From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

George Washington Buckner.jpg

Buckner, George Washington

(born: 1855  -  died: 1943) 

George W. Buckner was born enslaved in Green County, KY; after being freed, he went on to become a physician. Buckner taught school in Kentucky and Indiana for 17 years before moving to Monrovia, Liberia, where he was the U.S. Minister to Liberia from 1913 to 1915. He was the first African American diplomat appointed to a foreign country.

For more see The Political Graveyard; Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915; and Who Was Who in America: A component volume of Who's Who in American History, vol. 4, 1961-1968. See also The Diplomat and the Librarian in Little Known Black Librarian Facts (blog).

Relation

Image in Entry: G. W. Buckner image from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. (online).

Kentucky County & Region

Read about Green County, Kentucky in Wikipedia.

Outside Kentucky Place Name

Indiana
Monrovia, Liberia, Africa

Item Relations

Cited in this Entry

NKAA Source: Who's who of the colored race : a general biographical dictionary of men and women of African descent, vol. 1 (1915)
NKAA Source: Who was who in America. Vol. 4, 1961-1968: with world notables : a component volume of Who's who in American history

Related Entries Citing this Entry

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Cite This NKAA Entry:

“Buckner, George Washington,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed October 23, 2026, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/800.

Last modified: 2026-09-01 00:29:05