From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
African American Schools in Johnson County, KY
There is not a record of colored schools or Negro children in Johnson County, KY, prior to 1927 [sources: Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky and Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky]. And though the children are not listed in the education reports, in 1870, there were at least five Negro children between the ages of 5 and 18, and in 1920, there were fifteen [source: U.S. Federal Census]. The children may have attended school in a nearby county. It would be several more years before there was a report of one colored elementary school in Johnson County with 12 students and one teacher [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1927-1928, p.63] The school was located in Van Leer. The next report is of one colored student on p.51 of the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1934-35. A little more than two decades later, the Mayo State Vocational School in Paintsville is listed as having both white and colored students [source: Kentucky Public School Directory,1955-56, p.218]. The term "integration" is not used until the following year in reference to Mayo State Vocational School in Paintsville and Our Lady of the Mountains School [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1956-57, p.436]. The Mayo State Vocational School continued to be listed consistently as the integrated school in Johnson County.
“African American Schools in Johnson County, KY,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed October 11, 2026, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2870.
