African American Schools in Leslie County, KY

There was only one colored school in Leslie County, KY, and it existed as early as 1883, when H. C. Napier, the school commissioner, failed to report that there were 11 colored children attending school in the county [source: Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Passed, 1883, chapter 405, p.731]. As a result of the oversight, the Superintendent of Public Instruction authorized that $15.40 be withdrawn from the Common School Fund and be paid to the teacher of the Leslie County colored school, approved March 17, 1884. Eleven years later, there was still one colored school in Leslie County, according to the Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1895-1897, pp.504-507. There was one teacher for an average of 31 students 1895-96, and for 33 students 1896-97. In 1925, there were 12 students in the school [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1925-1926, p.67]. The listing for a colored school in Leslie County came and went in the 1930s; on p.51 in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1935-36 there is a listing of one school, but there was no listing for 1936-37, though the one school was listed again starting on p.51 in the 1937-38 directory and continuing until the 1942-43 directory. The school was not listed in the 1943-44 directory. During the year 1943, the Asher v Huffman case went before the Kentucky Court of Appeals in an attempt to allow Bruce Asher to attend the Leslie County School for white children, rather than forcing him to attend a colored school. There were 2 Negro students counted in Leslie County as late as 1958, according to the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1958-59, p.1011, and there were no schools in the county listed as integrated prior to 1965 according to the 1964-65 directory.

• Colored School