From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Colored Men's Reading Room, Frankfort, KY
(start date: 1885)In November of 1885, a group of African American men created a Reading Room over the barber shop of Henry Samuels on St. Clair Street in Frankfort, KY.
It was one of the earliest reading establishments for African Americans in Frankfort, KY. The local newspaper editor wrote that the Reading Room was a much better option "instead of going to a bar room." The men who established the Reading Room were not named in the article. The barber shop owner, Rev. Henry Samuels (1809-1891), was African American and a Frankfort native.
Rev. Samuels operated his barber shop in Frankfort for 59 years. He had been born enslaved to a Mr. Carter in Scott County, KY, and had bought his freedom sometime before he was enumerated as a freeman in the 1840 U.S. Census. Rev. Henry Samuel is buried in the Frankfort Cemetery.
Sources: “The young colored men of the city …” The Frankfort Roundabout, 11/07/1885, p.2.; “An aged colored citizen gone.” The Frankfort Roundabout, 07/25/1891, p.4; see Rev. Henry Samuels at Find A Grave.