African American Shoe Makers, Repairers, Shiners - Paducah, KY

Paducah, KY, is known for many things, but one of the unknowns is that the city had a persistent number of shoemakers and shoe repairers for several decades, from the 1860s to World War I and beyond World War II. In reference to African Americans in the shoe business between 1920 and the early 1930s, there were as many colored shoemakers and shoe repairers in Paducah as in Louisville and Lexington. It was part of the ongoing trend of a considerable number of shoemakers starting in the mid-1800s.

A few years after the American Civil War, there were at least 23 boot and shoemakers in Paducah, according to Kelley & Lambdin's Paducah City Directory for 1869. The African American shoemakers included Saunders Alexander, Arthur Carter, Ben Huston, Robert Taylor, and Phillip Williams, as well as the boot black Henry Russell [source: 1880 U.S. Census].

By 1920, after World War I, there were more shoe retail businesses, shoemakers, and shoe repairers listed in the business section of the city directory than had ever been listed before [source: Caron's Directory of the City of Paducah, Ky. for 1920-1921, pp. 701-702]. The listings included the shoe manufacturer International Shoe Company on N. 2nd Street, 13 shoe retail stores, and 27 cobblers/shoemakers/shoe repairers. In 1926, African American shoe shiner H. F. Bailey was added in the business section [source: Caron's Directory of the City of Paducah, Kentucky for 1926-1927, p. 886]. It was during this time period, 1920-1933, that the number of African Americans in the shoe business rivaled the number of those in Louisville and Lexington, with Paducah having 33 African American cobblers/shoemakers/shoe repairers, 39 shoe shiners, and four others employed with a shoe business as a porter or janitor.

But by 1930, things had started to change. There was not a heading of "SHOES" in the business section of the city directory that year [source: Caron's Paducah Ky. City Directory for 1930-1931]. The International Shoe Company and individual shoe makers, repairers, shiners, and other employees were listed within the names section of the directory. The 1930 U.S. Census was used to identify African Americans in the shoe business, revealing nine shoemakers/repairers and nine shoe shiners. Three years later, the headings and listings for "SHOES" reappeared in the business section of the city directory, but there was no notation of race in either the 1933 or the 1935 directories [source: Caron's Paducah, Ky. City Directory for 1933-1934; and Caron's Paducah City Directory for the Years 1935-1936]. The listing on p. 754 in the 1933 directory had the following breakdown: International Shoe Company, eight shoe dealers-retailers, 16 shoe repairers, and three shoe shiners. James E. Roberts, Othello J. Tanner, and Olin Taylor were the African American shoe repairers, along with shoe shiners James R. Curry and Harry Reeves.

In the 1935 directory on pp. 801-802, the categories revealed the International Shoe Company, 10 shoe dealers-retailers, 17 shoe repairers, and one shoe shiner. Andrew Mooring, James E. Roberts, Jr., and Othello J. Tanner were African American shoe repairers, and Thomas O. Cothran was a shoe shiner. By 1939, the race notation was once again in the Paducah city directory with the symbol © by the names of African Americans, though, there was no notation of race under the headings for "SHOES" in the business section of the directory [source: The Baldwin, Billings and Young Paducah, Kentucky Con Survey Directory, Master Edition, vol. 2, 1939, p. 74]. Listed were the International Shoe Company, 11 persons or businesses that repaired shoes, and 12 shoe dealers-retailers. Race would no longer be noted in the business section of the Paducah city directories in reference to "SHOES." 

For the year 1940, the U.S. Census was used to identify the six African American shoe repairers and eight shoe shiners. In 1941, under the  "SHOES" heading were the International Shoe Company, eight shoe dealers-retailers, and nine shoe repairers, including African Americans J. E. Roberts and J. B. Pursley [source: p. 840 in Caron's Paducah, KY. City Directory for 1941-1942]. The 1941 listing did not include African American Roy L. Morphis, whose name is listed on p. 421 in the directory. Several years after World War II, the shoe business in Paducah continued at about the same rate as before the war, though there were few African Americans in the business. Listed in the city directory were the International Shoe Company, seven shoe dealers-retailers, and 12 shoe repairers, one of whom was African American Clayborn B. Frazier [p. 116 & p. 543 in Caron's Paducah (McCracken County, KY.) City Directory, vol. XVIII, 1947].

More than 10 years later, in 1959, there was still the International Shoe Company along with 11 shoe dealers-retailers, eight shoe repairers, and one shoe shiner, all listed on p. 88 in Caron's Paducah (McCracken County, KY.) City Directory 1959.

In the table below are the names of many African Americans who were in the shoe business in Paducah from at least 1880 up to 1949. Many of these men were born in Tennessee, and a few migrated to Chicago, IL, where they found employment other than the shoe business. James E. Roberts, Jr. was one of the few shoe repairers to migrate out of Kentucky and carry on the trade; he left Kentucky in 1939 for Kansas City, MO, where he taught shoe repairing as a trade. For those who remained in Paducah, there were several shoemakers and repairers who stayed in the business for 20 years or more: Saunders Alexander, 30 years; Clayborn Frazier, 27 years; James B. Pursley, 25 years; James E. Roberts (Sr.), 33 years; Robert Taylor, 34 years; Phillip Williams, 32 years; and shoe shiner Grant Dollar, 20 years. For most of the shoe shiners, porters, and janitors, the work was a short-term gig before moving on to more lucrative employment.

* Neither the letter "c" nor a "dot" was used to note African American persons in Caron's Paducah, KY. City Directory for 1928-1929; Caron's Paducah, Ky. City Directory for 1933-1934; and Caron's Paducah City Directory for the Years 1935-1936.