Kentucky Negro Educational Association (KNEA)

The organization was formed when State Superintendent of Public Instruction H. A. Henderson gathered 45 Negro educators and trustees in 1877 to form the State Association of Colored Teachers. In 1913 the organization was renamed the Kentucky Negro Educational Association (KNEA). This representative body of Kentucky's Negro educators was an influential lobbying group for education issues. Annual conferences were held in Louisville, KY.

In response to desegregation, the organization was renamed the Kentucky Teachers Association, though it was still referred to in general conversation as KNEA. In 1956, KNEA was subsumed into the formerly all white Kentucky Education Association. KNEA was the predecessor to present day organizations such as the Kentucky Association of Blacks in Higher Education.

For more see The Kentucky Negro Education Association, 1877-1946, by H. C. Russell, Sr.; and the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal, available full-text at ExploreUK and in paper at Kentucky State University Library. For information on the prior education organization see Kentucky State Colored Educational Convention. See also entries for African American Schools in the NKAA Database.