Brown, Curlee Sr.
(born: 1909 - died: 1976)Curlee Brown, Sr. was a civil rights leader in Paducah, KY. He served as the President of the Paducah NAACP Office for more than 30 years; he also had served as Vice President of the Kentucky NAACP.
In the 1950s, Brown led in the efforts to integrate public accommodations and the schools in Paducah, including winning the lawsuit to integrate Paducah Junior College (now West Kentucky Community and Technical College).
The Kentucky NAACP Curlee Brown Scholarship and the Paducah NAACP Curlee Brown Award are named in his honor.
Curlee Brown, Sr. was born in Hollandale, MS, later moving with his family to Paducah. (His parents, Dave and Dora Brown, were both born in Louisiana [source: 1910 U.S. Federal Census].)
Brown was a graduate of Western Kentucky Industrial College and attended Western Kentucky Vocational School to study carpentry and cabinet-making. Both schools were in Paducah and have since been merged into what is now West Kentucky Community and Technical College.
For more see "Curlee Brown" in the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Hall of Fame website; and Jae Jones, "Curlee Brown, Sr: Early Pioneer and Fearless Warrior in the Struggle for Human Rights," 5/16/2020, at the blackthen.com website.
