were seven colored schools in Butler County, KY [see NKAA entry African American Schools, 1886]. In 1896, Ulysses S. Porter was a school teacher in one of the schools [source: Fascinating story of Black Kentuckians by A. A. Dunnigan, p.441]. W. M. Johnson was the school teacher in Morgantown in 1916 [source: Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 25-28, 1916, p.31]. In 1925, there were three colored schools in Butler County, each with one teacher, and there was a total of 94 students at the three schools. [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, pp.67-69]. All of the colored schools were elementary schools under the county school board, and in 1927, a fourth school was opened [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1927-1928, p.63]. There was not a high school for Negro children in Butler County; tuition was paid for students to attended the colored high school of their choice, which included the High Street High School in Bowling Green, and at least one student, Theresa Crabtree Bell, attended St. Joseph High School (Catholic) in Bowling Green [source: African-American Life in Butler County, Kentucky by R. G. Givens, p.70-71]. In 1929, Ada M. Porter was the teacher at the Morgantown Colored School, and in 1937, she was the principal of the school [source: Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, April 17-20, 1929, p.52, and October-November 1937, p.55]. In 1940, Ada Porter was listed in the U.S. Federal Census as the only Negro teacher in Butler County, though there was also a teacher at the Sugar Grove School that was in operation in 1940. All of the Butler County schools are listed as integrated in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1961-62, pp.844-845.
- Colored Schools (7)
- Morgantown School (closed 1960)
- Sugar Grove School (closed 1951)
- Rochester School (school closed in 1939, building sold in 1940) [source: African-American Life in Butler County, Kentucky by R. G. Givens, p.70-71]
- Woodbury School (school closed prior to 1938) [source: African-American Life in Butler County, Kentucky by R. G. Givens, p.70-71]
- Boston School (may have never opened) [source: African-American Life in Butler County, Kentucky by R. G. Givens, p.70-71]
