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2010 The Race to Educate: African American Resistance to Educational Segregation in , 1865-1910 Tashia Levanga Bradley

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COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

THE RACE TO EDUCATE: AFRICAN AMERICAN RESISTANCE TO

EDUCATIONAL SEGREGATION IN KENTUCKY, 1865-1910

By

TASHIA LEVANGA BRADLEY

A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010

Copyright © 2010 Tashia Levanga Bradley All Rights Reserved

The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Tashia Levanga Bradley defended on February 3, 2010.

______Jeffrey Milligan Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ______Victoria-Maria MacDonald Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ______Alejandro Gallard University Representative ______Lora Cohen-Vogel Committee Member

Approved:

______Patrice Iatarola, Chair, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members.

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I dedicated this to my parents Mr. Conrad Archibald and Ms. Leah Smith Bradley, my sister Tara Bradley and all those who paved the way.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge my parents and sister for all of their support and help along the way. I would like to thank Mark Blaweiss, Gordon E. Michalson of New College of Florida for their support and allowing me to pursue this endeavor. I would like to acknowledge Vickie Oldham, Muriel Braithwaite, Pearl Smith, Camille LaFleur, Adriela and Jonathan Allen, the SARASOTA Chapter of the NAACP, Dr. Willie and Sandra Holley, Dr. Ed James, Elzie McCord, Andrew and Symader Baskin, Janice Blythe, Felicia and Dwayne Mack, Althea Webb, Sherilyn Poole, Valarie Rand, bell hooks, Bryant Smith, Zephia Bryant, Mr. Shannon Wilson of the Berea Archives, Thomas Owens of the Archives, Kentucky Historical Society, Deborah Thompson (Dissertation Divas), Christian Motley, Enchanta Jackson, Dee Sanders, Christopher Perkins, Amanda “Revolution” Lucas, Jimmy Pastrano, and my outstanding committee- Dr Jeffrey Milligan, Dr. Lora Cohen Vogel, and Dr. Alejandro Gallard.

I finally want to share my deepest gratitude to my Directing Professor and committee member Dr. Victoria-Maria MacDonald who took me through the backwoods of Florida, the Archives at the University of -Madison and was my cheerleader when I didn’t believe in myself. This is also dedicated to the students at and my colleagues who pushed me to finish and believed I would complete this document.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract vii

Introduction 1

1. HOW FREE? 23 1.1 Establishing a Culture of Educational Segregation 33 1.2 Early Educational 36 1.3 Blacks and Schooling Prior to the Civil War 39

2. A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO RESISTANCE 46 2.1 A Theoretical Framework of Oppression 51 2.1 Maintaining a System of Oppression 54 2.3 Unraveling the Pedagogy of the Oppressed 57

3. BLACK RESISTANCE TO DECLINING OPPORTUNITY FOR EQUAL SCHOOLING IN KENTUCKY 62 3.1 Educational Opportunity for Some 66 3.2 Out of One Many... Reverend Henry Adams, Elisha Green, and the State Convention of Colored Baptists in Kentucky 69 3.3 Isaac E. Black 72 3.4 Kentucky State Colored Teacher’s Association 73 3.5 Alma Mater: From Interracial to an all-White Institution 76

4. STRATEGIES OFRESISTANCE: LETTER WRITING, FUNDRAISING, AND BUILDING 83 4.1 State Normal School for Colored Persons 85 4.2 Resistance as a Response to Segregation at Berea College 89

5. CONCLUSION: RACISM, PATERNALISM, OPPRESSION AND DETERMINATION AS ELEMENTS OF SCHOOLING FOR BLACKS IN KENTUCKY 104

REFERENCES 116

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 129

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ABSTRACT

The Race to Educate is an exploration of Black resistance to educational segregation in Kentucky, 1865-1910. Set in Kentucky, this dissertation examines the ways in which Blacks struggled to address and mitigate the impact of U.S. segregation, especially as it related to education. Through the experiences of Blacks who resisted efforts to undermine their freedom, this dissertation challenges presumptions that segregation was an effort that Blacks did not try to address in its earliest forms. Additionally, this dissertation identifies individuals who participated in these efforts and investigates the relationship between oppression and segregation. Finally, this dissertation identifies such results of resistance as Kentucky State University and Lincoln Institute. The Race to Educate challenges the reader to recognize Blacks as active, engaged, and significant participants in their educational journey and thus their quest for freedom

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INTRODUCTION

In 1996, Kentuckians went to the polls to vote on the removal of the State’s Constitutional provision that banned racially integrated education. About two-thirds of the total electorate voted for removal of this provision, almost forty-two years after Brown vs. Board of Education.1 The provision which was invalidated by Brown vs. Board of Education served as a grim reminder of Kentucky’s segregated educational past. Segregation was not unique to Kentucky; in fact segregation was the law of the land throughout the United States for over sixty years. During this unique period in American history, Blacks did their best to gain equality despite the circumstances. It proved to be a monumental task to live as full and free in the age of segregation. Almost fifty years after the successful ending of educational segregation in Kentucky, Kentuckians symbolically returned to the polls to once again make history by removing this mark on the past. The events leading up to that historical moment forever changed the path of Black equality and the educational experience of Kentuckians. When the Civil War ended in 1865, four million plus Blacks across the country finally had access to a freedom they had never experienced in this country. The rebuilding of the U.S. after the Civil War proved to be a tedious and monumental effort. Restoration of the country, particularly the South, included the inclusion of Blacks as free participants. During Reconstruction, Blacks eagerly established opportunities for themselves to become full participants and citizens through politics, land ownership, and education. Prior to their freedom, the formerly enslaved ascertained the value of education when they risked grave punishments to access literacy. As a result of their status as enslaved, Blacks were provided such basic needs as food, clothing, and shelter, but higher order needs such as relationships, and literacy were regulated by laws and social norms. In their new world of freedom they were no longer the “ward” of their masters or the state, but expected to enter citizenship as whole and intact people. In this new life, Blacks attempted to enter with optimism and determination. Many saw their

1 “No More White Racism in America?,” Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 45 (Autumn 2004): 18.

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efforts as future vindication for their maltreatment as chattel. What better way to prove their capacity as full humans then through schooling. Blacks had earned their freedom and even gained footing with their participation in U.S. civic and political life, but Blacks did not immediately enter U.S. society as full and equal citizens. U.S. citizenship was provided to Blacks in 1868 by the 14th Amendment. Establishing Black citizenship did not instantaneously eradicate perceptions of Blacks as inferior and sub- human. The lingering beliefs about Black inferiority continued even as Blacks embraced daily life and leadership. Regardless of the ways Blacks represented themselves in American society, there was an element of that dominated. This effort of white supremacy was not only violent, but transcended through everyday experiences from individuals who now had to compete with Blacks for labor and resources. Coupled with these new challenges and negative attitudes, whites were both able to uplift and oppress. Despite this reality, Blacks continued to engage the notion of equality by working for literacy. As innocent as the role of education or schooling is considered, schooling is political. In this case, prior to 1865, schooling was not publicly accessible for the masses, Black or white. Schooling had been reserved for a certain class of white men and later white women. Schooling would be used as a tool for achieving equality by Blacks. As the zenith of the Reconstruction period declined, white efforts shifted. The support that Black educational efforts garnered had receded by the 1880’s. The South and its ideologies were strengthened. The return to overt paternalistic hegemony by white southerners and northern philanthropists challenged the way of life Blacks had slowly established during Reconstruction. The dominating forces created and slowly implemented segregation. Like a display of dominoes, the structures that Blacks assisted in creating struggled and later tumbled. This dissertation will show that these structures included schools and educational institutions. The created structures withstood their (attempted) dismantling, but the spirit of these and future organizations changed drastically. Blacks’ positions as interlopers or as foreigners in a different land gained momentum during this segregation period. As the momentum gained, some Blacks did their best to stop and then usurp the process of segregation. This dissertation seeks to add to this history of U.S. segregation by illuminating philosophical and historical successes that challenged, slowed the process, and eradicated segregation. The content of this dissertation communicates the ways in which Blacks used resistance to engage the segregation process. This concept goes beyond the traditional understanding of resistance as merely violent acts and

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includes such elements of self determination and hope. Resistance is an effort that shapes the revolution; and it is revolution that shifts relationships between the oppressed and the oppressor. Schooling was a tool of both the resistor and the resisted. For the educational resistor, their goals included creating, shaping, and re-appropriating education as an effort of resistance. This dissertation also grapples with the duality of identity; the public self of Blacks provided a level of comfort for whites, and the private self challenged and responded to the inequities. This behavior of duality is a form of double-consciousness and was a tool for resistance.2 One thing Blacks learned in their quest for equality was how and when to present the appropriate identity. In the cases discussed in this dissertation, the resistance efforts were not fringe activities. They were front and center, far removed from images of the antebellum slave or the stereotype of the shifting and nervous Black man illuminated during segregation. The resistors of educational segregation were close enough to recognize the oppression imbedded in the system and thus attempt to overthrow it. Probably the most compelling is the intimacy that resistors of educational segregation had with the system. In addition to being products of the system, they were also members, serving as teachers, principals, trustees, and fundraisers. They had an important knowledge that could be used to eradicate the system or to replicate the system. The challenge is not to judge their efforts, but to record them as we analyze the race to educate. In the end, because schools are cultural transmitters, one must inquire what types of information was being transmitted in these schools for Blacks.3 Were these schools used as a re- creation of the hierarchy of oppression, teaching the 3R’s- Reading, ‘Riting, and Racism or were they able to assist resistors in transcending racism to transmit a new cultural norm?

Background:

At the close of 2007, U.S. public school systems still reported glaring academic achievement gaps across different racial groups.4 The educational landscape has always been troubling for various groups, not because of ability, but because of access, resources, and sustainability. The African American educational experience continues to provide a dichotomy

2 Dubois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folks: Essays and Sketches (Chicago: McClurg & Co., 1907). 3 Signithia Fordham, Blacked Out Dilemmas of Race, Identity, and Success at Capital High (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 16. 4 Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007), http://nces.ed.gov/pubSearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007039 accessed on December 29, 2009. 3

that represents success and failure. African have historically obtained literacy in various ways, both legally and in many cases illegally. Until the emancipation of enslaved Blacks, their education in the U.S. was not a priority. In fact, educating Blacks was considered to have grave consequences. Therefore the schooling of Blacks in most cases was a covert operation. Educational opportunity for Blacks was restricted prior to the Civil War, not because Blacks lacked desire, but laws and social norms ensured limits. Despite the seriousness of antebellum slavery and its control of Black life, literacy was viewed as an important element of Black liberation and a means to equality. Blacks successfully obtained education in significant ways after their emancipation. Interestingly, the efforts for Black education helped to revolutionize educational opportunity for whites. As educational opportunities for Blacks increased, education for whites shifted dramatically. Educational access for the masses gained momentum in the South. Educational opportunity for Blacks encouraged economic and social growth in its earliest forms after emancipation. This prosperity threatened the social structure which was based upon the perception of Black inferiority. Post Civil War, the accessibility of education was immensely greater for Blacks and poor whites. However a remarkable set of circumstances remained. Although Blacks had an abundance of schools in comparison to their earlier experience, they now had the challenge of maintaining, growing, and sustaining these institutions and their participation over time. The research establishes that Blacks were active participants in their educational experience. They were active in advocating, establishing, and maintaining educational opportunities.5 Despite these efforts, Blacks could not prevent the full implementation of segregation. Segregation changed the momentum for experiencing equality in all aspects of life, especially in the area of education. Unlike before where economic class and social standing determined the level of participation in education, regardless of economic means and class, Blacks were regulated to experience life as second-class citizens. When Blacks were emancipated they entered into a world where equality with whites seemed possible. However a gradual change obstructed any vision of equality, the efforts to establish and grow schools were modified. As a result of these changes in attitude and policy,

5 James Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: University of Press, 1988). 4

Blacks began challenging the impending segregation. This dissertation is about their challenges to segregation prior to its full implementation. Fittingly, researchers have illuminated the struggle to end segregation, but greater attention needs to be paid to Black responses in the early movements towards segregation. One response that Blacks exhibited to segregation was resistance. Blacks used the of resistance to slow the process, challenge the process, and to create new outcomes. Throughout this dissertation, I have presented several examples of how Blacks responded to these acts of hegemony. Additionally, this dissertation pays special attention to not only who resisted and why, but how these efforts seemingly competed and how that shaped outcomes. The findings establish that their resistance was not only in regards to equality with whites, but more profoundly about self-determination and in some instances the opportunity to revolutionize the system. At the core of this dissertation is the question, how did respond to segregation? In particular, how did they respond in Kentucky and what did those responses mean in a national context? Undoubtedly, the efforts of Black Kentuckians are little known, but when unraveled, emphasizes the valuable understanding of race relations, educational opportunity, and resistance in the post-bellum South. Blacks were integral partners in their success, using education as a tool for their future. The U.S. educational landscape has been just as complicated as it is had been exclusionary. Before the Civil War, the variations in schooling for African Americans depended upon their social status-free or enslaved. After the Civil War, the education of African Americans began to evolve into both private and public schooling options. The shape of schooling for Blacks after the Civil War included race/ethnic-specific and interracial/mixed schools in occasional settings.6 Even beyond the students the interracial experience also included teachers, administrators, funding sources and the classroom, in a few cases. This dissertation will also analyze the nature of interracial education and its effect on segregation.

6 William Preston Vaughn, Schools for All, The Blacks & Public Education in the South, 1865-1877, (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1974), xvi. 5

Literature Review:

Perhaps one of the most comprehensive summaries of Black educational experiences is James Anderson’s, Black Education in the South (1988). His work provides a framework in this dissertation for the process and strategies of Blacks in acquiring education by illuminating the accomplishments and challenges of education for Blacks. Although it has shortcomings in regards to its regional scope and its specificity, the book does provide an extensive educational history of African Americans. More specifically Anderson’s writings provide opportunity for critical examination of issues of access, finance, and support of Black educational institutions. Anderson’s research informs understanding of the desire of African Americans to access education after the Civil War and the limitations they faced. Thus Anderson provides evidence for the argument that African Americans were not passively involved in their education, but, were instead active in building their institutions. A History of Negro Education in the South by Henry Bullock (1967), which is the precursor to Anderson’s writings, also provides examples of African American involvement and specifies the nature of education for Blacks. Written in 1967, it is a more specific history of African Americans in education, but limited in its critical analysis of race relations. The major points of this book record the sheer determination of Blacks to succeed in education and facilitate understanding that education was not only for the present, but its connection to African Americans’ future. He connects these early institutions for Negroes as the foundation for today’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Bullock’s observations also offer a deeper understanding of the connection amongst the slave codes, Black codes, and segregation. These systems of oppression were articulated barriers to the education of African-Americans, and were the forces that led to movements against and for integration. Schools for All, The Blacks & Public Education in the South, 1865-1877 by William Preston Vaughn (1974), contributes to my overview of education for Blacks, through the addition of the public school dimension of schooling. In this book, Vaughn is systematic in organizing how southern state legislatures developed educational policy. In addition, Vaughn captures the underlying question of how African-Americans responded to the different possibilities of equal, mixed, and/or separate schooling after the Civil War. Unlike other writings which seem to focus more on the private schooling funded by the American Missionary Society

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and other philanthropic funds, readers are reminded that there were dual possibilities for schooling – public and private. The dual possibilities were not available to all, public schools in many areas lagged in resources, while some areas barely had access to private schooling provided by philanthropic organizations. In the midst of this clash over providing education, there were more than enough African Americans who wanted either kind of education and supported both. Vaughn’s book illuminates that African Americans were interested in educational opportunities before and after the Civil War. How African Americans were able to access schooling differed according to region. Just as African Americans’ educational experience in the North varied, so did their educational experience in the South. The disparity in experience was a result of several origins, some based deeply in racism, economics, and access. The Southern educational disparities when juxtaposed against northern states’ educational disparities are observable. One area where the variation in education of African Americans was evidenced is the Southern Appalachian region. Southern Appalachia is comprised of several parts of various states including Alabama, , West Virginia, and Kentucky. The Appalachian region was comprised of both free and enslaved Blacks prior to the Civil War. To complicate matters, the Southern Appalachian region historically contained some of the highest levels of poverty in the United States. The politics of the region ranged from staunch abolitionist to pro-slavery factions. The complexity of the region’s demographics established Southern Appalachia as a unique area. For example, according to Barksdale Hamlett’s History of Education in Kentucky the means for supporting public schools in the Commonwealth of Kentucky was legally established in 1838.7 In 1838, Kentucky was a predominately rural experience. These geographic demographics converged to create interesting examples of schooling. During the Antebellum era, the almost non-existent schooling experience of African Americans in Appalachia was similar to other parts of the South. However, there is evidence that the free population in most areas was interested in and laid the foundation for future schooling. Robert P. Stuckert’s “Free Black Populations of the Southern Appalachian Mountains: 1860,” informs the reader that out of the 11,179 Blacks living in Kentucky in 1860, 1,297 were free. Numbers varied from state to state, but within each state their Black populations contributed to

7 Barksdale Hamlett, History of Education in Kentucky (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1914), 7. 7

the fabric of the community. The free population was important in facilitating the formation of life for Blacks after the Civil War. Kentucky is the backdrop for this dissertation, not only because it provides remarkable evidence for ascertaining resistance efforts of Blacks, but because it has unique instances of interracial educational cooperation. In The History of Blacks in Kentucky Volumes I and II, by Marion Brunson Lucas and George C. Wright (1992), the African American experiences in Kentucky are highlighted as beginning before slavery. Their book presents specific events, practices, and incidents surrounding African Americans living in Kentucky. The writing not only examines general life for African American Kentuckians, but illuminates their desire to develop a system of public schools. Furthermore, Volume I, introduces the U.S. Freedmen’s Bureau, American Missionary Association, and other benevolent societies into Kentucky’s educational history while simultaneously exploring the rise of schooling before and after the Civil War. As African Americans organized for their future, southerners were also re-organizing and re-establishing themselves for the New South. Unfortunately, they were revisiting their earlier divisive ways. “The General Character and Extent of Separate Schools: The Origin and Development of the Negro Separate School” by Ellis O. Knox (1947), describes the evolution of separate schools for Blacks and Whites. It supports the basic tenets that schooling in the South, including states of the Southern Appalachian region, was socially and legally influenced. The article also sets the stage for the examination of the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau and other Union forces in the development of separate schools for African Americans within Kentucky and other southern states. Appalachians and Race (2001) is a compilation of articles about race relations in Appalachia edited by John Inscoe. These articles expound upon the racial composition of the region in early Appalachian history and records examples of interactions between Blacks and whites. One chapter in particular, “Slavery and Anti-Slavery in Appalachia” describes how the Kentucky resident, white abolitionist Rev. John G. Fee established Berea College. This institution was founded as a tuition-free school for both Appalachian whites and Blacks prior to the Civil War. Berea College served as a point of resistance against social norms by encouraging interracial education. 8 The Berea College experiment was instrumental in providing the

8 Richard Drake, “Slavery and Anti-Slavery in Appalachia” in Appalachians and Race: The Mountain South from Slavery to Segregation, editor John C. Inscoe (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001), 17-26. 8

formative training and education for Blacks in Kentucky, many of whom participated in efforts to resist educational segregation. In “Experiment in Interracial Education at Berea College, 1858-1908” by Paul David Nelson (1974), the rise of Berea College and the institution’s segregation by the 1904 Day Law is depicted. Through this Kentucky state law, Senator Carl Day successfully eradicated Berea College’s interracial mission. For nearly fifty years, the law made it “unlawful for any person, corporation or association of persons to maintain or operate any college, school, or institution where persons of the White and Negro races are both received as pupils for instruction.”9 This article is significant for this dissertation because it illuminates Blacks concerns of betrayal by then Berea College President Frost, and various responses to Berea College’s Day Law submission. One such response was the development of the Lincoln Institute for Blacks, formed by Berea College fundraising and some members of the African American community. The local Berea newspaper, the Berea Citizen, provides articles that supported the hypothesis that African Americans resisted the dismissal of African Americans from Berea College, after the Day Law (1904). The forms of resistance that the Berea Citizen reported included letters to the newspaper and reports of “colored” public meetings. One report described “a praise meeting for the progress made by President and Mrs. Frost toward the raising of the $400,000 found for the colored school…attended by over 300 ‘colored’ people.”10 These examples highlight the complexity of Black resistance to educational segregation in Kentucky. African American resistance to the Day Law also is documented in the Berea Archives through personal letters to then Berea College President Frost, and other documents from alumni voicing their disappointment in the decision. One letter with over fifty signatures, indicated to be from “colored” persons, outlines the principles of Berea College and why the segregation of the institution was against its purpose. Other documents found in the Berea Archives confirm the level of activity African Americans were engaged in as they responded to the impending segregation of Berea College. In Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904-1954, John A. Hardin (1997), highlights that as a result of the Day Law’s efforts to segregate any school in

9 Andrew Baskin, “Berea College: A Commitment to Interracial Education within a Christian Context,” Minorities and Evangelical Christian Colleges (Lanham, : University Press of America, 1991), 323. 10 “Colored Praise Meeting,” Berea Citizen, March 19, 1908. Vertical Files: Day Law II, 1902-1905, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 9

Kentucky, Berea College assisted in developing Lincoln Institute for Blacks. However, African Americans were not always supportive of the development of this institution that was meant to serve as an alternative to the segregated Berea College. Some African Americans still disappointed with the segregation of Berea College, resisted the efforts of Berea College officials and Lincoln Institute supporters by not supporting it financially in its developmental stage. Hardin describes the resistance fundraisers met in Black communities through walk-outs, refusals to contribute funds, and ambivalence to the efforts. The literature also provides other examples of these efforts of resistance. This is particularly true for efforts found in the state of Kentucky. The University of Louisville Archives Library is another resource that provides specific primary documents. The research found outlines concerning the role of African American religious institutions such as the Louisville Fifth Street Baptist Church (1842) educational activities. These records are inclusive of church minutes and church calendars. The church historically was not only a spiritual and social network, it served as a political organization. The information gathered provides the foundation for understanding that churches were an intricate aspect of resistance to educational segregation in Kentucky. Secondly, the efforts of resistance that researchers articulate generally relate to Berea College. To identify other Black resistance efforts I visited the archives at the Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, and University of Louisville. The purpose of this archival research was to establish the role of churches, social organizations, and Black newspapers in facilitating efforts to resist educational segregation. The Kentucky Colored State Teachers’ Association (Kentucky Negro Educational Association) Journals, some of which are on-line at the Kentucky Virtual Library, allude to the association’s activities. One such activity involves the association’s participation in the development of today’s state-supported Kentucky State University. Other documents that added to this research include the “Proceedings of the State Colored Educational Convention” (1877), Papers of the Office of the President 1896-1986 of Kentucky State University, and Fouse Family Papers in the Kentuckiana Digital Library. Additionally, other resources that I explored include Black newspapers such as The Afro- American Spokesman, The Negro Citizen, The American Baptist, and Louisville Defender. All of these documents offer Black perspectives and thus enhance this dissertation.

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The social, economic, and political conditions that facilitated school segregation were widely debated. The introduction and examination of these conditions will add to scholars’ understanding of African American roles in the development of educational segregation. This dissertation seeks to document the struggles and resistance efforts of Black Kentuckians against educational segregation, 1865-1910. The period of 1865-1910 captures three important experiences in American and Black histories: emancipation, reconstruction, and segregation.

Research Question:

Scholars agree that during the period after the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction, Blacks made gains in schooling.11 In examining the scholarship, African American activists, school records, newspaper articles, and other documents, the evidence suggests that African Americans responded to the impending segregation by creating new arrangements that continued access for Blacks to education. My research questions were sparked by the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education. As we revisited the value of desegregation/integration, I wondered what the original impetus to segregation was, and also wondered in what ways African Americans responded to educational segregation. This question presumed two things, African Americans wanted schooling, and that they perceived education as a means for equality. The most pressing answers to my presumptions were found in the history of Berea College. Although Berea College serves as a great example, it is only one example in Kentucky and has received prior scholarly attention. Therefore, I have chosen to broaden the research area and explore the state of Kentucky’s relationship of Black resistance to educational segregation, thus forming my research questions. Through my dissertation I seek to answer the following questions: How did African Americans in Kentucky, 1865-1910, respond to educational segregation? What were the nature and the results of their activities? And lastly, how did perceptions of race affect or deter the possibility of equality through education?

11 David Tyack and Robert Lowe, “The Constitutional Moment: Reconstruction and Black Education in the South,” American Journal of Education 94, no. 2 (February 1986): 236-256. 11

Methodology:

I have chosen the state of Kentucky as the unique backdrop for illuminating African Americans resistance efforts to educational segregation, because of the activities of Blacks during the period of 1865-1910 in the state. Through exploration of the materials of various archives, I synthesized the information to identify efforts of resistance by Blacks. Next, information that presented names, dates, and reports of activity helped to point to new information. Through this process I was able to identify instances that corroborated Black resistance to educational segregation. Sifting through this information illuminated many names and examples, but I chose information relevant to the period of 1865-1910, Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association, Berea College, Lincoln Institute, and Kentucky State University. To establish the scope of African American resistance efforts in education, this dissertation first asserts that the issue of public education for Blacks was a complex point for the Kentucky government. Blacks, while simultaneously assisted by benevolent and missionary organizations, were engaged in developing schools. The state’s initial contribution to education for Blacks was almost non-existent, because “state legislators took the position that Blacks were to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.”12 Secondly, Kentucky legislative policy did not fully provide for white public schools until 1866, one year after the ending of the Civil War. These KY state legislative and subsequent decisions created public schools for Blacks and specified funding policy for these schools. However in 1868, the several KY state laws were repealed and the taxes collected for Black schools, called the Black Tax, also were designated to support paupers. Funds remaining after supporting the paupers then could be spent for Black schools. As a result of this unfair distribution of taxes, some Blacks evaded taxes and many felt cheated.13 It is the purpose of this dissertation to illuminate such circumstances and other examples of African American Kentuckians’ resistance to educational segregation, through the review of both primary and secondary sources. Utilizing the research gathered in archives, personal collections, manuscripts, newspapers, and meeting proceedings, this dissertation employs various theories to research and highlight information, including Revisionist Studies and Critical Race

12 Marion B. Lucas, A History of Blacks in Kentucky Volume I, (Kentucky: The Kentucky Historical Society, 1992), 232. 13 Ibid,, 231. 12

Theory. The re-examination of Kentucky school segregation activities from the perspective of Blacks, who showed resistance to the process, provides new narratives from which to understand this history. The first approach, Revisionism is based upon “cultural revisionist” Lawrence Cremin and ’s philosophies; who in the late 1950’s and 1960’s described the present through past historical knowledge. Within this historical movement, scholars began asking questions about “the relationship of democracy to education, the role of schooling in reproducing social class, and to some extent, the struggles of people of color over access to schooling.”14 This framework encourages further examination of Kentucky’s African American resistance in educational segregation. Although some scholars like Diane Ravitch have dismissed Revisionist Studies, it is one approach that attempts to accentuate the responsibilities of the historian to record all voices, as difficult as that may be.15 In addition, revisionist history methods try “to recover and develop the history of minorities,” sometimes illuminating the “patronizing or racist attitudes of white historians of a period.”16 For this dissertation, I used this approach to ensure that the master narrative includes the Black voice as center to further understanding the dynamics of educational segregation in Kentucky, 1865-1910. This dissertation begins with the question of how were Blacks involved in the process to segregate schools after the period of Reconstruction. Initially, internal complications arose regarding which term to use, “responded” or “resisted” to characterize Blacks’ reactions, but I chose the latter term. Resistance behavior by Blacks has been consistently illuminated through slave narratives, Black abolitionist biographies, court cases and other examples; in essence the concept of resistance is at the heart of the Black freedom struggle. Resistance encompasses the mode of Black behavior that rejects oppression from the white supremacist power structure, whether one is pro-Black, liberal, or conservative. Throughout the southern region of the U.S., Blacks made decisions regarding how to shape their entry into life as a free people. Did freedom mean equality, or was education a means for the facilitation for this equality? If so then there must have been some type of response to the process when states began to shift from a spirit of reconstruction to segregation. I choose to use

14 Ruben Donato and Marvin Lazerson, “New Directions in American Educational History: Problems and Prospects”, Educational Researcher 29, no. 8 (2000): 5. 15 Diane Ravitch, The Revisionists Revised. A Critique of the Radical Attack on the Schools (New York: Basic Books, 1978). 16 Anthony Brundage, Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing (: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1997), 7. 13

the state of Kentucky as the laboratory for this discussion, because of three important factors: Kentucky was a border state that later entered the Union, had interracial school(s), and Kentucky’s establishment of schooling for Blacks prior to 1875.17 These characteristics are as equally challenging as they are exciting. For example, since Kentucky remained in the Union during the Civil War, they were not subjected to the same process of Federal Reconstruction as their neighbor Tennessee had been. Equality within the state was not only a question for Blacks, but also the Appalachians or mountain people who were often considered other (than white).18 All these variables within Kentucky educational history have intersected to provide location for this inquiry. Because the issue of resistance to educational segregation in Kentucky is complex, this dissertation also employs methodology from Critical Race Theory (CRT). In the edited Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge (2000), Richard Delgado summarizes the conception of CRT as a result of Alan Freeman and Derrick Bell’s early work in the legal field. In an effort to provide new approaches to facilitate “understanding of the more subtle, but just as deeply entrenched, varieties of racism that characterized our times,” CRT was birthed.19 From their vantage point they developed the theory because they felt that the civil rights movement of the 1960’s had stalled, and that other gains were being rolled back. CRT is applicable to the present, but also provides a lens for which to view the period after the Civil War. The views of the theory assert many philosophies; first that “racism is normal, not aberrant, in American society.”20 African Americans in Kentucky were up against notions of their place in the social structure as a result of their new status as free. Racism, which contributed to formalized inequality, impacted the decision to segregate schools and how resources were distributed. Along with the other research frameworks, CRT is useful to this dissertation in answering the research question concerning how perceptions of race affect or deter the possibility of equality through education, because this framework assumes race is central to the experience of Americans. For example using this theory lends exploration of why African Americans pursued education in Kentucky early educational history, to solely better

17The year 1875 signifies the shifts in the Black and white racial relations as signified by the . 18 William H. Turner, “Blacks in Appalachian America: Reflections on Biracial Education and Unionism,” Phylon, XLIV, no.3 (1983). 19 Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic (eds.), The Cutting Edge Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000), xvi. 20 Ibid. 14

themselves or did they see it as a means to becoming equals to their white peers? Even in states with conflicting views on slavery, the Black race, and universal education, hindsight provides that racism was a part of the process and policymaking. CRT challenges racial oppression and the status quo by “sometimes taking the form of storytelling in which writers analyze the myths, presuppositions, and received wisdoms that make up the common culture about race and invariably render Blacks and other minorities, one- down.”21 The transition of Blacks from the state of being enslaved to freedom is recorded by historians as a period of prosperity with special recognition of white and northern philanthropists’ roles. Authors and history-makers have been guilty of recording Blacks as “lazy, shiftless, criminal, and hyper-sexual” or excluding them altogether from the narrative. A good example of this troublesome narrative is the depiction of African Americans in the 1915 movie “Birth of a Nation.”22 Thus by employing the spirit of CRT, I became hyper-aware of perceptions that may be illuminated in the materials as truth, as opposed to stereotypes. Additionally, progress that Blacks made during Reconstruction ended, rather abruptly. According to C. Vann Woodward, progress ended because white supremacist sentiments were coupled with the actions of the “” who (re-) gained office after the departure of the Federal government in the South.23 Critical Race Theory, as interpreted by Derrick Bell offers an explanation for this drastic change, “white elites tolerate or encourage racial advances for Blacks only when such advances promote white self-interest.”24 In Kentucky, one example that seems to support this assertion is again found in the interracial mission of Berea College, which changes to a segregated institution under the Day Law and Berea College President Frost. To hold true to John G. Fee’s mission of interracial education seemed to become less lucrative, as funding sources shifted their attention from the needs of Blacks to white Appalachian students.25 The ending of slavery altered the course of U.S. politics, educational policy, and race relations. The years of 1865-1910, hosted new opportunities and setbacks for African Americans in relation to social equality.

21 Ibid. 22 J. Hoberman, “Lightning, Camera, Action: As Turns 90, Its Racism Is out of Bounds, but Its More Enduring Impact Can Be Seen Just by Turning on the Television,” The American Prospect 16 (June 2005). 23 C. Vann Woodward, The Burden of Southern History, (Baton Rouge: State University Press, 1993), 13. 24 Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic (eds.), Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000), xvii. 25 Andrew Baskin, “Berea College: A Commitment to Interracial Education within a Christian Context,” from D. John Lee (ed.) Ethnic Minorities and Evangelical Christian Colleges (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1991), 320. 15

Lastly, the most illuminated philosophy this dissertation employs is from Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Education for Blacks served several purposes which included the opportunity for equality and self-determination. Freire’s work highlights a disconnection between the system and the oppressed. In addition, through this framework, I was able to re- think resistance as movement towards radical revolution, not just movement towards equality. It is revolution that Freire suggests is the ideal way for the oppressed to gain self-determination. Without revolution, the oppressed are limited to repeating the oppressive behavior. Within this framework, Freire challenges us to think about why education is so important and what it can mean to the oppressed. The Pedagogy of the Oppressed provides the template for analyzing the resistance efforts and their impact on future efforts. Thus by utilizing Freire’s theory, I seek to illuminate the various ways in which Black Kentuckians used education to create revolution. The challenge was moving beyond a definition of revolution as a violent opposition, to recognizing acts of non-violence as also revolutionary. In these cases, revolution included recognizing and identifying the forms of oppression, establishing a response, acting to implement an alternative that includes their self-determination, and unravels the system of oppression.

Research Organization: My dissertation is divided into following areas: Introduction Chapter 1: How Free? Chapter 2: A Theoretical Approach to Resistance Chapter 3: Black Resistance to Declining Opportunity for Equal Schooling in Kentucky Chapter 4: Strategies of Resistance Chapter 5: Conclusion The Introduction provided a summary of education in the South. The growth of public and private schools in South was greatly influenced by the drive and desire of Blacks for education.26 The results of schooling for Blacks also resulted in legislators addressing the need for the education of Whites. As a widely debated topic, the nature of schooling for both Blacks and Whites was an area of concern for both northern and southern Americans. Because schools

26 James Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 12.

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were directly related to status and began serving as a catalyst for Black Americans’ economic and social equality, they were controlled. Chapter 1 provides an overview of schooling for African Americans in Kentucky. The question of equality in education did not begin in 1954, with the Brown v. Board of Education decision; it began with the inception of schooling for African Americans. This chapter illustrates that after the Civil War, equality through education was a central theme for Blacks, especially in Kentucky. Therefore, as moments in history unfolded, Blacks who had been able to establish educational communities tried to hold onto what they had already established and/or demand similar resources and opportunities. It is within these demands that Blacks created systems of resistance. These forms of resistance were in most cases reactions to the white supremacist and racist structure that intended to deny their educational opportunities. Kentucky politics and policy instituted much of this inequity. Chapter 2 summarizes the efforts of Kentucky African Americans to resist educational segregation, 1865-1910. This chapter explores various organized resistance efforts of Blacks, such as those exhibited by the Kentucky Colored State Teachers’ Association, Berea College Black alumnus, and such Louisville churches as Fifth Street Baptist Church and Lexington’s First Street Baptist Church and Pleasant Green Baptist Church. Within this chapter, I explore the evolution of Kentucky Colored State Teachers’ Association (KCSTA) advocacy group in relation to educational segregation. Specifically tracing how the KCSTA’s efforts included the founding of today’s Kentucky State University (1887), a public educational institution for Blacks. The other example of resistance efforts this chapter explores are those exhibited by those responding to the Berea College segregation of 1904. I highlight in this chapter the many ways Black alumnus and friends of the college attempted to obstruct the impending segregation of Berea College. Additionally, Chapter 2 illuminates’ the specific resistance of African American individuals, who through various social and religious organizations, contributed to the resistance of educational segregation in Kentucky. Chapter 3 is the philosophical analysis of African American resistance in Kentucky. The resistance efforts brought new educational policy, institutions, legislation and organizations. The possibility of interracial schools and equality after the Civil War was not fantasy or even unattainable. In fact there was an example of a private institution in the South who proceeded in

17

the interracial education experiment (Berea Institute 1855).27 The creation of mixed schooling opportunities in the private sector provided promising models for public education. The models continued until the re-emergence of powerful white supremacists, which succeeded in returning the status of Blacks to conditions similar to the former enslavement period. The progress of Blacks in schooling and the possibility of equality were challenged on all levels. During the periods of 1874-1904, a legal and social battle took place to identify how equality may be achieved through education.28 African Americans realized that there were no guarantees to accessing and maintaining schools. Throughout the state, funds were garnered to support public schools, but priority was not to improve public schools for Blacks or the educational condition of Blacks. It is within this context that African Americans resisted their potential educational demise, by advocating for new or other opportunities. These opportunities included new legislation, funding sources, strategic plans and institutions. Some of Kentucky’s “resistance” institutions include today’s Lincoln Institute and the Kentucky State University. These institutions are just two of the fascinating testimonies of the strength, courage and the efforts of African Americans in Kentucky. Chapter 4 The opposition of Blacks to separate but equal doctrine that led to integration is well documented and celebrated. In addition, the scholarship is growing that describes the reaction and resistance of Blacks to desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. The research suggests that African Americans were active and ever present in every aspect of the discourse on education for Blacks. The behaviors of the freedmen that were recorded prior to revisionist history lead to misleading views of Blacks and their contributions to society. The contemporary view of Black participation in the building of U.S. policies is increasingly being uncovered. As researchers establish that there were very few if any areas where African Americans were not involved, we will better understand that the area of education was no exception. As historians deconstruct the many ways African Americans contributed to their own experience, we must pay closer attention to the period after the Civil War (1865) and the Jim Crow Era (1886-1950) to expose the educational activities of Blacks. Thus far, findings

27 David Nelson, “Experiment in Interracial Education at Berea College,” Journal of Negro History 59 (January 1974): 13. See also Leon Litwack, North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961), 113-141. Litwack offers examples of the diversity in schooling for blacks, and also reviews the impact that Northern and Free states “mixed” schools had on Southern states. 28 This period signifies the shifts in KY educational history where school segregation was solidified through laws, including the Day Law in 1904. 18

have confirmed that after the Civil War, African Americans made gains economically and politically, but also educational gains after the Civil War in comparison to their previous state of enslavement. This period is especially important in Kentucky educational history as the period of 1865 -1910 capture the many changes from the possibilities of mixed schools to the end of those possibilities with the confirmation of school segregation. The challenge for Blacks would relate to their ability to retain these gains under conditions of violence and white supremacy in the United States.29 The gains made during this reconstructive period were treasured by Blacks, and are the basis for some of today’s discussions pertaining to educational equality. Chapter 5 will provide an analytical examination of educational resistance efforts in Kentucky. The year 2004, marked the 50th Anniversary of Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education legislation which ended legalized school segregation in the United States. As we celebrated the end of this malicious period in U.S. history, it is befitting to reflect on the question of how educational segregation happened. This dissertation utilizes Kentucky’s experience with the segregation process to articulate new and strengthen old arguments. As the South rebuilt, Kentucky’s African American residents challenged the status quo. In their efforts, they established new institutions, and tested policies. As a group and as individuals, African Americans in Kentucky were not willing to allow their educational efforts to be dismantled. They did not always agree on the means for protecting their efforts, but they did not idly sit by and watch either. There have been many times throughout history when Blacks resisted their condition. As within many southern states, Kentucky’s African American acts of resistance included insurrections and achieving literacy. The tradition of resistance did not end with slavery. The condition of freedom created new obstacles for African Americans, and similar techniques of resistance were employed to insure their racial uplift. African American Kentuckians were not completely protected by their state laws and had to overcome new obstacles as freed persons. Their triumphs forged the path for some of the progress in race relations we enjoy today. The events of the period of 1865-1910, served as foundation for future historical moments; it is through the revisiting of these events, that we can truly appreciate or understand the strides made today. More than anything else, this dissertation

29 V.P. Franklin, Black Self-Determination: A Cultural History of African-American Resistance (Brooklyn: Lawrence Hill Books, 1984). See also Leon Litwack, How Free is Free: The Long Death of Jim Crow (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), 13-18. 19

seeks to remind scholars of the value of the African American educational experience. The depictions of Blacks in history have sometimes been disempowering, but through such examples found in the Kentucky African American experience we gain other views of the many contributions to educational history. Education became such an important privilege in the lives of those who could access it, that it is highly unlikely that African Americans were not actively engaged in protecting it. The period before the ending of Reconstruction allowed for several educational policies that favored education for African Americans. These educational strides perhaps provided a level of comfort for those proponents of education for African Americans. The progress was to be short-lived in terms of equal education, but just as during the period of enslavement, Blacks resisted the policies and efforts, and altered their course. From this resistance many new educational opportunities were afforded, such as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Although, they are not the only outcomes from the resistance, their success summarizes the efforts of African Americans to resist efforts to unravel their educational opportunity. This dissertation is dedicated to highlighting the contributions of Kentucky’s African American residents in resisting educational segregation, 1865-1910.

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CHAPTER 1 HOW FREE?

This dissertation focuses on African American responses to the segregation of public and private education in Kentucky, 1865-1910. This dissertation relies upon historical scholarship and philosophical underpinnings to explore conflicts that Blacks faced during the process of segregating schools. The introduction of such prominent research as David Cecelski’s Along Freedom Road Hyde County, North Carolina and the Fate of Black Schools in the South, shifts the attention from white protests against desegregation to Black responses against desegregation in their Hyde County school system as a key to Black advancement.30 The type of resistance described in Cecelski’s book is often not the focal point of historical narratives about Black people’s quest for equality in , but nonetheless it is an authentic aspect of their journey. Cecelski’s Along Freedom Road, illuminates several questions about the nature of schooling for Blacks, and whether there were Black communities resistant to desegregation. Perhaps more importantly, Cecelski’s work illuminates the perceptions that either desegregation was worse than Blacks’ current condition or the circumstances of segregation for Blacks outweighed their impression of equality with whites. These series of questions shaped the formation of this research for several reasons. First, Cecelski’s research implies that African Americans were organized and utilized networks to resist any unfavorable interference in their school systems. Why resist something necessary in rectifying the unconstitutional “separate but equal” doctrine that had been the law of the land? Second, in what ways did Blacks create exceptional outcomes out of the resources that they had acquired; Third, were those resources more important because Blacks had fought for them or because the power structure provided the resources? This series of questions led to the final query, if some Black people resisted desegregation in the 1950’s what efforts were put forward to resist segregation in its earlier implementation? This research will record the ways in which African Americans resisted educational segregation in Kentucky, 1865-1910.

30 See David Cecelski, Along Freedom Road Hyde County, North Carolina and the Fate of Black Schools in the South (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994), 15; W.E.B. Dubois, “Does the Negro Need Separate Schools?,” Journal of Negro Education 4, no. 3 (July 1935): 328-335. 21

The period of racial segregation in American society is called the Jim Crow Era. This period falls between Reconstruction (1865-1877) and Desegregation (1950-1970), and after the Redeemer/Redemptive (1877-1890) periods, respectively. These periods are significant for this research because they signify the ending of the enslavement of Blacks and the Civil War (1865), and the ushering in of a new social order for Blacks that included citizenship, education, and economic opportunities. Education became an important component for the introduction of Blacks into society as free citizens. The Black desire for education also helped to improve and create schooling for whites. According to such scholars as James Anderson in The Education of Blacks in the South, the emancipation of enslaved Blacks combined with the assistance of philanthropists and organizations were essential to the evolution of Southern private and public schooling.31 Within these educational efforts the contributions and changes included many different efforts like the concept of superintendents, federal and local contributions to education, and mixed or interracial schooling. Some individuals, such as abolitionist John G. Fee the founder of Kentucky’s Berea College (1859), established the interracial educational experiment as an opportunity for exploring equality and facilitating Black people’s entry into the new social order. However, as the progressed, several roadblocks stopped this process and other opportunities for equality. One such roadblock is characterized by the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) case which ruled that the blanket of “separate but equal” facilities found throughout the United States were constitutional under U.S. law.32 The opportunity for equity and equality in education later re-appeared with the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. Thus it took almost sixty years for the U.S. Supreme Court to (re-)address the notion of equality in education. During these sixty years, the emphasis for many Blacks was placed on accessing education. With the solidification of separate but equal as a reality in American education, I pondered the following question, did Blacks try to resist the impending segregation that they were about to face? As many civil rights leaders celebrated the fifty year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court desegregation decision, scholar Gary Orfield reported that even with great strides

31 For an overview of the many contributions and experiences of Blacks’ quest to obtain education in the South see James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988). 32 Rayford Logan, “The United States Supreme Court and the Segregation Issue,” The Annals of the American Academy 304, no.1 (March 1956): 32. 22

in educational equality we may in fact be in the process of reverting to de facto segregation.33 As Black activists collaborate to find solutions to these troubling findings, they are part of a tradition of resistance whose efforts led to a glimpse of equal educational access and equity. Each state had to grapple with various forms of Black resistance. This dissertation continues with an overview of public and private education in Kentucky. The concept of private and public schooling existed prior to the Civil War. In the South, schooling prior to the Civil War was primarily for the wealthy, white, and male. Limited private educational opportunities were more abundant in urban and heavily populated areas. Additionally, urban areas offered more support for publically funded schools.34 After the Civil War, schooling dramatically changed in the former slave states. Schooling received many sponsors as a result of the freedom of slaves. The entry of the freedmen/women complicated the already struggling southern public and quasi-public school systems. The complications were not only fiscal in nature, but the effect of schooling had on their social status. After the Civil War, the interdependence of Blacks and whites is demonstrated throughout the development of school systems. Initially, instances of white & Black philanthropist efforts established rudimentary schooling opportunity. According to James Anderson, the network of diverse contributors is what provided the foundation. These contributions were in such forms as money, workforce, and students. In essence, many schools formed immediately after the Civil War had some form of interracial interdependence. By the end of Reconstruction, the interdependence that Blacks and whites had experienced became more strained, as segregation moved from a social to legalized norm. In The Strange Career of Jim Crow, historian C. Vann Woodward describes the relationship between the enslaved and their white masters as integrated. Those who were free or quasi-free experienced a variation of segregation.35 Therefore, when the Civil War ended segregation was not immediate. The transition from the periods of Reconstruction to Jim Crow changed race relations in the United States. The opportunity to experiment with interracial public schools was

33 Gary Orfield, “Schools More Separate: Consequences of a Decade of Resegregation”, The Civil Rights Project, http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/deseg/separate_schools01.php (accessed September 25, 2009). 34 Richard Altenbaugh, The American People and Their Education: A Social History (Upper Saddle River: , 2003), 88. 35 For an extensive description of the multifaceted connections and relationships between Blacks and whites in the South prior to Jim Crow and a summary about segregation as a relatively new phenomenon and not the normal experience of whites and Blacks in the South see C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow: A Commemorative Edition with William S. McFeely (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). 23

short-lived in particularly in the South. States like Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama introduced various legislative efforts against interracial/mixed schooling.36 Other unsuccessful movements toward interracial public education included the Civil Rights Law of 1875, when finally passed, “one of its most important provisions the call for desegregation of public schools had been deleted.”37 In 1883 the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the 1875 Civil Rights Law passed by the Radical Congress was unconstitutional.38 Thus a two-tiered system of separate schools for whites and Blacks was the most feasible alternative to none or limited schooling for Blacks. The experience of segregated schools was limiting by the very nature of segregation which in many cases included separate and less funding sources for Blacks, a limited supply of teachers, and differences in upkeep of buildings/schoolhouses. Despite the obstacles placed before them, Blacks took advantage of schooling and in many cases fought to maintain and improve their schooling experience. This dissertation’s focus includes the exploration of the options available to Blacks during the years of 1865-1910 in the state of Kentucky and their efforts to resist the effects of educational segregation. Their resistance efforts were just as complex as the schooling options available for Black Kentuckians. The history of Kentucky is situated in the national context. Albeit many outsiders do not immediately connect the rich traditions, folklore, prominent authors, and historic figures of this border state, it serves as a gateway to American history. For example, perhaps one of the most recognizable periods of American History is named after a Louisville livery stable worker named Jim Crow, who was imitated by a white stage performer Thomas Rice. From this mockery developed the infamous minstrel shows, and the term Jim Crow later became associated with conditions of imposed economic, social, political and educational segregation of Blacks in U.S. History. 39 Author Harriet Beecher Stowe, almost exclusively used Kentucky slave experiences as the backdrop for her famous book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black History attended Kentucky’s interracial educational institution now known as Berea College. Educationally, Kentucky was one of the few slave holding states that did not “expressly prohibit” the literacy of Blacks, had some variation of quasi- public schooling, and is home to an

36 Truman Pierce, White and Negro Schools: An Analysis of Biracial Education (Englewood Cliff: Prentice Hall, 1955), 42 37 , Reconstruction: After the Civil War (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), 201. 38 L.E. Murphy, “The Civil Rights Law of 1875,” The Journal of Negro History 12, no. 2 (April 1927): 125. 39 Clayton E. Jewett and John O. Allen, Slavery in the South: A State by State History (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2004), 110-111. 24

interracial educational institution founded prior to 1865. Kentucky was unique because of its historical contributions, but especially in relationship to school formations for Blacks. The process of educational segregation began at the end of the Reconstruction Era. Reconstruction signified opportunities for Blacks and constraints on white southern native rule. Although Reconstruction lasted approximately twelve years (1865- 1877), great attempts to empower Blacks were made. The Reconstruction Era facilitated educational experimentation and also created rigid lines of segregation. This era was both an example of the possibility of equality, and a reminder of a difficult reality. Despite the positive efforts of people in the Reconstruction Era, other southern loyalist and their northern allies undermined these gains. Conservative forces in southern states gradually began to reassert white supremacy. The period that preceded Jim Crow is coined as the Redeemer/Redemption period (1877-1890).40 This period is characterized by the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South and rise of state lawmakers who unraveled gains made by Blacks. Redeemers, identified as “self-styled saviors of the South,” resorted to questionable practices as undermining political efforts of Reconstruction.41 The Redeemer/Redemption period is considered to have ushered in the Jim Crow Era, and ended Reconstruction (1865-1877).42 This era referred to as Jim Crow is characterized by the successful efforts of the Redeemer/Redemption Era to nullify Black voting rights in many former slave states. Through the successful disenfranchisement of Blacks, Whites effectively limited Black participation in civic and political life. Jim Crow Era (1890-1950’s), signified legalized segregation through the “separate but equal” doctrine of Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896). The complexity of the Era’s forced segregation in every aspect of Black and white life from birth to the grave is documented in historical scholarship.43 The edited historical analysis Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South summarizes that the constraints of segregation also inadvertently facilitated the creation of Black social, economic, and spiritual

40 , A Short History of Reconstruction: 1863-1877 (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988), 587-601. 41 John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War (Chicago: The University of Chicago, 1961), 197. 42 Ibid. 43 Leon Litwack, How Free is Free: The Long Death of Jim Crow (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 2009), 5- 6. 25

networks.44 In the end the system of segregation created dual systems including separate systems of education, one for whites and the other for Blacks. The crisis of educational segregation that was experienced during Jim Crow sometimes overshadows the movement toward segregation. Denying equitable and equal access to Blacks derailed efforts of Blacks to participate as full citizens. Even before the Civil War had ended, Blacks tried to position themselves for full participation as free persons through education. The ending of the Civil War required an answer to the Negro question, what to do with four million formerly enslaved Blacks. Schooling served as an appropriate response to the question. The role of education not only became an exercise in knowledge transmittal, but also as a means for equality. Many Blacks realized that the commodity of education provided leverage in a society where education was not universally available even to whites. Coupled with this new advantage and their political and economic power, the efforts of the formerly enslaved became a significant venture. The goal of equality may not have been the initial purpose of southern African American endeavors, but it was a conversation among many politicians, activists, and educators. When it became clear that educational opportunity for Blacks could facilitate interracial equality, opponents and so-called sympathizers sought to stop efforts of social and educational equality until the 1950s. The battle for segregation was ongoing and relentless. Even after Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), the efforts to enforce segregation did not end. For instance in 1904, a law to segregate Blacks and whites in private higher education targeted at Kentucky’s only interracial educational institution successfully segregated the educational institution.45 Black responses to the segregation of Berea College, is one topic that this dissertation will analyze. Additionally, several examples of resistance efforts in Kentucky will be explored. Southern Blacks engaged in resistance efforts to stop segregation. Institutions included in this study represent elementary, secondary, and higher education. By exploring the history of schooling for Blacks in Kentucky, from 1865 to the enforcement of the 1904 Day Law, this research will illuminate the ways Blacks resisted educational segregation. Kentucky, a state that

44 William H. Chafe, Raymond Gaines and Robert Korstad et. al, editors, Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South (New York: New Press, 2001), 89-91. 45 Scott Blakeman, “Night Comes to Berea College: The Day Law and The African-American Reaction,” Filson Club Quarterly 70, no. 1, (January 1996):1. 26

has extensive opportunity for research, offers another perspective on the resistance activities of African Americans after the Civil War. Early educational systems in the United States created different opportunities for students. The experience of schooling for whites varied depended upon social class. Additionally the types of schools varied depended on region, rural or urban and purpose.46 For Blacks, access to education in many slave-holding states was legally prohibited by the 1830’s due to concerns of increasing slave insurrections and fear that literacy would lead to resistance.47 Therefore, before the Civil War variations in literacy for Blacks depended on their social status of free or enslaved, and on both legal and social norms of the region.48 The prohibition of education for Blacks during this time was enforced through slave codes in an attempt to curtail the insurrections and other forms of resistance in which enslaved and free Blacks were participants and leaders. These codes were also an attempt to control the literacy of the slaves and free Blacks, acquisition of land and skills, participation in the political process, intermarriage, or other experiences that could lead Blacks to overthrow the system.49 After the Civil War, the education of African Americans evolved into both private and public schooling options such as through the Freedmen’s Bureau and northern benevolent societies.50 The arrival of northern benevolent organizations in the South provided models of northern education. Prior to the Civil War, the educational experience of free Blacks in the North, provided examples for both interracial/mixed and race/ethnic-specific schools for the South. For example, the “Oneida Institute enrolled six Blacks in 1836, fourteen over the years of its existence and in 1834, the Noyes Academy in Canaan, registered at least fourteen Black

46 Carl F. Kaestle, Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society 1780-1860 (New York: Hill and Wang Publishers, 1983), 3-8, 15. 47 John Kleber ed., The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 285, See also J. Blaine Hudson, “The Establishment of Louisville Education: A Case Study in Racial Conflict and Compromise,” Journal of Negro Education 64, no. 2 (1995) and Janet Duitsman Cornelius, When I Can Read My Title Clear: Literacy, Slavery, and Religion in the Antebellum South (Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1991). 48 Truman Pierce, White and Negro Schools: An Analysis of Biracial Education (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1955), 30. 49 John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961), 48- 49. 50 William Preston Vaughn, Schools for All: The Blacks & Public Education in the South, 1865-1877 (Lexington: Press, 1974), xvi. See also Jacqueline Jones, Soldiers of Light of Love: Northern Teachers and Georgia Blacks, 1865-1873 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1980). 27

students, one of them female.”51 Before emancipation, Blacks in most Southern communities had none or very limited access to schooling. Schooling may have existed, but structurally the purposes and benefits differed from schooling for elite whites. For example, clandestine schools, Sabbath schools, and other forms of educational resistance (such as tutoring) provided literacy of the enslaved despite the consequences.52 Thomas D. Moore’s Southern Slavery and the Law: 1619-1860, explains that the laws “were more symbolic than significant” in their ability to control enslaved and free Blacks.53 In addition, the want for education also encouraged Blacks to resist their condition through legal battles. One such example was in the 1847 Sarah Roberts vs. Boston case, which challenged school segregation in the northern city of Boston.54 By 1865, the importance of literacy and schooling was established in Black communities. Union soldiers stumbled upon examples of these schools in the South. The Mary Peake School in Virginia was established prior to the end of the Civil War. This school was established before legalized schooling for African Americans in Virginia, and is one of many examples of the ability of African Americans to organize, create, and access schooling.55 Such instances also identify the value that many African Americans placed on education. The value of education in the Black experience was tested as white sentiment against Blacks re-gained enough visibility and power to stop African American educational progress. Such tests involved obstruction, included terrorizing of participants in schooling for Blacks, and funding limitations for Black schooling. As the South was rebuilt, the escalating question of what to do with almost four million formerly enslaved Blacks surfaced. This dilemma was coined as the Negro question.56 The Negro question included concerns of how to include the formerly enslaved Blacks in the fabric of the United States as free persons. Blacks answered the question and utilized literacy and

51 James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community, and Protest among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 215. 52 Ralph Erickson, “The Laws of Ignorance Designed to Keep Slaves Illiterate and Powerless,” Education 118, no. 2, (1997): 206. 53 Thomas D. Morris, Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 347; Janet Duitsman Cornelius, When I Can Read My Title Clear: Literacy, Slavery, and Religion in the Antebellum South (Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 1991). 54 Richard Altenbaugh, The American People and their Education A Social History (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003), 97. 55 James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 7. See also Heather Andrea Williams, Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2005). 56 Barbara J. Fields, “The Origins of the South and the Negro Question,” Journal of Southern History 67, (2001). 28

schooling as their tools of liberation.57 Inadvertently, Black efforts to obtain schooling assisted in the rise of universal education in the South. According to scholar James Anderson’s research, the success of schooling for Blacks, contributed to the idea of universal education in southern state’s constitutional law.58 Author Noralee Frankel in “Breaking Chains 1860-1880,” summarizes accounts of African Americans supporting and funding schools after emancipation as significant. However, the assistance of Northern whites through philanthropic organizations and the Federal Freedmen’s Bureau also proved necessary to create long-standing institutions of education.59 Some of these institutions for Blacks that were founded in the period 1865-1910, later became designated as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Today, there are over 100 institutions dedicated to the education of Blacks, Kentucky is home to one, Kentucky State University.60 The HBCU was a result of segregation and efforts of Blacks and whites to ensure education of Blacks. These institutions’ early beginnings provide examples of Blacks and white sympathizers attempts to achieve equality through interracial education settings. The early institutions for Blacks were experiments where such schooling elements as white and Black teachers, funding sources, and pupils existed. The implications of these efforts also provide findings that interracial/mixed schools were occurring in different forms and were possible prior to the 1950’s desegregation legislation. Interracial schooling during Reconstruction is believed to have met several economic and social needs. One example includes the Berea Literary Institute in Kentucky (Berea College), which sought to educate poor Appalachian whites and formerly enslaved Blacks.61 There were many responses to this type of interaction, which included resistance and acceptance. Both Black and whites had opinions regarding schooling for Blacks that sometimes evoked a spirit of racism, submissiveness, and confusion. The desire to undermine schooling for Blacks by destroying efforts of teachers, decreasing school funding, and eradicating the possibility of interracial classrooms, affected the Black community. The South

57 Eric Foner, Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction (New York: Random House, 2005), 88- 89. 58 James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 19. 59 Noralee Frankel, “Breaking the Chains 1860-1880” in Robin D. G. Kelley and Earl Lewis (eds.) To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 243. 60 A.L. Evans, A.M. Evans and V. Evans, “Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” Education 123, no. 1 (2002): 3. 61 David Nelson, “Experiment in Interracial Education at Berea College, 1858-1908,” Journal of Negro History 59, no.1 (January 1974): 13-19. 29

was the main stage for this discussion during this period in U.S. history, and later for intense and violent struggles for desegregation and integration during the Civil Rights period. Black desire for education shaped the development of schools in the United States. Although, segregation policies were found in other parts of the United States, the South will forever have the legacy of Jim Crow and thus the full effects of segregated schools.62 The changes in the South after the Civil War (1865-1876), appeared to be moving southerners towards goals of equality. By the early 1900s, the state governments of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and the district government of D.C. were clear on their school segregation educational policy. Although most states implemented separate school systems for Blacks and whites, Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama attempted to host interracial schools. These states were unsuccessful in maintaining their mixed race schools after Reconstruction, but these efforts provide important insight about the possibility of interracial schools during that time.63 In the state of Kentucky, school laws that advanced segregation were passed in 1874 (respectively), and again in 1904.64 By the turn of the century, Kentucky and other states were in the midst of the Jim Crow segregation. The role of education as a means of “emancipation” for African Americans was stalled by the new “Redemptive” governmental efforts.65 Answering the earlier explained Negro question through education was no longer a prospect, because of the events after the 1877 Tilden-Hayes Presidential Compromise.66 This compromise facilitated the impetus for such events as the withdrawal of the Union troops, economic resources for southern coffers and the destabilization of Black social gains. The compromise also facilitated

62 Davison M. Douglas, Jim Crow Moves North: The Battle Over Northern School Segregation, 1865-1954 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 12- 62. See also Leon Litwack, How Free is Free: The Long Death of Jim Crow (Harvard University Press, Cambridge: 2009), 6. 63William Preston Vaughn, Schools for All: The Blacks & Public Education in the South, 1865- 1877 (Kentucky, 1974). The 1874 act was the final in a series of laws that provided a comprehensive approach to funding of Black schools, the 1904 Day Law made it illegal to educate Blacks and whites together in both public and/or private institutions. 64 Marion B. Lucas, A History of Blacks in Kentucky Volume 1 From Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891 (The Kentucky Historical Society, 1992), 254-255. 65 John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961), 222- 225. 66 William H. Chafe et.al (editors.) Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in Segregated South, (New York: New Press, 2001), xxv. 30

competition for precious resources. African Americans faced new challenges and struggles for equality in the “Redemptive” period (1877-1890) and their participation in government declined. The Commonwealth of Kentucky also faced similar challenges, although not federally ordered to undergo Reconstruction as a border state that remained in the Union; they did receive assistance from the Freedmen’s Bureau and private philanthropic organizations. Kentucky’s educational history is also a setting for Blacks seeking equality. Throughout the educational history of Kentucky, individuals grappled with questions about interracial education and segregation, thus making the Commonwealth a unique component in answering the Negro question. The following chapters of this dissertation summarize the rationale of Kentucky African Americans to resist educational segregation, 1865-1910. Beginning in chapter two an exploration of the various Black organized resistance efforts to segregation is provided. Specifically the resistance efforts this chapter explores relates to the theoretical framework known as the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire. I will highlight in chapter two, the many ways Blacks must work to manage and revolutionize their systems of oppression, in order to create radical change. Chapter three continues the historical analysis of African American resistance to educational segregation in Kentucky. The resistance efforts brought new educational policy, institutions, legislation and organizations. Resistance was a viable response to the daily onslaught of white supremacy blacks faced. Resistance through economic, educational, and political achievements challenged the perceptions of Black inferiority. However, successful resistance also shaped white supremacists opinion of Blacks and their societal roles. These negative opinions helped to diminish many successful models of interracial harmony with the re- emergence of powerful white supremacists at the end of Reconstruction. The emergence of power of white supremacist placed Blacks in a quasi-free condition, similar to conditions experienced during the period of enslavement. As a result, the progress of Blacks in day-to-day life including schooling and the possibility of equality were challenged on all levels.67 During the period of 1874-1904, a legal and social battle took place to identify how equality might be achieved through education. African Americans realized that there were no guarantees to accessing and maintaining schools. Therefore, African Americans observed what the state and local governments sought to provide was not adequate, as shall be shown.

67 Leon Litwack, How Free is Free: The Long Death of Jim Crow (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), 6. 31

Throughout Kentucky, funds were garnered to support public schools, but incomparable attention was given to public schools for Blacks. It is within this context that African Americans resisted their potential educational demise, by advocating for new or other opportunities. These opportunities included new legislation, funding sources, strategic plans and institutions. Some of Kentucky’s “resistance” institutions included Lincoln Institute and Kentucky State University. These institutions are just two of the fascinating testimonies of the strength, courage and efforts of African Americans in Kentucky. Also illuminated in the following chapters is the evolution of schooling in Kentucky, 1865-1910. The nature of this dissertation is based upon current scholarship and primary sources that reveals the conditions from which school segregation evolved and the actions of Blacks in responding to these circumstances. The process of school segregation took several years after the emancipation of the enslaved Africans, but not before its profound impact shaped schooling for both Blacks and whites. Before the emergence of legally segregated schools a foundation for schooling of Blacks was formed according to scholar James Anderson who describes the emancipation of enslaved Blacks, combined with the assistance of philanthropist organizations as essential to the evolution of private and public schooling in the southern region of the United States.68 This foundation allowed for a dual system of education in the U.S., and also ensured second class citizenship through limiting equal access. The idea of segregation in schooling was a product of the time, as segregation was an aspect of Black life from birth to death, especially after the Civil War. Although enslaved Blacks lived separate lives from whites, they were in much closer physical proximity then after slavery ended. The notion of segregation is far more than living proximity, but the reality that an individual was sub-human in both the law and social reality. Thus African Americans interacted with whites, and so forth, not as equals, but as “second class citizens.”69 So this chapter continues by conveying the account of how schools began their descent into the culture of segregation.

68 James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988). 69 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow: A Commemorative Edition with a new Afterword with William S. McFeely (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 12. 32

1.1 Establishing a Culture of Educational Segregation

In 1904, Kentucky Senator Carl Day from Breathitt County successfully established a bill to prohibit white and colored persons from attending the same school. This bill was passed and isolated the following behaviors as unlawful: “To maintain or operate any college, school or institution where persons of the white and negro races are both received as pupils for instruction…; That any instructor who shall teach in any school, college, or institution, where members of said two races are received as pupils for instruction, shall be guilty of operating and maintaining same and fined as provided in the first section hereof...”70 Failure for individuals and institutions to abide by this new law or the Day Law, as it is now commonly referred to, meant fines. The Day Law alluded to several important areas of discussion in educational history. The forced segregation of schools is commonly assumed to have happened immediately after the Civil War. Coincidently, the rationale for segregation was far more sinister than simply wanting to separate the races. One theoretical framework suggests that the Day Law and other segregationist philosophies were steeped in the belief that Blacks were inferior and therefore a need to keep the white race pure. According to segregation proponents, the education of Blacks and whites together not only led to the possibility of intermarriage but the inferiority of the academic experience.71 The Day Law (1904-1910) provided basis for the argument that school segregation was a gradual and legalistic process. Although this chapter is not dedicated to the Day Law, it is important to understand the dual nature of this chapter as it begins with the Day Law (1904) and travels in reverse chronological order. The rationale for beginning with most recent history first, ensures that the reader can gain an understanding of the gradual process of school segregation in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Day Law was not the first segregation decree, many states had formalized their segregation policy, perhaps what is so incredulous about the Law, is that it took root almost 40 years after the enslavement of Africans ends in the United States. By 1904, research suggests that there was not an abundance of interracial/mixed schooling in Kentucky or the South for that

70 Supreme Court of the United States, no. 12- October term, Berea College The Plaintiff in Error vs. The Commonwealth of Kentucky (November 9, 1908), Williams Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law, c. 1904-1910, RG 3.03, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 71 Herbert Hovenkamp, “Social Science & Segregation before Brown,” Critical White Studies: Looking behind the Mirror (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997): 201-208. 33

matter. States that may have had any outliers, had successfully developed laws to eradicate mixed schooling. For example, Tennessee’s Maryville College was the target of segregation laws in 1901.72 Other states like Florida continued to grapple with levels of segregation beyond school segregation by also legislating that schools had to have separate textbooks for Blacks and whites and that no white instructors could teach in Black institutions.73 One caveat is that Berea College, a private institution, boasts the title of one of the first interracial schools in the South.74 Berea College, was one of the major influences in Black education in Kentucky, and provided a resource of both Black and white educated persons to serve their communities during the period of Reconstruction. Although this institution provided future contributors to education in Kentucky, it is just one aspect of schooling in Kentucky. Think of the Berea College experience as a fragment of the spectrum of education in Kentucky. By 1904, there was a considerable increase in public schooling for both Blacks and whites in Kentucky. By the Day Law, school systems included schoolhouses, superintendent of schools, school commissioners, curriculum, and a dual system for whites and Blacks. A variation of public schools was established in many southern states before the Civil War.75 The systems resembled components of northern school ideology. Even with a foundation for public education, after the Civil War education was not as important as survival for many southerners.76 The systems of schooling in Kentucky were also affected by a series of events which include Emancipation and the ending of Reconstruction. Kentucky schooling is complex, but in many ways its evolution of schooling mimicked many other states. These developmental elements included a system with a State Superintendent, tax based, and private, public, rural and urban dynamics. In addition, in the early stages of Kentucky private schools and instances in public institutions, the quest for interracial education and educational equality, became one of the focal points for the state’s educational politics. Every southern state affected by “congressional reconstruction” had provided for through its new constitution, universal education for whites and

72 Jacqueline Burnside, “Lessons and Legacies: The Meaning of Berea’s 19th Century Interracial Education in the 21st Century, Slavery,” Abolition and Social Justice 1490-2007, www.slavery.amdigital.co.uk (accessed September 25, 2009). 73 Pauli Murray, State’s Laws on Race and Color; Studies in the Legal History of the South (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997), 82. 74 Berea College, formerly named Berea Institute, later evolved to provide college level courses. 75 Edgar Wallace Knight, Public Education in the South (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1922), 302. 76 Truman Pierce, White and Negro Schools: An Analysis of Biracial Education (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995), 39. Public education that had been established in some southern states was affected after the Civil War by loss of school funds, individuals dealing with poverty, legality issues, and the uncertainty of the times. 34

Blacks. This accomplishment was tied to the development of state’s constitutions under Reconstruction.77 A decade of Reconstruction provided an unimaginable amount of growth and opportunity for both whites and Blacks. The arrival of the end of Civil War (1865) introduced Black people en masse into systems of schooling. Schools were such a developing phenomenon, that Black and white pupils attending school together was not outlawed initially, but was against social norms. The newness of the situation provided a momentary opportunity for the interracial education experiment, “with the advent of systems of universal free education for all children came the issue of mixed schools.”78 The window of opportunity was one in which Blacks participated. Examples of efforts for these mixed schools included financial resources, teacher resources, and the attempt to develop mixed race classrooms. The five state governments that actually attempted interracial education failed or their efforts were short-lived. However, these efforts did generate a barrage of questions surrounding the viability of Blacks achieving equality through interracial or separate race education. A few Blacks did argue that the climate made interracial education impossible while others understood that separate would never be equal.79 Nevertheless, the close of the Reconstruction Era solidly disrupted the opportunity for true equality among Blacks and whites in schooling. In Kentucky, the sentiment of Reconstruction facilitated segregated schools.80 By 1904, the attacks on interracial education were complete in Kentucky. The efforts to dismantle education for Blacks were in many ways successful, but they were not without some opposition. This opposition, and other forms we will explore in future chapters help to inform these accounts of Black resistance. In the years prior to 1904, the formation of the school systems in Kentucky shaped the outcomes for the future struggle of desegregation.

77 John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction after the Civil War (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 107- 111. 78 Pierce, Truman; White and Negro Schools: An Analysis of Biracial Education (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995), 42. 79 Ibid., 48. Blacks were not as concerned with the development of mixed or interracial schools as much as they were to having access to education. The attempts were made to develop equal educational situations, but due to the sentiment segregated schools became the social norm. 80 The Commonwealth of Kentucky was not a state that was subject to Reconstruction terms since KY remained in the Union during the Civil War, although a slaveholding state. 35

1.2 Early Educational History of Kentucky The earliest recorded endeavor to utilize semi-public funding sources in Kentucky to form school system was in 1821. Unfortunately, this attempt which went all the way to Kentucky’s General Assembly was unsuccessful.81 The earliest governmental provision for supporting public schools statewide in Kentucky was through a “grant from the undivided surplus in the federal treasury” on February 16, 1838.82 Kentucky officials did not seem interested in a universal educational system, or compelled to implement uniformity. In fact the lack of formation facilitated no taxation revenue, standardized curriculum, teacher standards, or textbook uniformity. The earliest public attempt was decidedly administrative and not student- focused.83 Despite the primitive nature of the early public school system, Kentuckians participated in establishing and developing schools for their white citizens.84 Prior to the opportunity of public education in Kentucky, the wealthy could attend Academies, like those in the North. The academy system received some public funding in 1798 and “enacted the county land-grant law to apply to all existing counties and to new counties to be formed in the future. Under the terms of the act, a grant of 6,000 acres of public land was deemed sufficient to finance the establishment of a school and maintain it for a short time.”85 The statewide grant was a means to securing funding for public education, however, the funds were used for other purposes during the period 1838-1847 and left the newly established school system with inadequate resources. Since the General Assembly primarily provided for the administration and the distribution of the surplus funds, other revenue sources were needed. Through an act concerning the common school system, the federal provisions for public education additions were made with the implementation of a taxation system.86 The expansion of Pre-Civil War public education was slow and discouraging. However slow the process, there were some gains in enrollment and stronger development of the role of superintendent of public instruction.87 In 1847,

81 Thomas D. Clark, “Education,” in Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass, ed. John Klotter (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2000), 299. 82 R. B. Atwood, “Financing Schools for Negro Children from State School Funds in Kentucky,” The Journal of Negro Education 8, no. 4 (October 1939): 659-665. 83 Thomas D. Clark, “Education,” in Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass, ed. John Klotter (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2000), 301. 84 Thomas D. Clark, “Education,” in Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass, ed. John Klotter (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2000), 299. 85 Ibid., 300. 86 Hamlett Barksdale, History of Education in Kentucky (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1914). 87 Ibid. 36

Superintendent of Public Instruction Robert Jefferson Breckenridge reported common school attendance at 12,220 children in 174 districts, by 1859 common school attendance had increased to 155,772 in 4,516 districts. The common school attendance experienced great growth; white school aged children, in theory had a place to receive instruction.88 Common schools in the South did not always resemble their northern counterparts. Many factors shaped common schools depending on the region. Significantly, common schools were not always embraced by the general population. The common school development in many southern states was contingent on the economy, philosophical ideologies, and population. Philosophically, the argument to provide education for the masses was not only about slave literacy, but about maintaining the class system. In Pillars of the Republic, Carl F. Kaestle asserts schooling as a political and economic enterprise. He highlights the various arguments found during that time (1850s) by those with aristocratic leanings and conservatives. One such example Kaestle presents was from the De Bow’s Review (1856) which asserts “that although the state should provide some education for all whites, ‘beyond that it must educate the wealthy in order to maintain their position as members of the white, privileged class of our society’.”89 Although in the South, common school organizers had to respond to this and the sentiments of such beliefs. Thus the idea of common schools in the South did not immediately grow at a rate that was expected. Perhaps one of the most important roles in the advancement of the Kentucky public school system was the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In the early history of Kentucky public schooling from 1837-1865 there were eight Superintendents of Public Instruction. Their tenure provided the leadership for the evolution of a statewide public school system. These superintendents’ vision included the development of strong common schools, normal schools, state certification board, a taxation system, and many other important factors. First, the idea of statewide schooling had to gain support from various Kentuckians, therefore, the first superintendent of Kentucky public schools, James Bullock, worked to develop public interest. He reported that in all his travels he “witnessed few indications of hostility to the scheme; the discouraging symptoms were coldness, indifference, and ignorance of the subject…but their

88 Ibid., 12. 89 Carl F. Kaestle, Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society 1780-1860 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1983), 207. 37

prejudice was frequently changed into friendliness when they came to understand it.”90 Other problems that Superintendent Bullock reports in organizing the system include challenges with not having enough teachers, increasing the significance of the Office of Superintendent, and funding the schools. However, the issue of funding was a different dilemma. Although, funds were appropriated through the federal grant, this money could not support public education alone. The sixth SPI was Dr. Robert Jefferson Breckenridge (1847- 1853) of Louisville, KY. His efforts were considered to be visionary, with the introduction of a plan to develop a school fund. This plan included the incorporation of the taxation of Kentucky residents for the maintenance of a school fund.91 The establishment of a taxation system solely for the purpose of supporting the public school system was noteworthy. Once such issues as funding and oversight were firmly in place, the organization of the public system was addressed. Schools were generally governed through the support of local bodies. Commissioners assisted schools in accessing funding, meeting state educational requirements, and reporting school records. For the most part schools were left to the local level for implementation and resources. This model allowed for decentralized governance, it also contributed to disparities and inequalities in the school systems. Each superintendent of the Kentucky public schools assisted in the progression of the system. Under each superintendent, there were new additions to the structure of statewide schooling. Trial by fire can summarize the success of their efforts, as there were few educational models for Kentucky superintendents. Despite their efforts even fifteen years after its inception the public school system was still primitive and disjointed. The superintendent’s chore was not only to develop the system, but to encourage enthusiasm for the struggling systems. Public schooling efforts continued to grow until the beginning of the Civil War. From 1860-1865, school districts “to the number of seven hundred and twelve had been discontinued.”92 The turmoil preceding the war and after affected Kentucky’s teaching supply, school donations, and morale. The already struggling system was

90 John Kleber ed., The Encyclopedia of Louisville (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001), 471. See also Hamlett, Barksdale, History of Education in Kentucky (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1914). 91 Robert J. Breckenridge, Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the General Assembly of Kentucky for the year 1850 (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1850). 92 Zachariah Frederick Smith, The History of Kentucky: From Its Earliest Discovery and Settlement, to the Present Date ... Its Military Events and Achievements, and Biographic Mention of Its Historic Characters (Louisville: Courier-Journal Job Printing Company Publishers, 1886), 725, www.googlebooks.com (accessed September 21, 2009). 38

subject to the politics of the time. Similar to other border states in the Union, Kentucky’s future educational endeavors would have to wait. By 1880, Reconstruction had encouraged the strengthening of public education systems; as well as involving new participants in southern public educational history. Blacks no longer enslaved exited their bondage with aspirations of schooling and some white northerners and southerners were yearning to give it to them in addition to Black’s aims for self-determination. The next section examines the earliest educational efforts of Blacks in Kentucky, and alludes to the orchestration of education for Blacks.

1.3 Blacks and Schooling prior to the Civil War:

“The diffusion of knowledge and learning of men being essential to the preservation of liberty and free government, and the promotion of human virtue and happiness, it shall be the duty of the general assembly to establish within three years after the adoption of this constitution, and forever thereafter keep in existence, an efficient system of common schools throughout this commonwealth, which shall equally be open to all white children thereof,” was the first section of the education committees report that was submitted to the 1849 Kentucky Constitution Convention.93 Although this legislation did not make it into Kentucky’s constitution at that time, Blacks, free or enslaved, were excluded from early schooling efforts. Prior to the Civil War access to literacy and schooling for free Blacks and the enslaved, was generally through churches and private establishments. Yet a culture of learning was not unlikely, since the Commonwealth of Kentucky did not expressly prohibit Black access to literacy, like other states. African Americans were free to create educational opportunities through social and church organizations.94 Urban areas of Kentucky, like Louisville and Lexington, utilized enslaved Blacks in such roles as shopkeepers, skilled labor, and in households. These types of free labor positions afforded some Blacks access to literacy.95 Religious instruction was a primary source of literacy for African Americans. Interestingly, church functions were also sometimes the only places that

93 Thomas D. Clark, “Education,” in Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass, ed. John Klotter (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2000), 307. 94 Marion Lucas, A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760- 1891(Frankfort: The Kentucky Historical Society, 1992), 120-141. 95 Ibid., 140-141. 39

interaction between whites, free Blacks, and the enslaved were not considered suspicious. These religious interactions were occasional examples of “interracial education.” 96 Considering Louisville was the largest city in Kentucky it served as the site of the state’s largest Black school system. The earliest recorded organized schools were short-lived and often established by white abolitionists, as early as 1827 in Louisville, and 1839 in Lexington, KY. The first school established by Blacks was Louisville’s Fifth Street Baptist Church’s Adams’s School in 1841.97 The ending of the Civil War provided the conditions needed to create educational opportunities for Blacks. Although, some free Blacks in Kentucky were enrolled in private schools and had access to literacy before the end of the Civil War, the year 1865 also signified the possibility of universal education for all Blacks in Kentucky.98 Religious instruction coupled with the absence of laws prohibiting the education of Blacks ensured that at the very least some formal education for Blacks was established before the Civil War.99 Much of Kentucky’s early school history is connected to religious institutions. Coupled with some white denominations advocacy of Black literacy for humanitarian and religious reasons, and the desire of numerous slaves for self-improvement, religious institutions supported schools.100 However, according to Myrtle R. Phillips in The Origin, Development & Present Status of Secondary Education for Negroes in Kentucky, some church supported efforts were described as “predominately, un- organized, unsystematic, fragmented , elementary, haphazard, sporadic…”101 Initially schooling was limited for both Blacks and whites, due to economics, location, and in the case of Blacks, status as slave or free. According to my research, some of the earliest recorded institutions where Blacks received schooling were at the First African Baptist Church (Louisville), Pleasant Green Street Baptist (Lexington), Quinn Chapel (Louisville), St. Mark’s Episcopal Church (Louisville) and The Ladies Hall School, The Fourth Street School, and The Corrall Street School.102 Reverend

96 Marion B. Lucas, A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760- 1891(Frankfort: The Kentucky Historical Society, 1992), 120. 97 John Kleber ed., The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 258. 98 Marion B. Lucas, A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891 (Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1992). 99 Ibid. 100 Ibid,. 140. 101 Myrtle R. Phillips, "The Origin, Development, and Present Status of Public Secondary Education for Negroes in Kentucky," Journal of Negro Education (1932): 414-423. 102 Robert Peter, History of Fayette County City of Lexington: The Colored People of Lexington (Chicago: O. L. Baskin & Co. Historical Publishers, 1882), 475. See also John Kleber ed., The Encyclopedia of Louisville 40

Henry Adams one of the most notable Kentucky leaders began the operation of a Black school at First African Baptist Church in Louisville in 1841.103 The church organized schools were often short-lived, only a few are reported to have lasted through the Civil War in their original form. The Black struggle to access education included the acquisition of resources. Since the majority of Blacks were enslaved prior to the Civil War, and in most states not allowed to receive schooling, when the opportunity to obtain education existed there were not enough teachers to teach Blacks in schools. The social norms of the day exacerbated this challenge, as restrictions were placed upon Black interactions with whites, and especially white women. Prior to the Civil War, many of those Blacks who were “learned” were pastors or had been educated outside of the U.S. or in Northern enclaves of freedom. Thus the early connection of schools to religious institutions, was both out of necessity (a source of literate persons), and out of religious need (to save souls). Examples of Sunday school instruction were also provided by accounts of the former Kentucky slave Henry Bibb, who is reported to have convinced a white girl to hold Sunday school for the former slaves in his area. This school was later dismantled by white patrols.104 However, the changes in the status of Blacks from bondsman to free definitely impacted the number of schools needed in Kentucky. Meanwhile, the architects of Kentucky public education grappled with issues of how to build a system in rural and urban areas, after 1865 a new question arose about what to do with the Negro. The Negro question, as the issue of what to do with Black people during that period was referred to, now entered the Kentucky public school discourse. Challenges facing Blacks in accessing Kentucky public schools ranged from overt racism to ill-defined policies. African Americans experienced the positive residuals of the Thirteenth Amendment and the presence of the Freedmen’s Bureau after the Civil War.105

(Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001), 285; Marion B. Lucas, A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1790-1891 (Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1992). 103 J. Blaine Hudson, “The Establishment of Louisville Municipal College: A Case Study in Racial Conflict and Compromise,” The Journal of Negro Education 64, no. 2 (Spring 1995): 113. 104 Henry Bibb, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave (New York: 1850), 21, www.googlebooks.com (accessed September 21, 2009). 105 “Kentucky stubbornly refused to ratify the 13th Amendment. After it became part of the United States, slavery was legally abolished in Kentucky and the Legislature found it necessary to repeal the slave codes. Victor B. Howard, “The Struggle for Equal Education in Kentucky, 1866-1884,” The Journal of Negro Education, 46, no. 3 (Summer 1977), 305-328. See also George D. Wilson, A Century of Negro Education in Louisville, Kentucky (Louisville: University of Louisville Press, 1986), 19. 41

The earliest record of Kentucky providing any type of legislative policy for the schooling of Blacks was in 1866. This act, in addition to other things, provided that all revenue generated from the tax collection of Blacks would be set aside for the support of Black paupers, and go to the development of schools.106 The law was amended in 1867. One remarkable aspect relating to this process of collecting funds for Black schools was African American resistance to the tax. In part the legislation was unable to raise adequate funds through this taxation, because Blacks avoided paying it. Black’s refusal to pay taxes was in response to the funds also being used for both the Black pauper’s fund and the establishment of public schools.107 The taxation issue was one component of the dilemma of schooling for Blacks. The question of governance became central to the discussion. Additionally, public schools for Blacks struggled and were subject to violence from white mobs. Struggling for survival, Blacks continued to support their new schools more so than the state legislature.108 The Freedmen’s Bureau officials in the 1868 Circular No. 8 reported that despite the decrease in funds and difficulties, “The educational department will continue until such time as the State of Kentucky shall by law provide for the education of her people.”109 In 1869, another educational convention was held by Blacks. This convention called for petitioning “Congress for further appropriations and to petition the state legislature to make funds available.” 110 The convention was the sounding board for an important organizing tool that later served to “fight” on behalf of “Negro educational matters.”111 As the general challenges to the growing school system were overcome, the more specific challenge of educating Black and white students together had not yet been resolved. The evidence suggests that although Blacks had limited access to schooling in Kentucky, which included public and private opportunities, the developing social norms of segregation would prevail. In fact a controversy was brewing not about whether Blacks should be educated, but whether whites and Blacks could be educated together. Schooling for Blacks in Kentucky was

106 Kentucky General Assembly Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, passed at the adjourned session of 1865-1866 (Frankfort, 1866), 51; Victor B. Howard, “The Struggle for Equal Education in Kentucky, 1866-1884,” The Journal of Negro Education, 46, no. 3 (Summer 1977), 309-310. 107 Moses E. Lignon, “A History of Public Education in Kentucky,” Bulletin of the Bureau of School Service XIV, no. 4 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1942), 247. 108 Ibid. 109 Ibid., 22. 110 Ibid., 26. 111 Ibid., 28. 42

affected by the Civil Rights Act of 1875, because of the possible mixed schools clause.112 Superintendent H.A.M. Henderson articulated the sentiments of associated with the mixed schools clause, and education for Blacks as the earlier forms of the bill sought to enact. He argued that if the bill should become law with the provision “to place the whites and Blacks upon an equality in the public schools ‘that it would be a fatal blow’.”113 As educational opportunities for equal education dissipated, Blacks continued to utilize the system. As they challenged the legality of segregation, they also participated in the resources. By the end of 1881, the number of school districts reporting “colored schools” was one hundred and ten, and four hundred and nineteen school houses for “colored” use.114 These schools were distributed in both counties and cities, but more buildings were concentrated in counties. 115 The question of distribution of funds continued as resources grew. To complicate matters further, Superintendent of Instruction Pickett called for the equalization of school funds. Earlier (1868), Blacks resisted the taxation for Black schools citing whites were not taxed equally for maintaining their schools. The 1874 act repealed the earlier KY state legislation, but still did not equalize distribution. In 1882, the provisions were accepted by Kentuckians, “(1) To create one common school fund, to be distributed to white and colored school children in the same proportions; (2) school ages of colored children were fixed between six and twenty years, the same as for white children; (3) separate schools were to be maintained for white and colored children…” 116

The 1882 provision served to finally equalize educational funds in Kentucky, but could not fully equalize the Black and white experience. Working towards educational opportunity and equality was hard work for its proponents. Blacks toiled to gain all resources necessary for adequate schooling in Kentucky, but their system grew. Similar to schools for whites, the practice of a county commissioner was employed to provide local oversight. In 1884, county commissioners reported to the superintendent of public instruction concerning the conditions,

112 John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961), 201. 113 H.A.M. Henderson, Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, for the School Year Ending June 30, 1874 (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1874), 30-32. 114 Joseph Desha Pickett, Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, with Summaries of Statistics from the School-year Ending June 30th, 1881 to the School-year 1886 (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1886), 147. 115 Ibid., 26. 116 Moses E. Lignon, “A History of Public Education in Kentucky,” Bulletin of the Bureau of School Service, XIV, no. 4 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1942), 252. 43

progress and prospects of the colored common schools of Kentucky. The report shared a variety of observations about the ways in which Blacks embraced the common school. The reports varied from county to county, but some acknowledged the eagerness and commitment of Blacks to education. In addition, the reports overwhelmingly described the conditions of most county common schools lacking qualified teachers, school-houses, and other adequate resources.117 Interestingly, county commissioners’ troubling views were also unintentionally offered. For example, a Bath County commissioner shared “To a certain point, colored children learn very rapidly, after which, the labor is tedious, and advancement slow. Those with an admixture of white blood are most precocious, and reach higher attainment.”118 The 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court Ruling solidified the social segregation, by making it the law of the land. The reality is that before this legislation was enacted, segregation had already taken hold in Kentucky. The Commonwealth of Kentucky’s General Assembly had ruled in 1874 that new funding provisions for a separate system of education for Blacks should be developed. Then again in 1891, the Kentucky Courts ruled that there should be further provisions made for African American education. African Americans in Kentucky and across the country geared up to save what schooling structures they had and to push for what schooling they were legally entitled to receive. The school system for Blacks in Kentucky was based upon taxation and therefore, should theoretically have been equal. Unfortunately, like other states, Kentucky school systems were already financially struggling to maintain white schools, and now schools for Blacks would also suffer. In addition, African Americans were taxed and funding such services as schooling, but had limited or social access. Also, as a result of the social norms, African Americans were expected to pay taxes and support separate schools. Many Blacks resisted these measures, and opted to not pay taxes, or worked to develop schools. The structure of schools was governed by a superintendent of public schools. This superintendent oversaw both white and colored public schools. The issue of equity in funding was always a major aspect of protest. In the early development of colored schools, KY Superintendent Henderson, prescribed that funds should not

117 Ibid. 118 Joseph Desha Pickett, Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, with Summaries of Statistics from the School-year Ending June 30th, 1881 to the School-year, 1886 (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1886), 26. 44

be taken away from whites to pay for “colored” schools, instead the taxes from colored people should go to support their schools. Although this sentiment was addressed with the equalizing of funds, the division between Black and whites in society became more rigid. Despite the moral and fiscal implications of creating two educational systems, opposition to interracial educational grew, limiting educational opportunities for poor whites and Blacks.119 Providing schooling for Blacks was not part of the initial concern of the educational framers prior to antebellum, therefore exclusion of Blacks has left a mark on the system. The expulsion and lack of attention is visible in the evolution in Kentucky schooling. By tracing the development of schools for whites and Blacks in Kentucky, I uncovered the challenges, contradictions and areas of opportunity that were characteristic of these dual and competing school systems. By providing an overview of early recorded public schools and private schools, the role of the public schooling structures, and challenges of Black education provide the rationale for why there were resistance efforts to educational segregation in Kentucky. As a result, the development of two systems was a long and arduous process, in which Blacks had to be intentional and strategic about their opportunities. In the chapters that follow, the process in which these opportunities were secured is the focus. The next chapter embarks on the framework for defining the nature of Black resistance. In the next chapter, I will introduce The Pedagogy of the Oppressed as the basis for understanding the efforts of prominent Blacks and organizations who worked to resist educational segregation in Kentucky.

119 By opposing interracial education, two separate school systems had to be established and maintained. This separate but equal educational structure was costly. One school system would have not placed such a burden on the already limited resources of state and local government educational funds as two systems. Thus those who were with the least resources (poor whites) experienced the system much like Blacks, because they had limited educational opportunities. 45

CHAPTER 2:

A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING

RESISTANCE

“Son, after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I give my gun back in the Reconstruction.” – Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man120

With all of the advances in providing equal and equitable access to education in the 20th century, scholar Gary Orfield reported in 2001 that, “even with great strides in educational equality we may in fact be reverting to de facto segregation.”121 Troubling as these findings are, they have brought forth a cadre of questions for potential discussion about the nature of segregation. The segregating of whites and Blacks did not happen overnight. Life for Blacks and whites shifted from a variation of integrated and interdependent experiences to forced segregation through state and federal regulations, terrorism, and surrender.122 Initially after the Civil War, Blacks engaged in the process of freedom full-heartedly. Great gains were made for Blacks by and on the behalf of Blacks. The interdependent lifestyle that had been normative during slavery evolved to include Blacks in the political process and as prominent citizens of the community. Perhaps the greatest question of integration was at the educational level. Southern Black schools before the Civil War were rare, but the gates for educating Blacks opened as they were freed. In addition, education for whites was also limited. Seemingly, with these limitations, educational settings would have been ripe for the interracial experiment. The question of interracial or mixed schools was presented in many states after the Civil War, especially in relationship to the Civil Rights Act of 1875.123 The implications of mixed or

120 Leon Litwack, How Free is Free? The Long Death of Jim Crow (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), 7. 121 Gary Orfield, “Schools More Separate: Consequences of a Decade of Resegregation”, The Civil Rights Project, http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/deseg/separate_schools01.php (accessed September 25, 2009). 122 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow: A Commemorative Edition with William S. McFeely (New York: Oxford Press, 2000). Terrorism describes the efforts of such white supremacist groups as the and others who used violence to terrorize Blacks and sympathetic whites into submission. 123 Truman Pierce, White and Negro Schools: An Analysis of Biracial Education (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995); John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction after the Civil War (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994); H.A.M. Henderson, Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky for the School Year Ending June 30, 1874 (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1874). 46

interracial schooling include an opportunity to equalize public education funds and access. Unfortunately, the idea of comprehensive interracial schooling would have to wait for almost a generation. On the one hand being able to equally participate in schooling was appealing, but on the other hand there was doubt as to what participation would mean. Nevertheless, Black consensus regarded access to education as more important than being in schools with whites.124 The consequences of Black exclusion as whole and full persons from society would be a part of the U.S. fabric for generations to come. As a result of this systematic exclusion, access to schooling for Blacks can be viewed through the lens of resistance. For many, the history of schooling will always be an example of the legacy of resistance that Blacks embraced to procure access and justice. At the close of the Civil War, the education of Blacks may not have been at the forefront of most Americans minds, however, education like slavery beforehand, became a point of contention for Blacks in America. Upon arriving in some states during the Civil War, soldiers found Blacks being schooled in organized experiences.125 The not yet freed slaves were exercising their hope for freedom through this often consequence laden act of resistance, also known as schooling. The opportunity to learn in organized ways could be as dangerous as organizing an uprising because in most southern states it was illegal or against the social norm to teach enslaved and/or free Blacks to read or write.126 Learning to read or write for the slave and free Black was in and of itself a form of resistance. Reading or writing was associated with rebellions, uprisings, and the understanding of freedom. Resistance for the enslaved and free Black had become a way of life in the Western Hemisphere that would transcend even the institution of slavery. Resistance “as a way of life” disturbed the status quo and provided opportunities for Blacks to be radical transformers. However, it is important to note, resistance efforts were not always embraced by all or even the majority of Blacks. Resistance, although an alternative for

124Ibid., 42. 125 Heather Andrea Williams, Self-taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 39. 126 The legality of teaching enslaved or free Blacks to read in Southern states varied upon the state. Some states did not explicitly prohibit the behavior such as Kentucky, while other state/local governments created laws against the relationship between literacy and Blacks. In addition, the punishment for such infractions varied. see Heather Williams, Self-taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 216; Manning Marable and Leith Mullins, Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Reform, Resistance, and Renewal (Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, 2003), 41. 47

many Blacks throughout the Western Hemisphere due to their condition of enslavement, could not be assumed as a pervasive reaction. The alternative reaction of resistance was multifaceted and included calculated and intentional approaches from individuals and groups. The result of successful responses to resistance in the U.S., included the organized development of schools and educational resources, the lessening of the impact of segregation and the development of dual school systems which includes today’s Historically Black Colleges & Universities. Resistance efforts were diverse, ranging from calculated and indirect responses and/or organized actions to resist the white supremacist power structure. These actions of resistance were dangerous for the performers not only in the physical sense, but in relationship to limiting their fiscal and social opportunities. The balancing act of establishing and maintaining any semblance of school control for Blacks, while simultaneously experiencing the risk of losing any support because of their opposition, was a burgeoning colossal threat to educational opportunities for Blacks. The concept of resistance is complex. Many people have resisted oppression throughout history. Perhaps the most consistent group to systematically use resistance as a tool against oppression was the Africans in the Western Hemisphere. By enslaving Blacks, a system of oppression was created, in which Blacks were under domination by white supremacists.127 In other words, those who chose to enslave and benefit by the institutionalizing of humans in the U.S., created a system of exclusion that intentionally left out and devalued those of African ancestry. As a product of this behavior, the system of oppression was pervasive in Americans’ daily life, particularly in the Southern slave states. The unraveling of this system could be eradicated only through those who would and did challenge it. Resistance was the tool for liberation, without resistance there could be no liberation. Resistance for this writing is defined as any act, in which one resists.128 Resistance after enslavement challenges our notion of resistance as inextricably tied to violence, instead as historian Leon Litwack best captures

127 “When race emerged in human history, it formed a social structure (a racialized social system) that awarded systematic privileges to Europeans (the peoples who became “white”) over non-Europeans (the people who became ‘non-white’)”- see Eduardo Bonilla-Silva ed., “Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States,” Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Race and Ethnicity (Dubuque: McGraw- Hill, 2008), 176-179. 128 Oxford English Dictionary, http://www.oed.com/ (accessed September 21, 2009). “The act, on the part of persons, of resisting, opposing, or withstanding.” 48

resistance is “defined not so much by spectacular feats and insurrections as by day-to- day acts, employing various forms of expression, often subtle and individual.”129 The world of Black resistance is sometimes associated with slavery and Black ability to develop mechanisms of change. These mechanisms include the most complex and extreme, such as poisoning their masters, clandestine schools, to the simplistic such as slowing the pace of production.130 The efforts of Black resistance were often feared, such as in the cases of slave rebellions. The dichotomy of resistance involved both the individual and the group. In examples of U.S. enslaved resistance, these efforts did not stop once slavery ended. Instead, resistance built the foundation for fighting future societal inequality. After legalized slavery ended, the use of resistance remained necessary. However, violent forms of resistance became less necessary, while intellectual, social, religious, and economic forms of resistance became more sustainable. The tension which produced schools resembled the complex relationship with former masters and demands of equality. To summarize this tension I pose the following question, do the formerly enslaved Africans follow their own path of self-determination towards freedom, or do they adhere to the ubiquitous restraints of the white supremacist power structure? For some, developing their own path and thus upsetting the stability of the former system was their choice. Those who employed a framework of resistance worked to become architects of their own educational opportunity. There were several reasons why Blacks requested and demanded access to schooling after the Civil War. Scholars have summarized that the relationship between Blacks and schooling included hope for first-class citizenship, practical reasons, and liberation from their current condition, in other words “racial advancement.”131 Education for African Americans is inextricably tied to liberation, and the belief that power could be found through education. The act of obtaining schooling or educational opportunity can be considered an act of resistance. When considering this idea of resistance within the context of oppression, we must be aware of the ways in which literacy was used by the oppressor. In the complex world of antebellum slavery, literacy/education was used as a tool of resistance by enslaved Africans. Acquisition of information, forging documents for freedom, and galvanizing the masses, served

129 Leon Litwack, How Free is Free: The Long Death of Jim Crow (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), 6.

131 William H. Watkins, The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power in America, 1865-1954 (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001), 15. 49

as a few examples of how oppressed Blacks used their literacy. By white supremacists or the oppressor, literacy was used to Christianize and to create skilled slaves. These purposes were very different, and often conflicting. Many states regulated Blacks’ interactions with education. In some states local groups reinforced or enforced who could access informal or formal education. In fact schooling was seen as a gentlemen’s activity, out of reach for poor whites and former bondsmen.132 In essence, keeping literacy unattainable ensured an air of mystery around the educational process. Thus the mystique surrounding the educational process would have to be overcome by Blacks. The educational history of one former slave holding state in the Union, Kentucky, provides a canvass of opportunities to explore how resistance was performed. The mystification of formal schooling or literacy for Blacks was intentional. To create individuals who would not test their current condition, keeping the enslaved ignorant, is steeped in domination and control. Those who benefited from this system of oppression knew that educating a slave could lead to both physical and mental liberation. The elements of liberation also include consciousness of oppression and agent and target relationships. Oppression serves as an impetus for participation in resistance efforts. In the development of educational segregation, oppression was performed by the agent on the target in a variety of ways.133 These performances during the early formation of schooling for Blacks were acted out through a complex network of philanthropic organizations, governmental agencies, racist propagandist, missionaries, and advocates for a “corporate-industrial state.”134 This atmosphere was one in which many southern Blacks encountered as they were emancipated. In addition, enslaved Blacks contributed to this country’s prosperity because of their status as free labor. To be sure, education was one way that Blacks were going to achieve liberation. Schooling was a means to facilitating their self-determination and the development of a vision outside the parameters of the white supremacists, missionaries, philanthropists, and capitalists of that time. The motives for education of Blacks or Black education were competing and conflicting. These motivations and visions clashed all over the South, the state of Kentucky provided no exception.

132 Horace Mann Bond, “Education in the South,” Journal of Educational Sociology 12, no. 5(January 1939): 264- 274. 133 Maurianne Adams, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An Anthology on Racism, Sexism, Anti-Semitism, Heterosexism, Classism and Ableism (New York: Routledge, 2000), 5-8. This introduction provides a brief discussion about the types of oppression and their role in the human experience. 134 William H. Watkins, The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power in America, 1865-1954 (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001), 3-23. 50

2.1 A Theoretical Framework of Oppression

A system of oppression is facilitated through many mechanisms. The role of education in facilitating, and maintaining oppression in early Black educational formation is tied to many forces. One example of such educational forces relies on the ideology that education was inextricably connected to state politics and the labor market.135 For example, the argument of liberal education vs. industrial education entered the debate. Educational history illuminates that industrial education fulfilled the objectives of those who wanted an orderly South. Industrial education although practical, was often associated with “accommodationism” or a mentality to “accept the world as it was.” 136 The truth is that Blacks acquired their education through a combination of accommodation and resistance. The gift of education from benevolent societies came with sacrifice. This expense was created and supported by a fully developed system of oppression. Systems of oppression are complicated phenomenon, but basic details include an oppressor/agent who has unearned power over the target (oppressed). These agents are able to form and maintain a system based upon their own needs without accepting input or concern of the target group. As a result of excluding the target group, exclusion emerges and the system of oppression is strengthened. In the system of oppression against Blacks, white supremacists created not only exclusionary systems they also instituted a system that placed one group superior (whites) to another (Blacks).137 In the United States, the exclusion of Africans (Blacks) from life as full and whole humans is the very way in which this system of oppression was able to be formed and evolve. The system which excluded Blacks for over two hundred years, had established social norms that were legalized and de facto. The freeing or releasing of four million plus people from human bondage did not mean that the ideology and turpitude that allowed for over 200 years of slavery dissipated. The ideology followed and continued well into freedom movements. These details provide examples of the factors that shaped education for Blacks. In addition, to understand why educational resistance became necessary is to recognize the caveat

135 William H. Watkins, The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power in America, 1865-1954 (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001), 9-21. 136 Ibid., 23. 137 Additionally other groups such as Native Americans, Latinos, and the Chinese were also excluded. It is important to note that the writer understands that their experience was also harrowing and does not subscribe to a hierarchy of oppression. 51

that education can be both oppressive and liberating. Education as a method for oppression possesses well-defined characteristics. Educational oppression maintains the hierarchy, reproduces the system, and ensures that the dynamics of power and powerlessness remain intact. Educational oppression does facilitate a social order allowing for small or even large victories. This oppression on the surface may resemble the opportunity for equality like “separate but equal” in U.S. educational history.138 However, the tension between the wants and needs of the target and the agent ensure incompatible outcomes. This tension translated into the differences between education for Blacks and Black education. White benevolent societies were concerned about the welfare of Blacks, but Blacks also wanted to control their future. While Blacks embraced the opportunity for schooling from the benevolent societies and individuals, they also recognized the importance of developing their own opportunities to learn.139 Kentucky Blacks were no different in their desire to learn. For example, educated Blacks such as Reverend Adams established Louisville Fifth Street Baptist Church Adam’s School in 1861. His learned status not only afforded him the opportunity to pastor, but also to assist in establishing the first Black sponsored school in Louisville, Kentucky.140 The presence of benevolent societies in the formation of schools for Blacks was welcomed. It served both Blacks and whites to have funding and structural resources, and philanthropists to socially engineer educational opportunity. The conditions were ripe for philanthropists to create a workforce that was literate as the industrial age evolved.141 Mass schooling for Blacks was a new experiment, as it was for whites in the South. The experiment had to be a delicate mixture of ingredients, in order to work. However, the experiment failed as the budding architecture of Black education began to crumble or come to a halt. The design of Black schooling was simple and basic. In fact, what did Blacks have to compare it to? Prior to the war, Blacks had few if any opportunities. So the early formation of schools was a welcome opportunity. However, a shift from education for Blacks to Black education illuminates the on- going tension associated with self-determination.

138 William H. Chafe, Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans tell About Life in the Segregated South (New York: New Press, 2001), 152-155. 139 James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: The North Carolina Press, 1988), 16; Jacqueline Jones, Soldiers of Light and Love: Northern Teachers and Georgia Blacks 1865-1873 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 111. 140 John Kleber ed., The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Lexington: The University of Kentucky, 1992), 385. 141 William H. Watkins, The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power in America, 1865-1954 (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001), 14. 52

First, Black education is very different than education for Blacks. Black education implies that a certain control will be asserted by the people for whom the education is designed to affect; education for Blacks implies that it is controlled by others, primarily for their purposes. Education for Blacks was what was provided for African Americans, by other contributors. The diverse contributors varied from the wealthiest philanthropists to the committed missionaries and benevolent societies. Second, since education is both political and tied to the labor market, the fueling of schools for Blacks provided profits and maintained order for the status quo. Here is where the two aforementioned educational ideologies conflict. For some industrial education was a reasonable opportunity, Booker T. Washington’s writings illuminate this perspective. However, some Blacks were decidedly against this form of schooling and felt it reinforced subservient roles and limited Black participation as full citizens in a capitalistic society.142 Finally, although the opportunity for schooling grew through the assistance of various groups, public educational opportunities were unequal. In addition, funding from private sources began to recede. For example, decisions were made to change the course in educating Blacks and focusing on other groups such as White Appalachians as was the case at Berea College.143 Opportunities for the education of Blacks were also at risk as the Reconstruction Era came to an end. The Federal agencies and troops left the South, the accommodations that were made for Blacks under the guise of Reconstruction, soon dissipated.144 Initially, when the foundation of schools for Blacks was being poured, who could have complained? What reason would there have been to complain? This opportunity on the surface was a godsend. But as the relations that were held together by outside entities in the South began to deteriorate, so did the enthusiasm for schools for Blacks. Take into account the following: Education is controlling and not about liberation or freedom at all, but coercion. Educational opportunity as a medium for social and intellectual freedom came with many costs. In fact, Paulo Freire surmises that “freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift.”145

142 E. Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie: The Book that Brought the Shock of Self- Revelation to Middle-Class Blacks in America (New York: Free Press, 1997), 63- 70. 143 Andrew Baskin, “Berea College: A Commitment to Interracial Education within a Christian Context,” Minorities and Evangelical Christian Colleges (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1991), 315-341. 144 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow: A Commemorative Edition with William S. McFeely (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 6. 145 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary translated by Donald P. Maceado (New York: Continuum Press, 2000), 47. 53

In some ways the transition from enslaved to freedmen to citizen met the cheers and jeers of the larger society. How does a human move from commodity, to a proponent and example of self-determination? And how does someone act on their freedom when the only thing that has changed is their legal status, not society’s perceptions? For Blacks across the country, particularly in Kentucky, could schooling provide the breakthrough in the system of oppression? Could Blacks change perceptions, participate fully as whole human beings in American society, and determine their own destinies in a racist and oppressive society? Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, notes that it would not be enough to be educated or schooled, but that there must be a consciousness that arises on the part of the oppressed in order for there to be the revolutionary action of resistance. In other words, history would tell us, that the wrong education was just as damaging as no education. Carter G. Woodson’s Mis-education of the Negro sheds light on the issues associated with education that replicates the oppression.146 The system of oppression that developed in the U.S. was based upon the myth of Black inferiority and white supremacy. For hundreds of years the practice of Black enslavement existed because white supremacy propagated that Blacks were better off as slaves, were not human or Christians, and that Blacks were a workforce with no or limited intellectual abilities. There were so many justifications for enslaving Blacks, and those justifications developed into a set of norms or way of life.147 The beliefs about the African in Diaspora did not suddenly change as a result of enslavement ending. In fact, this is an example of why the system of oppression does not simply disappear without a radical revolution.

2.2 Maintaining a System of the Oppressed

The Civil War hosted some of the bloodiest battles in U.S. war history. At the center of the War was a complex battle for freedom. Unfortunately, the freedom of the enslaved and their human rights was not the initial impetus for the War. It later became a crucial motivation in the complex War Between the States.148 In fact, in order for the system of oppression to be undone, the oppressed, would have to lead, create and carry out the revolutionary actions to change the

146 Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2006), 26-37. 147 Winthrop Jordan, White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968), 91-98. 148 James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), vi-vii.

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system. The eradication of a system of oppression must be led and include the target as the revolutionary, or it is still within the context of the system and thus a manifestation of the system. Although Blacks fought in the Civil War in both the Confederate and Union Armies, they were not the leadership for the War. Thus the system did not change because Blacks were no longer enslaved. The dueling desires of the “freedmen” for self-determination and the white supremacists desire to control are what encouraged some Blacks to resist. The right to self- determination through education could undermine the system of oppression. To undermine the system meant that Blacks had to first recognize the system, defy its parameters, radically overturn the system, and then replace it with another that would be more inclusive. This radical process was and is ever evolving, and according to Freire is the ultimate goal. For example, Black resistance efforts included the simultaneous process of accepting the oppressor’s assistance, and devising opportunities for self-determination, thus combining Freire’s approach to liberation. Education for Blacks met many basic needs and was different than Black education. Education for Blacks can be characterized by control by whites, through religious and industrial components. To understand fully the dynamics of Black education prior to segregation, this chapter categorizes Black self-determination into two parts: emancipation and economic stability. After emancipation came the challenge of Black self-sufficiency. How Blacks entered a capitalistic society as paid labor versus exploited labor and what tools they would need in order to effectively change their condition, was a core question of the era called the Negro question. Slavery and literacy were not mutually exclusive, but legal and social norms made slave literacy a luxury and dangerous. Literacy to the enslaved meant a liberation that their illiterate counterparts could not access. Often the literate enslaved and free Black persons became the conduit of information for illiterate enslaved persons. There was a source of power in literacy and for whites a source of fear. The clandestine nature of accessing literacy for Blacks probably added to Black’s desire to become literate after the Civil War. Slaves had been exposed to the wealthy and privileged as the literate; in the end these images probably shaped their view of citizenship. Ironically, access to schooling was not for everyone, including impoverished white people. The reality is that by the end of the Civil War schooling in the South was not a priority

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even for whites.149 However, slave codes and literacy laws did not exist for whites as a barrier to educational learning in the same way as they did for enslaved and free Blacks. When the enslaved were freed, resources available for schooling were limited. In some places Black clandestine and church schools were in existence before the Civil War and were able to continue even after the War. Literacy became a necessity in Blacks quest for equality and economic and political power.150 These schools often focused on literacy and had various age groups. Schooling for Blacks also included non-Black forces that often have been credited as engineering Black education. Obtaining literacy and formalized education became the hope of the freed Black. In essence education as a principle meant entry into a world that had previously excluded Blacks. Education also inadvertently meant the ability to determine their collective destiny. For example, they could utilize their formal knowledge to re-create their economic, social, and political standing. In essence, educated Blacks could access the system and be almost a full member of society. Education was thought to “civilize the Indian” but the great dilemma for whites was could it civilize Blacks.151 In the long run, education for Blacks took on the image of pseudo slavery, with white organizations and power structures controlling the educational opportunities for Blacks. Education was established as a central tool for Black liberation; however, ensuring that Black self-determination could exist through education would be a great test for Blacks. This test came as Blacks seemed to make strides in education. Almost simultaneously they were also being left behind. Questions arose about how education would be obtained. The public funds were controlled by the white-dominated government, and its legislative rulings. Therefore, Blacks were at the whim of the lawmakers. These lawmakers created laws that ensured Blacks would be slow to obtain interracial and/or equal educational opportunities. In the private sector, educational opportunities controlled by white resources limited the choices for Blacks. They too were at the whim of the white supremacist power structure. Relying on funding from benevolent societies came with a cost. The cost included policies that shaped the nature of Black schooling, often leading to substandard conditions or expectations. Additionally, schooling

149 Truman Pierce, White and Negro Schools: An Analysis of Biracial Education (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1955), 39. 150 Heather Williams, “‘Clothing Themselves in Intelligence’: The Freedpeople, Schooling, and Northern Teachers 1861-1871,” The Journal of African American History, vol. 87, (Autumn 2002): 372. 151 Wilma King, “Multicultural Education at the Hampton Institute: The Shawnees A Case Study from 1900-1923,” Journal of Negro Education 57, no. 4 (1988); Jon Allan Reyhner and Jeanne M. Oyawin Eder, American Indian Education: A History (Norman: University of Press, 2006), 143. 56

for Blacks by whites sometimes fueled a tenuous relationship. The relationship endured as long as the power remained with the white supremacists and in line with the agendas of the benevolent associations and philanthropists. When cadres of Blacks began to push against the system, to demand their right to self-determination and equality, the system pushed back with formalized segregation. Reinforcing the system of oppression with legalized segregation not only halted African American’s access to equal education, it also added to the mounting reasons why Blacks would need to use resistance.

2.3 Unraveling the Pedagogy of the Oppressed

To truly understand why African Americans resisted the segregation of their academic experiences, we must also examine the notion of segregation as a form of oppression. We have thus far examined the formation of education for Blacks and its relationship to rationales for resistance. Segregation was the behavior that solidified the system of oppression, but it was also the final act before the revolution. Segregating Blacks and whites before the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court decision, was part of the legacy of slavery. The characteristics of segregation after the Civil War were very complex. Segregation under the slavery period differed although slave codes facilitated a form of segregation. However, life for enslaved and free Blacks was intertwined with the lives of whites for many reasons. One reason, Blacks lived in close proximity to whites in slave cabins or amongst the masters’ quarters.152 Segregation in the Reconstruction Era was both contradictory and a continuation of conditions under slavery. The contradiction was that although legal segregation did not exist, the social norms facilitated a de facto slavery. Many whites were opposed to the education of Blacks; whites in Kentucky were no exception. For example, schools for Blacks were often targets of violence by white mobs.153 The Kentucky legislature passed two sets of laws, one in 1869 and in 1874, to facilitate public education for Blacks.154 These laws secured public education for Blacks and codified segregation in the public sphere. The course for a separate school system with segregated schoolhouses,

152 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow: A Commemorative Edition with William S. McFeely (New York: Oxford University Press, 200012. 153 George C. Wright, Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940:, Mob Rule and “Legal Lynchings,” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990), 190. 154 Theodore H.H. Harris, “Creating Windows of Opportunity: Isaac E. Black and the African American Experience, 1848-1914,” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 98 (Spring 2000): 159. 57

administrators, teachers, and supplies was set, and became a focal point of Black resistance.155 The complications of oppression that Blacks experienced as a result of slavery encased their efforts. From this oppression the desire for “free” life through education was one request by the formerly enslaved. In droves, Blacks accessed education and collaborated to create schooling opportunities. The desire for education by Blacks was in and of itself an act of resistance. What Blacks did by resisting the conditions they were placed in, is to provide an answer for the question, “How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation?”156 The development of one’s own pedagogy of liberation means that one at the very least recognizes their right to self-determination, a right to make decisions for themselves or their group without the unfair interference of the oppressor. The goal in essence is not to become or to be like the oppressor. This then leads to the question- what then must one become, if the only examples are from the oppressor? Does one accept the oppressors’ reality, or does one demand the right to create one’s own reality? Black resistance to educational segregation was a way in which they attempted to overcome their domination by white supremacists. Carter G. Woodson’s The Mis-education of the Negro provides one response to this dilemma, education has to be different for those who are oppressed, than it is for the oppressor is a central theme. One interpretation of these phrases alludes to the link between education and self-determination. If she or he cannot determine the self, then are they truly free beings or are still pseudo slaves? Can education provide the opportunity to develop self-determination? Who determines a free self but the individual, and what must happen for the individual who seeks self- determination in systems that enslave. Can one be free even if enslaved? Can the person who resists their enslavement actually be a free person? Self determination is at the core of freedom. Therefore the right to determine self must be protected and unobstructed. This may be why Blacks throughout history have fought and in essence resisted to ensure their self-determination. Oppression is a symptom of the system. It has shaped the ways in which Blacks and whites interacted throughout U.S. history. This oppression did not become undone naturally, and it seeped into the core of relations after enslavement, which was perhaps the most comprehensive

155 Ibid.; See Lowell H. Harrison and James C. Klotter, A New History of Kentucky (Lexington: University of Lexington Press, 1997), 380. 156 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary translated by Donald P. Macedo(New York: Continuum Press, 2000), 48. 58

form of oppression upon Blacks in American history. This oppressor/oppressed relationship did not immediately dissipate due to the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The creation of laws alone cannot dissolve the oppressor/oppressed relationship, in some instances laws only makes the situation more manageable for the oppressed. Laws do not often illustrate equality or fairness; consequently the roles of oppressor and oppressed carry into the new relationship, even when the law facilitates equality or a new opportunity. Therefore, the request for education from the oppressed to the oppressor continues the cycle of oppression. To break the cycle of oppression, Blacks must procure knowledge of self, beyond their formerly enslaved or freeperson status, then education as it was, could not be a means to self-determination, unless they controlled it. Schooling had the potential to continue to control the four million formerly enslaved Blacks, if so desired. Schools were more than just buildings; they were transmitters of some knowledge –but what types of knowledge? The school is more than the transmitter of letters and numbers according to Paulo Freire. The elements of schooling are the key to understanding this argument. Schooling for Blacks resembled the structure of white schools. But the constant demand from Blacks for improvements and equality were in and of itself symbols of inequality. How does one sort out who is a covert/overt oppressor, and their efforts to do what is believed as good, even if it has negative consequences for Blacks. The covert oppressor is not as transparent, but the overt oppressor is obvious, his/her behavior perpetuates the system and in essence ensures a caste system. The two types of oppressive behaviors led to the development of schools- some out of fear and others out of being a benevolent patriarchy who believed they knew what was best for Blacks. To believe and then act on behaviors that place or keep groups subordinate is the role of an oppressor. Oppressors do not often articulate their roles or view themselves as the oppressor, and yet they are often successful in maintaining and creating status quo. Oppression played out on an educational stage as segregation. During the struggle for equality in education (1865- 1965), the fight for education was not only about resources or lack of, but a question of who was dispensable. To create equitable situations, and thus ensure no one’s education was indispensable, meant more than equitable funding. In fact, funding for some school systems for Blacks varied and in some cases more monies were spent per capita on Black students than whites. 157 Furthermore, educational equality could never come to fruition with dual educational

157 Horace Mann Bond, Education in the American Social Order (New York: Octagon Books, 1970), 231. 59

systems, which strained resources and inherently facilitated inequality, regardless of the opinion of Plessy vs. Ferguson.158 To fund schools was indeed a benevolent action, but also an oppressive one because it sometimes maintained the status quo of social segregation. This is an example of how the good intentions of the benevolent societies, was part of the system of oppression. To create “separate” schools for Blacks is in and of itself continuing the pedagogy of the oppressed. To summarize, on one level, Paulo Freire’s articulation of schools as a conduit for reinforcing the oppressive behavior of the oppressor is what African Americans faced as schooling was developed for them and by them. It is important to note Freire’s observation that the oppressed often facilitate their own oppression or are active participants in behaviors that were reserved for the Oppressor. Finally, the transmittal of knowledge within the classroom is a valuable process and not merely about literacy and numeracy but all the aspects of the classroom such as the teacher’s training or lack of, the subject matter shared, the school building conditions and grade placement are political. These are all aspects of how oppression as a lifestyle is maintained in a system of oppression. The role of the oppressed then becomes either a continuation of their oppression in the oppressive system, or a system of a resistance evolves that works towards undoing or overthrowing the system. According to Freire, the resistor will rise out of the system. This is the purpose of this dissertation, to illuminate just those resistors, their attempts to overcome their status as oppressed, and to chronicle the outcomes of their efforts.159 In the following chapters, I will chronicle how African Americans’ resistance efforts to educational segregation in Kentucky were shaped by the oppression that they faced. This oppression for those who chose to resist it was their own private revolution, as the stakes were high for those who did resist. Bear in mind, that the targets resisted the hegemony of the agents by exposing the hypocrisy, inequality, and iniquitous system that had become schooling for Blacks in Kentucky. The people that resisted

158 John Hardin, Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904- 1954 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 35. Hardin illuminates the difficulties of adequate funding for Blacks and the consequences of demanding equitable funding from white power structure. 159 “As individuals or as peoples, by fighting for the restoration of their humanity they will be attempting the restoration of true generosity. Who are better prepared than the oppressed to understand the terrible significance of an oppressive society? Who suffer the effects of oppression more than the oppressed? Who can better understand the necessity of liberation? They will not gain this liberation by chance but through the praxis of their quest for it, through their recognition of the necessity to fight for it.” Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary translated by Donald P. Macedo (New York: Continuum, 2000), 45 and 47. 60

this type of education, had reason to resist. In the next chapters, such resistors as Black alumni of Berea College, Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association (Kentucky Negro Educational Association), and other individual’s reasons for resistance will be discussed. Their reasons are often attributed to the commonalities of being oppressed, but the outcomes of their efforts varied, as did the risk. The next chapter will identify a few key agents of educational resistance in the state of Kentucky, and their struggle for the revolutionary act of controlling their education. Following Chapter 3, Chapter 4 will delve into the products of African Americans’ struggle that included the development of a Kentucky State University, and Lincoln Institute. The final chapter will provide the analysis, in which, I will explore how their efforts have or have not served Kentucky well in the present.

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CHAPTER 3:

BLACK RESISTANCE TO DECLINING OPPORTUNITY FOR

EQUAL SCHOOLING IN KENTUCKY

Schooling was a hope for some of the newly freed and free Blacks. The obtainment of schooling by Blacks was considered a move towards racial advancement. With schooling there were ideas that Blacks would be viewed as human beings beyond their current condition. Literacy could facilitate their participation in both economic and personal development. To be a literate person also lessened the possibility of being taken advantage of by dishonest people. The ability to read and write could open doors for the Blacks; therefore plans were conceived to smooth the process of African re- entry into American society. Learning to read and write had already been a clandestine process for the formerly enslaved. The network of learning that was a luxury for some, now needed to become a formal process for others. The schoolhouse was the structure that individuals gathered in to obtain knowledge. The schoolhouse became a symbolic place of power and control. Those who controlled the schoolhouse (and all of the elements associated with it), controlled the future- thus creating the race to educate. The past in the United States and other parts of the Americas is tainted with the history of slavery. The Black experience in the Americas became synonymous with the slave experience. Africans in the U.S. had long struggled for independence and freedom; after obtaining freedom Blacks continued in their tradition of resistance. The resistance that took place at the schoolhouse steps became an important chapter in the resistance chronicles of Blacks. The very place (schoolhouse) that could facilitate an equal future was also controlled by their former masters and enslavers.160 This perhaps created the greatest dilemma for Blacks: who could they trust? The white northerners who sent assistance both financially and through human resources was different than the white southerner with whom they may have been the most familiar. The conditions that had maintained slavery for over 250 years did not immediately dissolve after the

160 Masters and enslavers is not a literal accusation. I am considering those who had slaves and those who engaged in the system, by not overthrowing it. Therefore, even though an individual did not have slaves, they still could have engaged in the system of slavery through their belief system of Black inferiority. 62

Civil War. In fact, the shift in the balance of power among the planter class and poor whites and Blacks made their relationships uncertain. The balance of power shifted for Blacks during Reconstruction. As Blacks were able to make gains in the government, education, and business, they also made gains economically and socially. Southern states could boast Black state representatives, senators, and local government officials. Not only was Reconstruction considered to have the greatest number of Black elected officials, the participation of Blacks in professional fields also seemed more prominent. By contrast, not all Blacks were as prosperous. Some Blacks did not gain prosperity and became symbols of the “negro problem.”161 All over the South, African Americans ranged in their ability to access the new opportunities, this deepened an already evident class division. The divisions among Blacks were not limited to class, but also location in the South. Experiences of Blacks were different, even before emancipation. For example Blacks in such states as Kentucky, were not subjected to laws against literacy as Blacks were in most other parts of the South. Life in Kentucky for Blacks was in stark contrast to their peers in other parts of the South. The Kentucky experience was different for several reasons. Kentucky was a border state and a slave state that entered on the side of the Union. To complicate matters further the state is a combination of Appalachian and Bluegrass culture, urban and rural, mountain and flat lands. The cultures of these areas contribute to varying degrees of race relations. In Appalachia (which includes the southeastern part of Kentucky), plantation slave culture was not as prominent. Blacks first came to the region as explorers with the Spanish explorers, and others were connected with the Cherokee nations of the region. Slavery existed, but the contempt that some Appalachians felt toward the institution of slavery contributed to a smaller percentage of enslaved people in Appalachian parts of certain states. 162 The relationship of Appalachian Kentucky whites and enslaved Blacks exhibited similar patterns. Slavery did not take hold in some of the Appalachian parts.163 Many communities were active with abolitionist activities. For example the abolitionists John G. Fee and Cassius Clay began a school (Berea College) in 1855 for Blacks and whites to engage in interracial education. On the other hand, there was considerable violence against Blacks in this formally loyal state after the Civil War. The fact that

161 Barbara J. Fields, “The Origins of the South and the Negro Question,” Journal of Southern History 67, (2001). 162 Steven R. Jackson, “Peoples of Appalachia: Cultural Diversity Within The Mountain Region,” A Handbook to Appalachia: An Introduction to the Region (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), 37. 163 Darrel E. Bigham, On Jordan’s Banks: Emancipation and its Aftermath in the River Valley (Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 2006), 15. 63

Reconstruction was not imposed by the federal government, coupled with the return of Kentucky Confederate soldiers, and white Kentuckians concern with equal rights for Blacks, ensured violence and fear in Blacks and white sympathizers.164 This fear was a result of witnessing and understanding the extent of racial violence’s effects on Blacks. This violence included “numerous attacks on returning Black soldiers who had fought for the Union cause, the forced removal of Afro-Americans from many rural communities, attacks by white mobs on Black churches and especially on the freedmen schools, and the deaths of countless numbers of Blacks at the hands of white mobs.”165 To confuse matters further, the Thirteenth Amendment was not passed in Kentucky until December of 1865, thus keeping Blacks in bondage until then.166 In some counties Black soldiers returned to their former masters where their family members were still in bondage and attempted to free their families. Freedmen’s Bureau agent John S. Graham after a tour of in May, 1866, reported that a number of Blacks “remained in bondage in Boone County.”167 The racial violence exhibited after the Civil War, did not deter Blacks from establishing and demanding their civil rights, which included the right to publicly funded schooling. As the violence escalated, pressure was also being placed to rectify the conflicts between Kentucky laws and U.S. laws. For example the gave Blacks several rights, including the right to testify in court against whites. Blacks did not participate in this right to testify until the early 1870s.168 Mob violence was a way of life in Kentucky. It interfered with opportunities for Blacks. Mob violence received state attention in 1871, but there was also great speculation from the Democrat Governor Leslie and others that the mob violence of Kentucky was embellished by Republicans.169 The violence, even if not perpetrated by the majority of white Kentuckians, was directed at Blacks who made gains in economic, educational, and legal arenas. In some ways the violence was viewed as a “spontaneous retribution” against Black gains and domination of whites.170 The

164 George C. Wright, Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1948; Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990), 19, www.netlibrary.com (accessed September 21, 2009). 165 Ibid., 19. 166 Ibid., 20. 167 Ibid. 168 Ibid., 22. 169 George C. Wright, Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1948; Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990), 31, www.netlibrary.com (accessed September 21, 2009). 170 Ibid., 34. 64

violence also became a part of life towards advocates for the developing educational system for Blacks. Wherever Blacks were accessing education, they had feared the mob violence that could ensue. Schools had been attacked and violence used to intimidate educators and pupils alike. Between the years of 1867 and 1873, pressure was placed on Kentucky courts to prosecute culprits who had destroyed schools through bombings, and chased teachers out of town through physical intimidation. White sentiment against the equalization of Blacks made violence against the system of schooling for Blacks acceptable. Mob violence against schools was also seen as necessary because schooling was an attempt to equalize the races.171 Blacks sought to resist the violence, while simultaneously enduring it. In daily life they organized by bringing attention to their plight through sending letters or protesting to state and federal leaders.172 In other instances, just the presence of schooling was an act of resistance by Blacks in many communities. The environment of reconstructing Kentucky facilitated the need to resist and a cadre of individuals who would resist.173 The premise of resistance rests on an understanding of something beyond the current situation, in this case the possibility of equality, as possible and obtainable. Resistance also rests on the premise that individuals organize to effect or agitate a situation that changes their current condition. Kentucky’s Black populations of slave and free lived distinctly differently than those in other slave holding states, especially in the city of Louisville. The lifestyles of the enslaved, living in close quarters with their masters as opposed to slave quarters, being able to live out or hire out their time and intermingle with freed people contributed to a noticeable Black community in the city of Louisville.174 Blacks had established communities within the larger community that later aided their educational resistance efforts against segregation.

3.1 Educational Opportunity for Some

The birthplace of is the perfect backdrop for exploring the complexity of educational segregation. Lincoln considered to be by some the “Great Emancipator,” was born

171 Ibid. 172 Ibid. 173 Reconstructing is intentionally not capitalized to ensure the reader understands this is not a reference to the federally mandated Reconstruction imposed after the Civil War for many Southern states. 174 Darrel E. Bigham, On Jordan’s Banks: Emancipation and its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), 16. 65

in Kentucky. The relationship between Blacks and white in Kentucky had always been complex, because of the interesting associations with religious organizations and intersections between Black, white, and mountain people. In perspective, the gains made by Blacks despite their condition of enslavement before and after the Civil War were substantial. Free and enslaved Blacks were able to develop a small network of instructional opportunities that addressed some of their spiritual and literacy needs. In Kentucky, the church was the earliest and most continuous institution that facilitated schooling for Blacks.175 Schooling for Blacks through churches included the reported Sunday and Sabbath schools, to the less explored traditional schools or those schools that focused on the reading, writing and arithmetic. Prior to the Civil War, such successful educational opportunities were found across the Bluegrass State. Larger cities like Louisville, Covington, Lexington, and Frankfort could boast of schools established before 1865.176 These private schooling efforts were also joined by less prominent schools in less populated and rural areas. Kentucky received funding provisions for common schools in 1837.177 However by 1849, it was evident that the early funding distributions were inadequate.178 Colored schools for Blacks were first provided for by the state on February 14, 1867. This act called for schools for the education of Blacks. Several other acts were passed in 1868 and 1871 that were related to schooling for Blacks. In between the 1868 and 1871 acts, Superintendent Smith acknowledged that there was a problem in equality of the funding for Black schools when he reflected on the resistance of Blacks to the taxation without equal representation. In this report Smith stated “The colored people have come to understand the operations of this prejudicial legislation, and avoid by every possible subterfuge, the payment of tax, and it now amounts to little.”179 This effort of resistance was a real example of the early endeavors of Blacks to usurp a system that aimed to segregate. Black opposition to taxation challenged and finally pressured the system. After a very

175 James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 186-1935 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 13. 176 J. Blaine Hudson, “The Establishment of Louisville Municipal College: A Case Study in Racial Conflict and Compromise” Journal of Negro Education 64, no. 2 (1995). 177 Thomas D. Clark, Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass, “Education” (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2000), 301. Federal surplus funds were distributed to the treasury to develop a permanent school fund. The first superintendent Joseph J. Bullock became responsible for the $850,000.00. 178 Ibid., 304, “Early educational provisions had little or no impact on what actually happened in the one-teacher, one-room, three month, impoverished district schools in individual counties.” 179 Moses Edward Ligon, A History of Public Education in Kentucky, vol. xiv, no. 4 (June 1942): 247. 66

difficult start, the law was repealed and an 1874 act finally established a system of colored schools and a funding source.180 This law provided an additional public structure for Black educational opportunity, at least in theory. The state legislature, in passing such a provision suggests that there was demand for publically funded schools, and a culture of learning among Blacks. A culture of learning had been established even before emancipation due to Kentucky not prohibiting literacy of Blacks (free or enslaved). Blacks took advantage of this ambiguity and became literate. Those who were literate contributed to the building of a literate class by opening schools and teaching. Paulo Freire’s the Pedagogy of the Oppressed illuminates that education can be a replication or transmission of the oppression that the oppressed have endured. Schooling, particularly in its early formation for Blacks, became an extension of the oppression that they were already enduring. Even when Blacks attempted to devise strategies to eradicate social and economic oppression through education, they were hindered. Point in case, colored schools prior to the act of 1874 maintained an educational system supported by Black property taxes. This system was ripe with potential inequalities in school funding, as Blacks owned little property at that time and the funds also supported paupers.181 Later this law would be repealed and a new act provided to equalize funding. In addition, the state, although requiring each school for Blacks to have a “Negro trustee,” was in most other ways similar to white schools.182 The next sections are a conversation regarding the manner in which this educational oppression was demonstrated. As we have discussed in earlier chapters, the relationship between Blacks and whites continued to be complex after enslavement and well after Reconstruction of the South. The patterns of Black and white interaction prior to the Civil War were interracial out of necessity. Post Civil War politics provided a glimmer of Black leadership opportunities, but also complicated the reality of which race to educate. Education in the U. S. was often a reflection of the country’s economic landscape. For example, the common school was expected to address poverty and inequality. Schools according to Horace Mann “did not create equality, but they did provide equal educational opportunity.”183 The dual school systems that emerged after the Civil

180 Reid E. Jackson, “The Development and Present Status of Secondary Education for Negroes in Kentucky,” The Journal of Negro Education 4, no. 2 (April 1935): 185-186. 181 Ibid. 182 Ibid. 183 Richard J. Altenbaugh, The American People and Their Education: A Social History (New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2003), 81. 67

War are one of the most illuminating examples of the Mann’s view of equality in American schooling. This duality imposed a hierarchal and unequal approach to the distribution of funds and resources within the school systems. Although, there were dual systems, they were under the jurisdiction of one governing body. Even prior to the legalization of dual school systems, white supremacy was imbedded in education for Blacks. For example, the belief that improvement through social control and acculturation could address the inferiority of Blacks was common. The question of equality had been a part of the recipe for Black success however, “even the appearance of equality between whites and free African Americans, it was thought, would undermine white supremacy, and draw into question white rule.”184 Kentucky was a site for the Freedmen’s Bureau input and leadership. From the beginning in Kentucky, missionary associations and philanthropic organization were heavily involved in providing the resources for the establishment of schools. Precariously, Blacks were encouraged to obtain an education, while simultaneously being violently discouraged from schooling. When schooling could be obtained by Blacks the limitations were immense. Three major problems afflicted schooling opportunities for Blacks in Kentucky, lack of Black teachers, control, and indifference. The quest for education in the overall analysis did not appear to be just about the type of education (liberal vs. industrial), but about achieving literacy. In some ways as time progressed, the primitive needs of literacy acquisition from to higher education also fueled the need for resistance by Blacks. Organized resistance can be traced throughout Kentucky history, thus setting a precedent for the resistance that would occur in the educational arena. For example, in 1866 when the Kentucky Legislature did not consent to equal rights, Blacks in Lexington called for a convention. The meeting assembled and insisted that the members pledge to “labor to the utmost of their ability to ‘infuse into the minds of the Blacks’ of Kentucky the necessity of educating their children.”185 Such activism asserts that not only were Black Kentuckians engaged in obtaining education, they would organize to facilitate access. Schooling was a complex endeavor. On the one hand, the historical inequalities pertaining to funding were a part of the

184 David , “African-American Schooling in the South Prior to 1861,” The Journal of Negro History 84, no.1 (Winter 1999): 22. 185 Victor B. Howard, “The Struggle for Equal Education,” Journal of Negro Education 46, (Summer 1977):307. 68

fabric of schooling; but on the other hand laws were later enacted to equalize funding sources for Black and white schools.186 The next section illuminates the types of resistance exhibited by Blacks to educational segregation. What their efforts highlight is the relationship between the growing need and increasing resistance efforts needed to produce outcomes. Throughout Kentucky various individuals and organizations influenced substantial change in Kentucky educational history; the following discussion primarily highlights individuals and organizations that had a broader reach in affecting change. Resistors such as Henry Adams, Elisha Green, Isaac Black, Frank L. Williams, and organizations such as the Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association (KNEA) and Berea College provide us with a glimpse of the educational resistance activity in the state from 1865- 1910.

3.2 Out of One Many… Reverend Henry Adams, Elisha Green and the State Convention of Colored Baptists in Kentucky

Possibly the most mentioned pre-Civil War black school in Kentucky was founded by Reverend Henry Adams in Louisville. The school was opened in the early 1840’s at the First African Colored Baptist Church of Louisville. The church was formed in 1842 out of the white First Baptist Church with 475 charter members.187 This church and Rev. Adams proved to be significant contributors to educational opportunity for Blacks in Louisville. Rev. Adams later became one of Louisville’s most prominent activists. Reverend Adams himself a literate man, pastor and key organizer of the General Association of Colored Baptists is credited with influencing several other Black leaders in KY educational history. Reverend Adams served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church “colored branch.” The school was formed a year prior to their formation of the Black (First African Colored Baptist) church and is reported to have educated 288 individuals during the year 1850. Adams’s school was a beacon of hope in Louisville before the Civil War; however, his efforts transcended the Civil War with the formation of Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute (State Colored Baptist University and later Simmons University 1879), which provided another educational

186 Reid E. Jackson, “The Development and Present Status of Secondary Education for Negroes in Kentucky,” The Journal of Negro Education 4, no. 2 (April 1935): 185. 187 Darrel E. Bigham, On Jordan’s Banks: Emancipation and its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), 28. 69

opportunity for Blacks from Kentucky. Henry Adams, by virtue of his efforts, was part of the Black resistance movement. To organize, separate, establish, and implement schooling options for Blacks was a feat in and of itself, but for those institutions to be successful and still exist in some form today is remarkable.188 Henry Adams was a pioneer whose example facilitated other resistance efforts. His legacy is important to note, because several others will address the white supremacy they found in Kentucky education through agitation in the General Association of State Baptists. This powerful Baptist organization supported various schools and colleges in Kentucky like Simmons University (formerly named State Colored Baptist University). Elisha Green’s autobiography helps to explore the efforts of Rev. Henry Adams contributions to educational history. Individuals like Rev. Elisha W. Green who also helped to form the State Colored Baptist University (Simmons University) provided unique contributions in obviously hostile environments. Reverend Green was the pastor of a church in Maysville and also the pastor of First African Baptist Church in Paris in 1855.189 Their churches were unique because of its perceived autonomy and Green’s membership in a white church.190 The immediate sense may be that the white church was progressive and allowed for Black governance of the First African Baptist Church. However, as Mr. Green illuminates they “were a slave to the white church.”191 Perhaps this early interaction helped him develop the skills necessary to navigate the future educational landscape. Reverend Green would become pastor of other churches within Kentucky. He rose to prominence in the Baptist Convention and assisted in strengthening the argument for Blacks in education. Reverend Green and Reverend Henry Adams and several other “colored” Baptist ministers organized the State Convention of Colored Baptists (also recorded as the Convention of Colored Baptist Ministers of the State of Kentucky) in 1865.192 Establishing a ministers’ organization was important, but what evolved out of the 1865 Convention was significant in the

188 Lawrence Williams, Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1879-1930: A History of Simmons University (New York: Edwin Mellon Press, 1987), 43-44. Reverend Adams is described as quarrelling with the Long Run District Association over rights of representation for his church. He expressed in a speech before the association in 1843, “associational membership was worthless without the right of personal representation. The association refused to honor his request.” 189 Elisha W. Green, Life of the Elisha W. Green, (Maysville: The Republican Printing Office, 1888), 12. 190 Ibid., 30. 191 Ibid. 192 Ibid., 26. 70

educational movement of Kentucky. The Convention agreed to purchase property in Frankfort, KY, in order to establish “a college in order to educate our people and get a competent and well educated ministry.”193 The institution that was later completed became known as Simmons University and moved to Louisville, KY. Simmons University was established through monies from the Black Baptist congregations throughout the state. Reverend Green’s work as a Baptist minister brought him into the world of education. He was not a well- educated man, but is an example of efforts to ensure Blacks received education. Although State Colored Baptist University (Simmons) focused on seminary instruction, it provided an educational resource for Blacks in Kentucky which also included a law department (1890-1941) and a medical department (1888-1912).194 The efforts of Rev. Adams, Rev. Green and others in the Convention seemed to happen without any real labor pains. In fact, the interracial co-operation that was exhibited during this time probably confused the situation. On the one hand, Rev. Adams had some autonomy as the pastor of the colored branch; however the reality is that he and others were always at the mercy of whites. Case in point, Black congregations like Adams’s church often held membership in white associations. In spite of this interracial interaction, Rev. Adams disputed with the Long Run Baptist Association because of issues of representation. As a result Rev. Adams no longer attended the LRBA convention, but sent a letter instead. His refusal to attend was an act of resistance, at risk was Adams’s school and other efforts for schooling. Nevertheless, he was still able to continue advocating until his death in 1872. Ironically, despite his activism against the Association and his illumination of white supremacy, his funeral was an interracial affair and a feat in “post-bellum cordiality.”195 Adams’s life provided a template for post-bellum interaction and collaboration. However, his efforts did not eclipse the challenges that he had instituting schools. Unfortunately, the tension between whites and Blacks would increase. The endeavors that Adams participated in became less available. The interracial relationship already strained and complex became further unstable as Blacks pressured for equality.

193 Elisha W. Green, Life of the Elisha W. Green, (Maysville: The Republican Printing Office, 1888), 26. 194 Ibid., 36. 195 Lawrence Williams, Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1879-1930: A History of Simmons University (New York: Edwin Mellon Press, 1987), 53. 71

3.3 Isaac E. Black Isaac E. Black served as one of the delegates representing Covington, Kentucky at the 1869 Kentucky State Colored Educational Convention in Louisville. Mr. Black, a lawyer served as one of the agitators for the development of public schools in Covington, KY. He worked with other activists to pressure the city and Freedmen’s Bureau (federal government) to develop schools for Blacks. The battle for public education did not alter the attempts to grow private schools. Activists in Covington, Kentucky pressured city officials for public schools, but also strengthened such important schools founded at the Bremen Street Baptist Church (1866).196 Also significant is Mr. Black’s role in saving two Black schools in 1871, when funding from the private organizations dissolved. Throughout his life he worked diligently to challenge the system that was designed ensured successful schools for Blacks. At the very least he was successful in resisting the system of exclusion and segregation. A further arrangement of efforts occurred through organized resistance. As a means to an end, organized resistance was also an effective pressure on segregation. These groups banded together both formally and informally. The formal groups would take on many titles and were located throughout Kentucky. The use of conventions as a tool of resistance was facilitated by the gathering of individuals from all over the state. The Kentucky State Educational Convention (also recorded as the Freedmen’s Bureau for Education Convention) held during the week of July 7, 1869 in Louisville, KY, hosted over 250 delegates from around the State. The Convention, which was “called to order” by the Freedmen’s Bureau General Runkle (white), concluded with a list of resolutions.197 What is significant about this convention is the list of resolutions including a “demand in the name of justice, equal taxation and equal education for the colored youth over the state.”198 The courage to assert their needs inspired several in attendance, but in particular Isaac E. Black. When Mr. Black returned to Covington, he and several delegates began organizing a “board of trustees for the city’s Black schools.” 199 Additionally, Mr. Black’s efforts also included involvement in pressuring the city officials to

196 Theodore H. Harris, “Creating Windows of Opportunity: Isaac E. Black and the African American Experience in Kentucky, 1848-1914,” Register of the Historical Society, 98 (Spring 2000): 159-161. 197 Ibid., 160. Bvt. Col. Benjamin P. Runkle was the bureau chief for Kentucky’s Freedmen’s Bureau. 198 “Kentucky Negroes; Their Educational Convention in Louisville,” New York Times, July 17, 1869, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 199Theodore H. Harris, “Creating Windows of Opportunity: Isaac E. Black and the African American Experience in Kentucky, 1848-1914,” Register of the Historical Society 98 (Spring 2000): 160. 72

create a public school for Blacks and to divide the school funds and revenue sources for Black schools.200 Mr. Black continued to campaign for free schools for Blacks in Covington, Kentucky. Many times over he had to assert his disdain for the obvious derailment of efforts to educate Blacks by white supremacists. He used his positions as a board of trustees’ members to demand the use of a vacant white school by resigning from the board in protest when the white school board opted to sell the school instead. He later rescinded his resignation when the school board withdrew its decision to sell the school and allowed the school to be used for Black education. Mr. Black was still practicing law up until his death in 1914.201 The opposition that Mr. Black displayed also provided some rewards. Throughout his career he was able to earn an appointment as an educational delegate, proponent of equal school privileges, and successful activist. Mr. Black’s legacy impacted the race to educate, at a minimum by accelerating some public school access for Covington students, and the navigation of political structures to pressure the system. Indeed, Mr. Black was able to create windows of opportunity through resisting white supremacist actions of segregation.

3.4 Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association One of the most influential organized groups was a conglomerate of educators from around the state who made up the body of the Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association (Kentucky Negro Educational Association). Their efforts as an organized group which began in 1877 proved equally as important as individual agitators. Later we will find that the association was an organized force in illuminating the concerns of Blacks regarding education. As a leader in the Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association in Kentucky, Mr. Frank Williams was an outspoken opponent about many issues. He, along with other Berea College alumni, Dr. Maria Britton, A.W. Titus, and J.C. Jackson, directly confronted the actions of Berea College’s President Frost’s implementation of the school’s segregation in a scathing pamphlet published in 1907. Professor Williams’ pointed comments on behalf of the Association were part of other sentiments about the decision of Berea College to educate whites vs. Blacks. Acts of resistance also included organized efforts to distort or at the very least insert themselves into the decision making process. In contemporary society the teacher’s union is

200 Ibid., 162. 201 Ibid., 163. 73

considered a powerful organization with great control over the benefits afforded teachers. Therefore, it should be of no surprise that a teachers’ association in 1877 was able to garner some semblance of power in affairs of colored teachers. This colored teacher association would go on to significantly influence the system of schooling for Blacks. Interestingly, the founders of this association would be linked to other attempts to ensure schooling for Blacks. On August 22, 1877, “pursuant to a call made by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, quite a number of leading colored educators from various parts” met in Frankfort. 202 The intention of the gathering according to records was “to organize, under Common School Laws, an ‘Educational Association’ that should be perfectly free from all sectarian and political influences, and whose aim should be to secure an improvement of the teachers by union of effort, and also to ascertain the real wants of the colored citizens.”203 The meeting was called to order by the Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. H.A.M. Henderson (white). The creation of the Association included many prominent individuals such as J.H. Jackson, Berea Graduate and Principal in Lexington, Professor J.M. Maxwell, Rev. G.W. Dupee and C.C. Vaughn, to name a few who were in attendance. These men and women would contribute greatly to the Association and to other affairs of the Black communities. The sentiment from these recorded proceedings also suggested that Black leadership was well aware of a tension between white funding and Black schooling. In addition perhaps the most important realization was stated by J.M. Maxwell that an Association “will constitute a power that will wield an influence in molding public sentiment in our favor, and develop a faith on the part of the white population which will create that conviction of which I have spoken…a final result.”204 To convince the white public seemed to be a major purpose, but another phrase perhaps more directly speaks to the covert reasoning for such an Association. In his exchange of ideas Maxwell shares the biblical reference of Poor Lazarus, “We should not be passive recipients, continually feasting upon thoughts of others; we should be authors of original thought, and eat of the food prepared by our own hands.”205 This Association was an influential decision maker in schooling for Blacks. The Association continued to battle for the education of Blacks and continued to meet. J.M. Maxwell summed up the need for such an

202 “Proceedings of the State Colored Educational Convention held at Frankfort, KY, August 22, 1877,” (Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1877), Kentucky Historical Society Archives, Frankfort, KY. 203 Ibid. 204 Ibid., 8. 205 Ibid., 9. 74

association and what they hoped to accomplish. These remarks disclose the sentiment of the Association in the following quote: “And first, I advocate it because of the importance of the great work of educating the people of this Commonwealth, with whom I am identified nationally and socially; and because such an organization would, in my judgment, diffuse a spirit of sympathy and co- operation which would render more efficient and thorough the progress of education among the colored people in our State.”206

The Association became very outspoken and increasingly alarmed at white supremacists efforts. Later in KY educational history the Association would respond to the increasing attempts at Berea College “to eliminate practically from its walls students of color.”207 W.E.B. Dubois describes the nature of education as a peculiar evolution.208 In his pamphlet The College-Bred Negro, Dubois asserts that the questions about educating all whites in 1912 are the same questions that must be asked about Negro education, that there are different classes of man and therefore different types of education must be afforded Blacks. His argument summarized the issue particularly pertaining to the lack of higher education (high school and college) opportunities for Blacks. By the 1880’s the types of educational opportunities available to some Blacks included primary and secondary schools, industrial programs and Bible colleges. As with other states, Kentucky offered limited opportunities for learning above primary school both from private and public systems. The lack of offerings limited the economic opportunities of Blacks according to Dubois, therefore a variety of educational opportunities were necessary. This sentiment was felt by the agitators for the future Historically Black University named Kentucky State University. The trouble with segregation as established is two-fold, lack of control and inferior resources. However, a curious thing happened as Blacks in Kentucky realized that there was a need for a state funded institution of higher education for Blacks. The State Colored Teachers’ Association “urged” the Kentucky legislature to establish a state normal school for Blacks “to train teachers.”209 The Commonwealth already had several institutions for whites including the flagship institution the University of Kentucky which was

206 “Proceedings of the State Colored Educational Convention held at Frankfort, KY, August 22, 1877,” (Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1877), 6. Kentucky Historical Society Archives, Frankfort, KY. 207 “Resolutions of Kentucky Colored Teachers’ Association,” Berea Citizen 1890’s, Vertical Files RG 1307 1836- 1894, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. W.E.B. Dubois, The College-Bred Negro: Report Of A Social Study Made Under The Direction Of Atlanta 208University (1900). 209 Harvey C. Russell, The Kentucky Negro Education Association 1877-1946 (Virginia: Guide Quality Press, 1946), Kentucky State University Special Collections, 371.974 R963. 75

founded in 1865. On May 6, 1886, the Kentucky legislature voted to establish the school. On October 11, 1887, the school opened as State Normal School for Colored Persons, later to become Kentucky State University.210 The State Colored Teachers’ Association as a body was successful in many of their endeavors. Successfully petitioning for KSU facilitated the possible growth of a teacher pool for Black schools. The KSCTA successfully garnered legislative support for a normal school for Blacks. Ironically, this institution struggled to meet its purpose in the climate.

3.5 Alma Mater: From Interracial to all-White Institution

Perhaps the most compelling and corroborated Kentucky story of Black resistance to educational segregation is revealed in the case of Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Berea College. Berea College, a small non-sectarian, co-educational, and interracial college in Madison County, Kentucky became the target of Senator Carl Day from Breathitt County. Carl Day and his associates were successful in ensuring that Berea College, a private institution and the only interracial educational institution in Kentucky, segregated in 1904, almost thirty-nine years after Emancipation. Carl Day successfully targeted the institution, founded by Abolitionist John G. Fee in 1855 and re-opened after the Civil War in 1866.211 Carl Day’s success in the legislature regarding Berea College was not surprising for that time. What is more intriguing was the response of then President Frost, who on behalf of Berea College chose to educate whites, even though the law stated that an institution could choose to educate one race or the other but not together. Additionally, Black response to this choice illuminated a network of individuals who organized quickly to resist this segregation. The Berea College experience as founded by John G. Fee was meant to be an institution for both Blacks and whites, with Blacks outnumbering whites during many of its earliest years (1866-1894 with the exception of 1877).212 The Berea story began with John G. Fee’s vision of an end to slavery and opportunities for education for the less fortunate, however, his vision of an interracial education would be abruptly deterred and like other institutions find itself desegregating in the mid- 1950’s.

210 Ibid. 211 Shannon H. Wilson, Berea College: An Illustrated History, (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2006), 21. See also Paul David Nelson, “Experiment in Interracial Education at Berea College, 1858-1908,” Journal of Negro History 59 no. 1, (January 1974): 13-16. 212 Paul David Nelson, “Experiment in Interracial Education at Berea College, 1858-1908,” Journal of Negro History 59 no. 1, (January 1974): 19. 76

As the rumblings of the Day Law began, there was a concerted effort among Black students, alumni and supporters also resisting the situation. The situation included not only addressing the validity of the Day Law through appeals, but those who were also against interracial education. This section is an account of the events and efforts to resist segregation at Berea College. Through newspaper articles and correspondences to then President Frost, I reconstructed some of their argumentation against segregating Berea College. The segregation of Berea College impacted the region greatly, perhaps because it was the last institution of interracial education in Kentucky or the sudden nature of Carl Day’s disdain for Berea College. The earliest beginnings of Berea College began humbly. The institution was founded in 1855 and whose founding is credited to abolitionist Reverend John G. Fee. The college was founded on several principles which included non-sectarianism, anti-slavery, anti-caste, and Christian experience.213 The radical efforts of John G. Fee and others associated with the institution troubled some Madison County residents. The residents were alarmed as Fee and other institution officials became more radical in their views on slavery. Tensions were already high throughout the country due to the various slave revolts like John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry. Rev. Fee in a speech at Henry Ward Beecher’s church in Brooklyn, NY called for more John Browns, and thus alarming many slaveholders especially in his hometown and nearby Richmond, KY. Vigilantes threatened violence and actively used intimidation to force the Berea supporters and families from the area. The institution due to these valid threats and the beginning of the Civil War closed. After the Civil War in 1866 the institution re-opened as the Berea Literary Institute and continued to espouse its former mission including interracial education.214 The institution from its earliest moments educated Blacks despite its placement at the foothills of the mountains and ardent opposition. Colonel Ben P. Runkle, Assistant Commissioner for Kentucky to General O.O. Howard noted that Berea College would be “of vast importance and benefit to the colored people of Kentucky.”215 The contributions of this institution to the Black community through the production of leaders, proved to be tremendous. Attending Berea College was resistance in and of itself. There was a legal battle by the trustees and President Frost to combat the Day Law. However, little attention will be given to

213 Shannon H. Wilson, Berea College: An Illustrated History, (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2006). 214 Ibid., 21. 215 “Berea College, KY Extract from Report of Colonel Ben. F. Runkle, Assistant Commissioner for Kentucky, to Gen. O. O. Howard,” Berea Citizen, 1868, Vertical Files, Record Group 13.7, Folder I: Blacks 1836-1894, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 77

this battle, but more so to the battle of the Blacks to maintain entry into this institution and to identify educational opportunities for the Blacks who were attending the institution. Even before the Day Law was in effect there was some question to President Frost’s loyalty to the education of Blacks. In a letter from far away Tuskegee, Alabama even the controversial Booker T. Washington writes a letter to President Frost, encouraging Frost not to buckle under the pressure and stop educating Blacks.216 Washington’s alarming note to President Frost summarizes both sides of the issue, the desire for and against the education of Blacks. In many memories the efforts of Berea College are well chronicled, however, one aspect needs further attention, African Americans involvement. As Berea was being segregated great commotion surrounded the decisions. In 1905 Supplement to the Richmond Climax Newspaper which restated Judge Benton’s Opinion from the case, the newspaper highlights the crux of the school segregation dilemma: “While the legislature is thus constantly evincing a spirit of sympathy with, and giving substantial aid for the education of the colored youth of the state, it should not be said that that body was prompted by other than the purest and best motives in the enactment of this Day Bill.”217

The Day Law which prompted the segregation of Berea College according to Benton was not an act of prejudice, but a way to keep the peace. Whatever the articulated reasons, Blacks galvanized to mitigate the possible results. By 1908, Blacks were well aware of the schooling models under separate but equal law. The Day Law thrust Black Berea students into a menagerie of experiences including being sent to other institutions outside of the state.218 Most interestingly perhaps were the plans to build a new institution for Blacks outside of Louisville. In this planning, a group of “colored” graduates met as reported by the April 9, 1908 Berea Citizen Newspaper, to “adopt resolutions urging that their people be given the chance to help in new college…”219 The group which included Rev. Geo W. Bell of Middlesborough, KY, Professor Bates of Danville, KY, Rev. Dr. James Bond of Nashville, TN and Professor Russell of Lexington, KY gathered with others in the library of Berea College. During the meeting

216 Letter from Booker T. Washington to Frost , February 12, 1903, Record Group 3.03 Box 6 Presidents, Folder 6-4 Frost Correspondence- 1903 (L-Z), Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 217 Supplement to the Richmond Climax, February 22, 1905, RC 7 Box 13.6, Folder: Day Law I, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 218 Ibid. 219 “Colored Graduates Meet to Adopt Resolutions Urging That Their People Be Given the Chance to Help in New Enthusiastic and Harmonious Meeting,” Berea Citizen, April 9, 1908. Vertical Files Day Law II, 1902-1905, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 78

President Frost described the “adjustment fund in which the College is undertaking to raise in order that it may continue its good work for both races.”220 The participants of the conference did not pass a resolution, but adopted several important actions, including a whole hearted affirmation of their faith in President Frost, and articulation of deep gratitude to Mr. Carnegie for a $200,000 pledge to the adjustment fund. Those actions seemed to be almost one of accommodation, but the following actions showcase their efforts of resistance. Within their conference they also laid out a recommendation that the:

“Trustees [sic] committee on Colored School [sic] formulate a plan by which the colored people of the state shall be given an opportunity to subscribe to the funds needed. We believe that with proper methods and sufficient energy at least $50,000.00 could be raised among our people.”221

The call for Black participation in the establishment of an alternative school for Blacks becomes significant not only because the funds would contribute to the institution, but because it reasserts that Blacks were actively involved in developing Black institutions. Contrary to some beliefs, Blacks did not receive handouts, but instead were active members both intellectually and fiscally in their future schooling endeavors. Prior to this 1908 meeting a series of other significant events happened. These events built a foundation of resistance for the 1908 efforts. In addition, the efforts that preceded the meeting provide perspective of just what was at stake for Berea College’s Black students. A letter was sent on July 30, 1904, to the Honorable Guy Ward Mallon, Berea College general counsel, advising of a rumor that “some twenty of the colored people mean to apply for admission at the beginning of the term and require Berea College to show cause [sic] why they shall not be admitted rather than whites.”222 The ratio of Black to white students at Berea College dropped from a time when Black students were the majority to only a startling 157 Black students to 804 white students by 1903.223 With the passing of the 1904 Day Law, Black enrollment had significantly dropped under President Frost’s leadership. Frost changed his focus to the education of White Appalachians. So the race to educate already had been established

220 Ibid. 221 Ibid. 222 Hon. Guy Ward Mallon Letter to President Frost, July 30, 1904, RG 13.7 Blacks- Berea Education of 1877, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 223 Paul David Nelson, “Experiment in Interracial Education at Berea College, 1858-1908,” Journal of Negro History, 59 no. 1, (January 1974), 19.

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before the Day Law, but no one could have conceived that John G. Fee’s dream was ending. Some of the students who attended Berea College tried to voice their consternation about the situation to President Frost. A letter sent to President Frost dated March 28, 1904 stated the following: “We the undersigned after due thought and careful consideration have reached the following conclusions, inasmuch as Berea College was founded upon these principles, opposition to sectarianism, slave holding castes, and every other wrong institution or practice we believe - (a) That the college should be run on these principles, (b) That any form of separation whatsoever will be fostering and encouraging those principles against which this institution was established. Therefore we cannot conscientiously lend our support to any action which oppose [sic] these aforesaid principles.”224

This letter was signed by some fifty persons, several of whom were Black students. This letter stated their concern about the situation and directed the administration to a different resolution. The writing of a letter in and of itself may not seem controversial, but consider that these students attended the institution at the will of administration. Students used forms of petition well before the Black power movement of the 1960s as seen in this instance. By September 1904, the Day Law battle was raging as illustrated by A. W. Titus and Josie Woodford who spoke against the exclusion of Blacks on campus. They met in Lexington to voice their opinions in five points directed at Berea College and President Frost. Others who later followed and spoke against the segregation and proposed plans for the development of an alternative school were such alumni such as John T. Robinson, Frank L. Williams, John H. Jackson, and J.W. Hughes. Frank L. Williams later in his life was a celebrated alumnus of Berea College. His efforts as an educator led him to several significant posts. His final position was in St. Louis, but his most noteworthy form of activism was as a principal high school in Covington. Mr. Williams became an outspoken critic of Frost’s policies that excluded Blacks from the campus. In a letter to President Frost, he retorted that “he was only interested in the Berea experience as it relates to the colored race.”225 As intentional as this statement was Mr. Williams and several of his

224 Letter from colored students to President Frost, March 28, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law c. 1904, RG 3.03 Box 23/6, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 225 Frank L. Williams et. al, “President Frosts Betrayal of the Colored People in his Administration of Berea College,” Vertical Files: Day Law III, 1902-1905, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 80

colleagues passed a resolution at the Kentucky State Teachers’ Association in 1907, “President Frost’s Betrayal of the Colored People in his Administration of Berea College.”226 While the resistance efforts were on-going, the former Black students who should have been graduating with their class were at other institutions like Fisk University. Although scholarships were provided to the Black students attending other institutions, the issue still stands that they were forced to attend another institution for no other reason than the color of their skin. The graduation ceremony for the first segregated class of Berea College in 1905 could not even share the honor of commencement with Black students as the law forbade it. However, despite these stipulations several students for whom Berea College would have been their alma mater had it not been for the Day Law, returned to receive an “ad eundem” (after the date of what would have been their graduation) degree and to deliver addresses one of which was titled “What the Negro Promises and What He Asks.”227 Blacks tried to get around the law and the segregation of Berea College, but it still stood. Prior to such events, another group met at a praise meeting. According to the Berea Citizen Newspaper, another attempt to resist segregation ended with a mixture of support and contention for the efforts of Berea College. Notably, responses included support of Berea College’s efforts to concede to the law, while others felt that the law should be fought and Berea College stay true to its foundation of educating all. The “Praise Meeting” as described in the February 20, 1908, Berea Citizen was another opportunity for Blacks to vocalize their concerns.228 In addition to the general pleasantries and gratitude for the efforts of the situation, one person Alfred Titus sought to revive issues that the group had put aside. Ironically, Mr. Titus was “hissed” and “called down” by members of his own race as reported by the Berea Citizen.229 Mr. Titus was also the lone individual who did not show enthusiasm during a group vote for a resolution of thanks to Mr. Frost and others. Despite this sentiment from the seemingly vocal Mr. Titus, other accounts allude to similar concerns. The race to educate was secured by white supremacists. However, these examples of Black resistance at least attempted to slow the injustice. Race and education became intertwined. Being Black in Kentucky meant that you were to be separated from others, not worthy of being educated

226 Ibid. 227 “What the Negro Promises and What He Asks,” New York Tribune, February 2, 1906, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 228 Praise meetings were a gathering of individuals to provide a report, in this case about the fundraising efforts for the new school. 229 “Praise Meeting: Colored Friends of Berea College Meet to Give Thanks for Carnegie’s Gift of $200,000.00,” The Berea Citizen, February20, 1908, (vol. IX, no.3). 81

alongside white human beings. The battle for learning went on, despite the circumstances. Yet some questions arose, why the resistance, why fight when compensation was promised. What did they see as a reason to fight when these concessions were being made for their success? As one resistor noted, it was the time for Blacks to do for themselves. Unfortunately, something else about segregation that Blacks could understand was its inequality. By 1904, Blacks had been exposed to the ups and downs of second class citizenship. They had seen the system of segregation at its worst and in Kentucky, understood the implications. The truth is that segregation led to inferior structures, unfair taxation, limited teacher resources, and a dichotomy of second class citizenship. To fight segregation, meant that even if they could not be equal, that they could at least try to control the circumstances of it. The results of this particular resistance are noted in the following chapter where I will illuminate the outcomes associated with these types of resistance efforts. More specifically, the following chapter provides the discourse about the founding of Lincoln Institute and Kentucky State University as two distinctly different outcomes of resistance efforts.

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CHAPTER 4:

STRATEGIES OF RESISTANCE

In 1996, Kentuckians went to the polls to vote on the removal from the state’s constitution a ban on racially integrated education. Two-thirds of the electorate voted to successfully amend the constitution and formally remove the segregation provision.230 Although, Brown vs. Board of Education overturned segregation in schools almost forty-two years earlier, the amendment was a reminder of Kentucky’s educational past. Also interesting was not just the votes for the provision, but the almost thirty-three percent that voted against removal of the provision. Throughout this dissertation, I have grappled with the variety of views on race and race relations among the Kentucky population. Although the provision passed with an overwhelming majority, the opposition to the provision was also noteworthy. Of note is how this electorate’s vote on this issue was representative of the diverse views of Kentuckians on the subject of integration and interracial interaction. By the time famed educational and social leader Booker T. Washington wrote a letter to Berea College’s President William Frost on February 12, 1903, segregation was no longer looming, it was firmly planted in the U.S. foundation. In Kentucky, there was one educational community holding out against segregation, Berea College. Berea College, a private educational institution, became the target of segregationists. Mr. Washington’s letter sought clarification on President Frost’s position on education for Blacks and on segregation. Mr. Washington, a powerful African American leader, in this letter to Frost was unexpectedly direct in his concern with Frost’s misquoted statement in a newspaper, that “the white man should be educated before the Negro is educated.”231 This statement illuminated growing sentiment white supremacists, but for Frost as the president of an interracial educational institution facing segregationists, this type of statement created a clear and present danger for Blacks. Therefore, Mr. Washington in his letter to Frost contended that a “more statesman-like thing to say is that both races should be

230 “No More White Racism in America?”, Black Issues in Higher Education 45 (Autumn 2004): 18. 231 Booker T. Washington’s Letter to President Frost, February12, 1903, Record Group 3.03, Box 6, Presidents, Folder: 6-4 Frost Correspondence 1903 (L-Z), Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 83

educated.”232 The opinion described in Mr. Washington’s letter illuminates the growing shift from inclusion of Black educational opportunity to a primary focus on white educational opportunity. Economic and social changes affected Berea College’s admissions policy. In fact, even before Berea College was forced to act, Frost had shifted his focus to white mountaineer education to garner more financial support from a shrinking pool of donors.233 Targeting Berea College for segregation affected the reality of Blacks at Berea who were aware of their diminishing opportunities. Educational priorities facilitated a shift in Black people’s reality, shaping their reactions. No longer were they protected by the fervor of philanthropists, and once this protection waned Blacks responses shifted from successfully obtaining resources to invoking strategies for protecting their established resources. Berea College is an example of this tension that Blacks faced which included whether to cling to resources and/or develop strategies to survive segregated life. Black education at Berea College supplied a successful model for interracial education particularly in the South. Great strides had been made after the Civil War to educate Blacks. The Berea College administrative choice to educate whites over Blacks solidified educational segregation in Kentucky, but not before Blacks organized to resist. Separate schools were a part of the U.S. educational fabric. The threads represented the different experiences of Black, Whites, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Americans; these threads are all independent and unique, but reliant on each other for completion of the fabric. Kentucky schooling is an aspect of this fabric. Throughout Kentucky separate schools were established against the wishes of anti-segregationists. The reasons varied for separate schools, but perhaps Senator of captured the real issue, when he stated “race separation cannot fail to have a depressing effect on the mind of colored children, fostering the idea in them and others that they are not as good as other children.”234 Sumner also presented an important point about the nature of segregation and the idea best represented as “separate but equal,” in essence, “Equality is found only in Equality.”235 Blacks throughout Kentucky felt the disconnection between themselves and the whites while living under segregation. Equalizing

232 Ibid. 233 Baskin, Andrew. “Berea College: A Commitment to Interracial Education within a Christian Context”. In Ethnic Minorities and Evangelical Christian Colleges. (Maryland: University Press, 1991): 112. 234 Betram Wyatt- Brown, “The Civil Rights Act,” The Western Political Quarterly 18 no. 4, (December 1965): 764, http: www.jstor.org/stable/445883.775 (accessed September 21, 2009). 235 Ibid. 84

schooling was not a focal point until after the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Instead, the opportunity to shape schooling that resembled the democratic principles of a nation which professed “All Men are Created Equal” slipped away. Educational segregation provided no place for the philosophy of equality between the races. Instead segregation only served to reinforce the master plan. This chapter is about the complexity of oppression and the duality of resistance as seen in the segregation of Berea College and the creation of Kentucky State University. African American educational success in Kentucky was formed by various social components. Self- reliance was one such component and continued to emerge as a part of the formula for Black educational resistance. In the examples presented in this chapter, self-reliance is a central theme. Self-reliance as a strategy to combat segregation was one way Blacks chose to address the government’s policy of oppression under “separate but equal.” This legal permission of separation placed an unfair burden on Blacks, in the end it was they who had to serve as the voice for equality.236

4.1 The Demand for Resources

With the end of Reconstruction, Black hopes for equality diminished. A response to this situation was the action of resistance by Blacks. There were several ways Blacks tried to mitigate the effects of segregationist practices. One way that transformed Black educational opportunity was the demanding of resources; this type of resistance is the central theme that will be illuminated in this chapter. The demand for resources was sometimes filled with triumphs and failures. Regardless, these demands profoundly re-directed the race to educate. Developments including the establishment of school infrastructure to school growth categorize the period from 1865- 1880. Secondary and collegiate level opportunities were now needed to educate the Black population. High illiteracy, a lack of teachers, structures, and philanthropic resources characterize the early beginnings of Black education in Kentucky. Similarly, the entire South struggled with these characteristics of education for Blacks. The demand for education by Blacks contributed to lowering illiteracy rates. However, there were still difficulties in the configuration of schools for Blacks. Although gains were made in developing a teaching pool, there were no

236 Ibid.,764. 85

public teacher training schools for Blacks prior to 1887 in Kentucky. The demand for schools and education outgrew the structure of teacher training of Blacks. A group of teachers and activists organized to address the teacher shortage issue through the Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association. Kentucky’s educational system for Blacks was at risk of dissolution without an on-going cadre of trained teachers.237 As I began to understand segregation as a movement beyond just the separation of the white and Black races, and recognize it as a movement to destroy any opportunities for Black educational equality, only then could I effectively assess the value of Black resistance efforts. The fight for education included not only school buildings but individuals who were qualified and willing to teach in them. The efforts of KCTSA to ensure that the Kentucky school system had a cadre of educational structures, was an important effort to ensure that there were teachers to teach in them. The State Normal School for Colored Persons (Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute, now Kentucky State University) opened on October 11, 1887. The institution was headed by a Black alumnus of Berea College John H. Jackson as its first president.238 Ironically, John H. Jackson had also earlier led the association in its request for this teacher training institution. The institution itself was of great significance, but the way in which KSU was initiated confirms the level of Black resistance activity in Kentucky. To address the shortage of black teachers in Kentucky, African Americans needed a place to train Black teachers. The Kentucky Colored Teachers’ State Association set an agenda to establish a teacher training institution at their initial meeting on August 7, 1878. The KCTSA instigated the development of Kentucky State University on January 26, 1886. The records indicate that there were no state supported normal schools for Blacks, until the establishment of this institution. However, there were six private normal black schools, one of which was State Colored Baptist University (Simmons University).239 Additionally important is that of the private normal schools existing in 1877 only State Colored Baptist University has survived to the present as Simmons University. Developing an agenda for demanding a public normal school was an act of resistance. By requesting a new source for training black teachers, they were able to usurp the possible derailment of the

237 John Hardin, Onward and Upward: A Centennial History of Kentucky State University, 1886-1986 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 1. 238 Ibid. 239 Ibid. 86

educational progress of Black Kentuckians. By demanding teacher training, the KCTSA established itself as a group of concerned educators who were willing to go against the status quo and obtain what was needed to educate Blacks. Additionally, requesting a state-supported normal school for Blacks appeared to serve as an educational equalizer; whites had state-supported teacher training programs at such institutions as the state’s flagship institution, University of Kentucky. Members of the KCTSA had organized and used the state-authorized Black teachers’ association to rally for new opportunities for Blacks. Condoning resistance probably wasn’t an intention of the General Assembly when they provided for the organizing of the Black state association. Although this action by the state could suggest that education for Blacks welcomed Black input, there were instances of white dominance through force and lack of support. Despite these obstacles, this organization proved to be successful. When the Association convened for its first regular session in 1878, James Maxwell and John H. Jackson (elected president) served as the first leaders and speakers in creating the agenda. The Association responded to the crisis of the shortage of Black teachers in the state. For example, if the perspective was that Black people were inferior, any proposal had to gain significant faith from the white supremacist power structure. In addition, the request had to perform a delicate dance, so as not to offend the white supremacist power structure nor appear uppity. The establishment of schools was a step in the right direction for educational equality, but when compared to white educational opportunity the lack of Black teachers and segregation challenged opportunities for Black educational growth. A committee was organized and charged with creating a report at the first KCTSA meeting. The Memorial Committee submitted recommendations and included “a special appeal for the establishment of a state normal school.”240 The committee submitted the report to the State Legislature after a preliminary conference.241 Additionally, the Association also encouraged people to contact their legislators to petition for a state normal school for Blacks. William J. Simmons of State Colored Baptist University (Simmons University) petitioned in front of the Kentucky House of Representatives and urged for the creation of a state supported normal school. Dr. Simmons, despite the president of a private institution, led this petition on the

240 Harvey C. Russell, The Kentucky Negro Educational Association 1877-1946 (Norfolk: Guide Quality Press, 1946), 8, Pamphlet 371.974 R963, Kentucky State University Archives, Frankfort, KY. 241 John Hardin, Onward and Upward: A Centennial History of Kentucky State University, 1886-1986 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 1. 87

House of Representatives floor. Later, his success in helping to secure a publically supported normal school for Blacks challenged the existence of his important institution. President Simmons provided an electrifying speech that represented the delicate balance of statesman and advocate that Black activists mastered. A glimpse of this speech “in obedience to the demands of our constituents, we venture to lay before you in a manly, honorable way, the complaints of as true hearted Kentuckians as ever came from the loins of the bravest, truest and most honored women, sired by the most distinguished fathers,” illuminates the tone of Dr. Simmons speech.242 Fourteen black teachers from the petitioning KCTSA committee accompanied Dr. Simmons and asked for approval of a “state normal school to train black teachers for Kentucky’s racially- segregated black schools.”243 On May 18, 1886, former Confederate officer Governor J. Knott approved Chapter 1297 Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 244 With the approval of this Act, Kentucky established a public institution for Black teacher training. This victory was the fruit of almost seven years of resistance work by the KCTSA from 1876-1886. These efforts moved towards correcting the lack of Black teacher supply, thus uplifting the school system for Blacks. Kentucky had provided educational opportunities but often failed to provide the resources to maintain the opportunity. The significance of this institution which is still a viable higher education institution today, addressed several issues that Blacks faced in Kentucky. First, it attempted to provide an opportunity to eradicate the Black teacher shortage. The lack of teachers had made educating Blacks extremely difficult. Without Black teachers, schooling for Blacks would lag behind their white counterparts, because there were not enough white teachers to serve in white and black schools. The shortage in the teaching supply was a focal point for KSU, and through this institution a stronger base for school administrators could be developed. Second, the State Normal School for Colored Persons is a Historically Black University which began with a Black president. Although the first president for the institution was Black, having an African American in this role did not automatically provide autonomy for the Black institution. The relationships between the Black presidents and white powerbrokers was often tumultuous at best, but again,

242 Ibid. 243 Ibid. 244 Ibid. 88

the Black presidency ensured, at least in theory, an agenda that a white president may not have promoted. KSU as an institution with site governance by Blacks for Blacks serves as an example of success for Black education in Kentucky at that time. The institution was established out of need, and through Black resistance efforts. They had a choice to continue in their current condition which was hindered due to the teacher shortage, or to agitate through whatever means to gain additional resources. More was on the line besides just another school; this institution was needed to provide a strong base for Black school growth. Finally the establishment of KSU also points to another institution of importance in Kentucky education, Berea College. KSU evolved with the input of many individuals who were graduates of Berea College. This is an important link that cannot be simply dismissed as coincidence. Instead it points to a loosely knit network of individuals who often had commonalities outside of their resistance efforts.

4.2 Resistance as a Response to Segregation at Berea College

It is ironic that the very institution that was a target of Black resistance, Berea College, formerly served as a training ground for several Black agitators in Kentucky educational history. The treacherous relationship that describes white and Black relations, where Blacks stayed in a position of subservience, subsided in some ways at Berea College by virtue of the interracial nature of the institution. Therefore, when Berea College’s almost forty years of interracial educational tradition ended in 1904, it should be of no surprise that even though Berea College alumni were not successful in blocking segregation, they did try to mitigate its affects. Berea College Black alumni and friends did this in several ways including outspoken attacks on President Frost’s administration, fundraising for a new institution, and attending other schools as efforts to resist segregation. Even prior to the dismantling of Berea College’s mission through the Day Law, Blacks were vocal about their stake in Berea College affairs and the education of Blacks. Resolutions passed by the Kentucky Colored State Teachers’ Association describe the expectations of Berea College anti-segregationists. In these resolutions the Association highlighted that they were alarmed at the “constant and successful attempt in the past years, to so

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direct affairs at Berea College as to eliminate practically from its walls students of color.”245 In addition, their final resolution surfaced concerns about the difference in curricula for Black and white students. In the resolution the KCTSA insisted upon the same curricula for Black children and white children in schools. This issue of curriculum becomes an ongoing theme in the education of Blacks. The outspokenness of Blacks in Kentucky’s educational affairs did not stop the segregation of Berea College. When the Day Law was enacted there were Black students at Berea College. The question of what happened to these students who were already attending Berea College in 1904 when the Day Law was enacted has not been researched sufficiently. Research generally illuminates the Frost Administration and/or the Day Law; few illuminate how the African American population responded to this atrocity. Segments of the Black population continued to resist the push to move them out of Berea College and segregate the institution. First it is important to note that at stake for Blacks was access to the only institution in Kentucky committed to interracial education. Additionally, the presence of Black Berea alumni in so many arenas speaks to the breadth of Berea College’s statewide impact. In letters encouraging resistance to the Day Law, Blacks articulated their love of Berea and their appreciation for its support of Black education in Kentucky. Berea College alumni and supporters understood the limitations if Berea College could not be accessed by Blacks. This limitation came into fruition when the first class after the Day Law was all-white.246 The participation of the Black alumni at Berea College before and prior to segregation is distinct. Despite the institution serving white and Black populations, it was governed by whites. Black participation was at the mercy of whites, who had the power to decide their place in the institution. Perhaps the utopia of equality created by the college’s founder John G. Fee facilitated a false sense of reality. There are many suggestions for why Blacks engaged in the affairs of Berea College. These factors include an early history of Black students as the majority and Blacks as a part of the landscape of the college. At Berea College, the racism that had infiltrated other institutions where white and Blacks interacted did not always raise its ugly head. Of course there was racism and the remnants of the domination found within white and Black race

245 Resolutions of Kentucky Colored Teachers’ Association, Berea Citizen circa 1890, Vertical Files RG 1307 Blacks 1836-1894, Box 1 of 1, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 246 Scott Blakeman, “Night Comes To Berea College: The Day Law and The African-American Reaction,” The Filson Club History Quarterly 7 no. 1 (January 1996): 11. 90

relations, but the utopia created a false sense of reality. The reality of overt racism may not have been strongly intertwined in the day to day life of Berea College, but the function of racism from outside and infiltrated the college with the Day Law. As a consequence, the Berea College administration made a decision which catapulted underlying beliefs about race, racism, and race relations to the forefront. The case of Berea College and the Day Law did not create racism, but instead illuminated inconsistencies in the life of Blacks. It was a reminder that no matter how successful Blacks became they were still at the whim of white supremacists. As a result, the experiment of interracial education was placed on hold and the formerly enrolled Blacks were barred from the institution. A number of those students opted to attend various HBCUs on scholarships from Berea College. Consider that the expulsion of Black students from Berea College provided undue hardships, since some BC students often paid for their tuition in diverse ways such as the campus labor program, and Black students left their homes in the local community. Therefore, when students had to make decisions to continue schooling after the expulsion, there was much more at stake than just which school to attend. Prior to the dismissal of Blacks from Berea College, different students and community members sent letters and attempted to vocalize against this decision of segregation. On February 4, 1904, a letter was submitted to the Educational Committee of the House of Representatives, Commonwealth of Kentucky by white citizens from the community testifying that “Fearing that erroneous and unjust impressions have been made upon you to an extent unknown to us, by private representations since partially published, we, undersigned white citizens, long-time residents of Berea and vicinity, wish to testify to you that we know the Faculty and Trustees of Berea College to be honorable and upright people, eminently qualified for their work, and devoted to it with the highest spirit of conscientiousness and patriotism.”247 Furthermore, this letter also uplifts a core issue that prompted the introduction of the Day Law, interracial interactions. The white citizens testified that the faculty and trustees had “been devoted and watchful regarding the manners and morals of all young people under their charge, and eminently successful not only in guarding against any improprieties and misconduct, but also

247 White Citizens against the Day Law To the Educational Committee of the House of Representatives, Commonwealth of Kentucky, February 4, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law, c. 1904-1910, RG 3.03, Box 23/6, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 91

instilling in their pupils the principles of honor and the spirit of true religion.”248 This information countered some perceptions of white and Black interactions in Berea, but it did nothing to alter the Day Law decision. Some Black students vocalized their concerns while still at Berea College. Thirty-one students (colored) on March 28, 1904, in a letter to President Frost requested Berea College to hold true to its roots and “that any form of separation whatsoever will be fostering and encouraging those principles against which the institution was established.”249 Unfortunately, Berea did go against these principles and followed through with the provisions of the Day Law. The plans moved forward for the segregated Berea College. The next set of events included communications about the fate of the Blacks enrolled. By June 11, 1904, the newly created BC Committee of the Board of Trustees (William G. Frost, Walter E. C. Wright, James Bond (Black), J.R. Rogers, and William E. Barton) had issued a letter confirming the inevitable. In this letter, they underlined a four point plan. In this plan, the provisions for Black students were conveyed and included assisting “in the general improvement of the public colored school of Berea.”250 This provision was targeted towards those Black students from families that lived in Berea, KY, some of whom had relocated to Berea so they may obtain an education at Berea College. The other provisions called for the creation of agreements with Fisk University and for those who could not attend Fisk University, inquiry into other institutions that might be closer to the Black students’ homes. Black students who were interested in the committee making arrangements were encouraged to contact the Secretary of the College, Mr. Will C. Gamble.251 When Berea College provided scholarships for Black students to enroll at other educational institutions, it was one way to facilitate the education of Blacks. Conversely Berea College’s plan to aid Blacks in attending other schools may have inadvertently ensured the stronghold of segregated schools. There were several students who took advantage of the plan and went to such institutions as Fisk, Tuskegee, Howard University and Knoxville College.252 They attended these schools due to a partnership with Berea College as an appeasement for their removal.

248 Ibid. 249 Colored students Petition to Frost, March 28, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law c. 1904, RG 3.03 Box 23/6, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 250 “Safety of Berea Students: Committee from the Board of Trustees,” Berea Citizen, V no. 52 (June 16, 1904). 251 Ibid. 252 Students dropped from list of Colored Students, June 4, 1906, RG 137 A, 1874-1906, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 92

Although the students may not officially have demanded this opportunity they did take advantage of it. By agreeing to attend these institutions, they did not lose completely to the segregationists. This form of resistance ensured that at the very least they had another educational opportunity. It also reminded Blacks of their vulnerability, that even with such a liberal institution as Berea College, they were still at the whim of the white power structure. As over fifty Black former Berea College students attended HBCUs at the pleasure of the Frost Administration, they were not able to return to Berea College even for graduation.253 Instead they sometimes sent word back to the institution, thanking them for their scholarships and sending greetings. In a letter of response, the Berea College students at Fisk “resolved more firmly to use every opportunity which makes for usefulness and good citizenship.”254 These alumni, E.W. Gentry, Sophia Overstreet, and A.B. Jones did not take lightly this opportunity. Perhaps the letters of greetings and updates were for the white friends that they had to leave behind. The submission of these letters to the Berea College community can also be seen as a final act of resistance. In sending these letters they may have been vocalizing their determination while engaging in the politics of appeasement so they would continue to receive support. Meanwhile, as those who were sent to HBCU’s were maintaining, other groups of Blacks were seeking ways to resist the segregation by placing demands on Berea College to develop another institution for Blacks and for the administration to fight the segregation. By making provisions for students to attend other institutions, separate but equal was fully formed. Berea College policy resembled some Southern states’ costly policy of sending black students to other states for graduate study. 255 By the end of this chapter in Berea College history, around $18,000 had been given to Black students in financial aid to attend other institutions between the years 1904 and 1912.256 It seemed that Black alumni vocalized both against and for submission to Berea College’s decision to segregate. Alumni were not always pleased with the decision. A small army of opponents which included members of the Kentucky Colored Teachers’ State Association were very vocal against the segregation of Berea College. One member provided a great deal of agitation to the efforts of the College. However, their resistance was organic. For

253 “The College and the Colored People,” Berea Citizen, July 27, 1905, Vol. VI, number 23 254 “Our Friends at Fisk,” Berea Citizen, November 24, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law, c. 1904-1910, RG 3.03, Box 23/7, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 255 Richard Kluger, Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America’s Struggle for Equality (Vintage Books: New York, 1975), 137. 256 Report to A. Eugene Thompson from Mr. Thos. J. Osborne, May 18, 1912, Lincoln Institute Correspondence, 1909- 1917, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 93

example, The Berea Citizen reported that a meeting of colored graduates on October 22, 1904 was led by Mr. A.W. Titus seeking opinions about Berea College efforts. Mr. Titus attempted to gain support for his desire to resist the Berea College segregation and equalize the funds. Some highlights of the meeting included questions about whether “colored students should seek admissions at Berea College” even since segregation, “whether attempts should be made to tie up the funds of the college... whether to call at once for division of funds,” and ascertaining the level of responsibility of President Frost in the matter of the segregation of Berea College.257 The questions placed on the agenda were voted against by the majority in attendance. Those in attendance who initially voted against the possible protests, Frank Williams and J.C. Jackson, later became loud voices of resistance against Berea College. The attendees voted that they had confidence in the Board, and formed a committee which included Mr. A. W. Titus at his own request.258 Mr. Titus and Frank Williams later became resistance partners; Titus a resistor from the beginning of the segregation of Berea College, Williams later as Berea College plans unfolded. This meeting was a peek into the resistance that Titus continued until the establishment of the promised Black school, Lincoln Institute (1912). Consequently, the meeting which may not initially have created a successful cadre of resistance efforts highlighted the concerns of some Blacks in regards to Berea College’s efforts and the need to confront them. Despite Titus’ failure in his October 22, 1904 effort, he was persistent. Titus did not retreat. In fact, Titus was a subject of conversation for many years as the work of the College continued. The reports to build a new institution for Blacks did not quench the abandonment felt by some Black BC alumni. The building of a new institution (Lincoln Institute) was a consolation prize that did not please several Blacks. In fact, several Blacks could not overcome their concern that this was a plot by the Frost Administration to appease white segregationist and thus strengthen their commitment to white, mountain youth.259 Under such a climate, the new institution was paved with a great amount of difficulty. The institution could have been developed out of funds from the Berea College endowment. Some questioned why this was not an option, as the funding was for both Black and white students. However, the consensus became that the funds were to remain separate and new funds were to be raised for the new institution.

257 “College Items: Here and There,” Berea Citizen VI no. 14 (September 22, 1904). 258 Ibid. 259 Paul David Nelson, “Experiment in Interracial Education at Berea College, 1858-1908,” Journal of Negro History 59, no. 1, (January 1974): 62. 94

When it was determined that the new institution was to have separate funds, and in essence a separate entity, several issues seemed prohibitive to the establishment of this institution. First, there needed to be funding for this endeavor. A board of trustee’s member and Black alumni named James Bond, set out on a mission to raise the endowment for this institution. The idea that Blacks would contribute to this new institution was at the foundation of the fundraising. However, Bond and the Frost administration did not anticipate that the efforts of Blacks who were dissatisfied could or would derail their efforts to fundraise. Second, the location for this institution became a political minefield. The final issue, concerned whether this new institution could be created with a speed that responded to the urgency of the matter. Opponents such as Alfred Titus and Frank Williams worked to undermine efforts to fundraise the almost $400,000.00 needed to create this new school. They facilitated distrust in the fundraising efforts for the institution and President Frost. The opponents successful undermining did not go unnoticed by the lead fundraiser James Bond. Throughout Bond’s efforts to raise funds he communicates with the Berea College administration the nature of these oppositional efforts. Bond highlights several dilemmas with the attempt to raise funds. First, Bond is well aware that some Black alumni were not accepting of the Day Law and its forcing of the institution to segregate. These powerful alumni served as a roadblock in efforts to raise money for the Adjustment Fund. This fund was for the development of the new institution for Blacks. Instead those alums believe the only way for Berea College to stay true to its mission was to resist the Day Law. In fact, Bond notes about the opposition “I wonder what Williams- Titus and company will do now” as he and Frost continue to correspond about what must happen for the Black students of Berea College.260 Second, Bond is also aware of the influential alums who oppose the building of the school and their ability to shape BC efforts to fundraise. He believed that he could utilize Black churches and individuals, and recognizes one important aspect of the dilemma, if funds are not raised there will not be an alternative school and the matter reaches an impasse. Despite the tension, fundraising is clearly not only going to serve as an opportunity for a new school, but also is important according to Bond for Blacks to show their support of this effort and education.

260 Letter to President Frost from James Bond, January 29, 1908, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 9, Series II, Correspondence, 1906-08, RG3.03, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 95

Finally, and perhaps the most compelling is that no matter which of these interests were accomplished, both parties needed to understand the repercussions of their decisions. In short, Bond’s actions as primary fundraiser for the Adjustment Fund were to facilitate the development of a new educational opportunity for Blacks. He was aware that even with this possibility there were those who had articulated that Berea College should have no or limited part in developing a new school for Blacks.261 Despite this quandary, Bond’s efforts present another problem in the pedagogy of resistance, resistance at odds with other resistance efforts. According to Historian John Hardin, the struggle for Lincoln Institute highlighted competing tensions, the campaign against the ideological struggles of white dominance over Black life and the internal battle among Black leaders.262 Bond can be viewed by some as a traitor or as a sell out or any other word to describe a person who sides with the oppressor, but a greater question must be posed- were Bond’s efforts another form of resistance? The agitators of Bond and Frost (BC representatives) at the core wanted educational opportunity for Blacks. However, one group felt that Berea College was the entity to fight the ongoing injustice and the other felt that new opportunities must be developed to have ownership. These camps were both very vocal. For example, in April 1908 some former students of Berea College met in Lexington and recommended that sympathy be exhibited for the efforts of the Frost Administration. Additionally, they encouraged the Trustees’ committee to continue moving forward with establishing a colored school. In moving forward they also noted that Blacks should be included in the fundraising efforts and that $50,000.00 could be raised among Blacks. Finally, they also reaffirmed their “loyalty to the principles upon which Berea of the past was founded”, and that the “approval of the colored department in any degree renounce these principles, but we believe that in this new field of labor we shall best subserve them and thus hasten the day of realization.”263 In some ways they were both right, Bond’s identification of

261 Guy W. Mallon letter to Frost, November 21, 1905, RG 3.03 Box 8, Record Group Presidents, Folder 8-4 Frost Correspondence 1904 (M-Z), Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 262 John Hardin, Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904- 1954 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 22 263 “Colored Graduates Meet: Adopt Resolutions Urging That Their People Be Given Chance to Help New College- Enthusiastic and Harmonious Meeting,” Berea Citizen IX, no. 41 (April 9, 1908). Participants at conference Joshua Crenshaw, Patti Crenshaw, J.W. Hughes, Dr. Henry Clay, Barbara Robinson Courtney, W.H. Humphrey, J.O. Whittaker, A.R. Cobb, Henry R. Bond, Green P. Russell, J.D.M Russell, Dixon M. Flack, Dr. A.B. Deany, N.W. Magowan, Rev. Dr. James Bond, Rev. George Bell, Prof. John W. Bates, Jas. A. White, and D. B. Russell. 96

funding for an institution that would possibly be governed by Blacks was an opportunity for self- determination. James Bond continued with much success in raising monies for the Adjustment Fund. Bond, the son of a formerly enslaved Black woman and her white master, articulated his understanding of the value of education in a letter to President Frost. From this letter one is left with little doubt that Bond grappled with how best to ensure Blacks obtained education, particularly from Berea College. He recounts the prompts in his life that sent him to Berea College and how important that particular educational institution was to his success. In this recollection he shares that not long ago he was like his mother, poor and unlettered and how Berea College changed his status. 264 In addition, it seems that Bond also understood the tightrope that he as a “colored person” had to walk. The pain that he expresses when Berea College is forced to segregate provides for the rationale for his endeavors. By 1904 there were institutions for Blacks. Perhaps it was that Bond felt he would force Berea to continue their commitment to Blacks. Even if we are not sure of his reasons, Berea College is symbolic of a more prolific problem that Blacks almost 40 years after slavery could still rest in the hands of the white supremacist structure. As Bond continued to grapple with the duality of resistance, oppositional efforts to the Adjustment Fund continued to move forward. The onslaught of resistance seemed unable to subside. Perhaps the most important resistance efforts evolved from the powerful KCTSA. This organization prompted by the state legislature as an educational leadership organization for Blacks, organized many successful efforts to educate Blacks. Perhaps as we have already understood, the most far-reaching was the institutionalization of a public normal school for Blacks, Kentucky State University. The KCTSA was also very vocal in their concern and opposition to the segregation of Berea College. Their opposition was presented in the form of a resolution titled President Frost’s Betrayal of the Colored People in Administration and Berea College. At the 1907 Danville, KY meeting the resolution was adopted unanimously. The resolution summarized the feelings of betrayal as Berea College segregated and fundraising for the new institution commenced. Perhaps the most significant characteristic of this resolution was it authors, A.W. Titus (Berea resident), Frank L Williams (BC Alum), J.C. Jackson (former BC trustee) and Dr. Mary Britton (BC alum). A.W. Titus had already been involved in a campaign

264Rev. James Bond letter to Frost, January 8, 1904, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 97

against the segregation of Berea College, but Frank Williams as president of the KCTSA spearheaded the efforts against Berea College. All of these individuals continued to vocalize resistance to Berea College’s efforts on this matter. However, their presentation of this resolution illuminates the systematic and organized resistance efforts of Blacks in Kentucky. The nature of the KCTSA provided a foundation and facilitation of resolutions to problems facing Blacks in regards to education. The Association also often provided fuel for continuing individual resistance efforts. For example, A.W. Titus who utilized the Association to organize against Berea College partnered with President Frank Williams to create a KCTSA resolution for Berea College. Furthermore, the KCTSA embodies the principles of advocacy and activism, deciding to vocalize the complex nature of segregation and its impact on Blacks. Possibly with KCTSA support, Titus continued to agitate against Berea College’s efforts. Bond continues to chronicle Titus’ (and Williams’) actions in correspondence with BC administrators. Again, Titus uses the very fundraising meetings designed to raise money for the new institution, to provide a platform against the school. Bond reports to BC Treasurer T.J. Osborne on October 3, 1908, that there is a rumor that Titus will break up the meeting.265 In his letter to the treasurer, Bond seems confident that it will be of no consequence. However, he must swallow this confidence as he reports in the next sets of correspondence that indeed Titus broke up the meeting and negatively affects the amounts of funds raised.266 As fundraising efforts continued, so did the opposition. On December 27, 1908, Bond writes that “President Frost, Rev. A.E. Thompson and myself think it is very important to control the Teachers’ Association which meets in Winchester, Kentucky, December 29-31st. Williams, Titus and Co. will make their last stand.” 267 Titus was not the only agitator reported as undermining the Lincoln Institute efforts. Another fund raiser also reported that he was experiencing difficulty in acquiring an audience in Winchester, KY. Fundraising agent J.C. Browne reports on July 26, 1909 that “someone here is poisoning the minds of the people against the school.”268 Browne suspects that the opposition is from a local Black newspaper writer, and requests counter resistance measures to deter any further damage. The fundraising efforts for

265 Correspondence between James Bond and T.J. Osborne regarding Adjustment Fund Pledges, October 3, 1908, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 266 Ibid. 267 Letter from Bond to Osborne about Titus, Williams, and Company, December 27, 1908, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 268 Letter from J.C. Browne to T.J. Osborne, July 26, 1909, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 98

Lincoln Institute were not a joyous or simple endeavor. So much opposition from sources that could have served as allies affected not only relationships but the bottom line of the fundraising. Finally in a letter to Mr. T. Osborne the feud between Frank Williams and James Bond was in the closing stages. To the surprise of James Bond who reported about his sharing the same platform with Mr. Williams was cordially greeted by Mr. Williams. Bond writes about Williams’ new attitude towards him, one that is “not attacking us. He is very kind and attentive to me personally.”269 The event was also an important breakthrough in Bond’s fervor to raise funds. Bond eagerly sends word that pledges will be sent, since he was able to quell rumors and suspicions. In this letter he reflects on the opposition faced during their fundraising efforts, and believes that it is merely their ignorance that caused individuals to not donate. Bond continues with his efforts of fundraising. By the close of the Adjustment Fundraising, over $400,000.00 was raised through donations, almost half from a pledge from Andrew Carnegie.270 What a glorious effort for Bond and supporters. The funds were raised and the institution could be developed. The next dilemma for Bond and supporters of this new institution was what type of school, who would govern the school, and where the school would be located. The school, to be later named Lincoln Institute, was to be a beacon of hope. The resistance Bond put forth was not over with his obtaining the funds. The battle for the race to educate took on a new phase in resistance efforts. Despite the delays Bond was successful in raising funds for the institution. In another correspondence with Frost, Bond reported that almost $400,000.00 was raised. As predicted African Americans gave to the adjustment fund and supported the development of the school to the tune of $20,000.00.271 This amount was not considered substantial in the grand scheme of the fundraising, but it is representative of those Black proponents. Even after the collection of funds the resistance continued. Individuals began to question the location, governance, and curriculum choices for Lincoln Institute.

269 Letter to Mr. T.J. Osborne from James Bond, July 30, 1909, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 270 “Colored Graduates Meet: Adopt Resolutions Urging That Their People Be Given Chance to Help in New College- Enthusiastic and Harmonious Meeting,” Berea Citizen IX, no.41. (April 9, 1908). 271 “2100 Added to Lincoln Institute Fund,” Louisville Courier-Journal, Thursday, February 11, 1909. Lincoln Institute Collection, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 99

Their concerns were warranted. Lincoln Institute was not to be a model of liberal arts for Blacks, but instead to be based upon the Tuskegee Model.272 The notion of industrial education had become a central theme in the education of Blacks. The intense debates on the matter engaged individuals concerned about the education of Blacks to take sides. One understanding of industrial education, probably best associated with W.E.B. Dubois juxtaposed the liberal arts experience as necessary to uplift Blacks vs. the technical/vocational educational experience associated with Booker T. Washington. Therefore, when the Lincoln Institute administration planned for industrial education as its curricular focus, advocates of both positions provided many salient arguments for and against this type of education. In the Lincoln Institute Worker article “Industrial Education: What Lincoln Institute Can Do for the People of Kentucky,” decisions about the model are re- articulated from the Frost’s presentation at a 1908 conference in Louisville, KY. Key highlights of his rationale included President Frost’s defense of industrial education for Lincoln Institute based upon that they “tried to make the institute one which would be of the largest possible benefit to all the colored people of the state.”273 In justifying industrial education Frost contemplates that Samuel Armstrong founder of Hampton Institute managed “with these industries he combined enough book-studies so that the Hampton graduates were fit to teach school.”274 Additionally, in an effort to establish the value of industrial education for Blacks the article points to the fact that whites were also using this type of education, and that some wealthy trustees from New York City, “really wished their own children could have the advantages which the colored boys and girls were getting at Hampton.”275 By the 1900’s, industrial education had evolved. The Hampton University that Frost praised was in the past. At its peak, Hampton indeed graduated most of their students with normal school training. Hampton and Tuskegee University’s model of industrial education were not based on trade or agricultural training, but according to scholar James Anderson in The Education of Blacks in the South, it was based on the training of teachers. In fact if this was indeed the model for Lincoln Institute then its success could contribute to curbing the teacher shortage. However, there were several elements of industrial education that were not centered on

272 “Lincoln Institute Selected as Name,” Louisville Herald, February 6, 1909; “Workers for Department of Berea College for Negroes arrive in City to begin Campaign,” Lexington Herald, February 5, 1909. Lincoln Institute Collection, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 273 “Industrial Education. What Lincoln Institute Can Do for the People of Kentucky.” The Lincoln Institute Worker, vol. I, No. I (March 1909), 4. Lincoln Institute Collection, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 274 Ibid. 275 Ibid.,5. 100

teacher training. Post-Civil War industrial education did not include a focus on teacher training. There were three layers of industrial education, schools of applied science and technology, trade schools, and academic curriculum supplemented by manual instruction in industry, thrift and morality.276 Perhaps the uproar about industrial education was in the confusion around the hybrid models that were found both at Hampton and Tuskegee University.277 In final defense of the planned industrial education at Lincoln Institute, Booker T. Washington is touted as an example of a successful recipient of industrial education. Washington, who was invited to serve on Berea College’s Board of Trustees prior to the passing of the Day Law, was considered a successful example of how President Frost had hoped that this type of education would help Blacks be more prosperous. Lincoln Institute’s curriculum did become a boarding school which focused on an industrial education. However, with all of the questions about industrial education, the article also highlights “that the Lincoln Institute while beginning with industrial education does not propose to stop there. Its training of teachers will be a great feature from the start, and other things will be added as a means and needs appear.”278 Julia Young, editor of the Black newspaper Kentucky Standard summarized the conflict between industrial education and liberal arts education. In an article by Ms. Young, she asks the obvious question of why the new institution could not provide “academic, normal, and college training as well as toting the wood and digging the soil.”279 Even as the venture was near completion, opponents still voiced their distaste. After many discussions, Berea College decided to locate the school outside of Louisville in the town of Shelbyville. Even this location was contentious. In order for them to purchase the land for the institution the community had to provide permission. The establishment of Lincoln Institute was so close, but yet other elements had to be overcome. In the final analysis, the fight for education by Blacks was definitely for those who could persevere. Berea College and its associates’ attempt to create an educational opportunity for Blacks spanned for almost eight years, from 1904-1912. On October 1, 1912, when Lincoln University finally opened its doors to Black students in Simpsonville, Shelby County, it was to

276 James Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 35. 277 Ibid., 34 278Ibid., 6. 279 John Hardin, Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904- 1954 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 23. 101

serve as a boarding school with an emphasis on industrial education.280 When Lincoln Institute finally opened in Shelby County, it had endured a battle over curriculum and resistance by white community members regarding its location. The identification of the location for Lincoln Institute was not announced until after all funds were gathered.281 Simpsonville, KY was not the original proposed site, Anchorage, Kentucky was the first option, but white citizens resisted this proposition and successfully deterred the establishment of the institute. Simpsonville was decided as a viable site because of its twenty-two mile distance from the “center of the black population of the state,” Louisville, KY.282 Additionally, this rural town was about 90 miles north of Berea, KY. George C. Wright in “The Founding of Lincoln Institute,” states that “Obtaining a site for the institution was a primary problem, since no community approached wanted a Negro school near their residential areas.”283 In fact, a group of Shelby County white leaders organized a mass meeting to deter the sale of lands to the representatives of the Lincoln Institute efforts. Even after information was presented that locating the institution in Simpsonville would raise the “Negro population” and impact the economic situation, this group and others vocalized their desire to not have Lincoln Institute in their community. Interestingly, the rationales for their opposition included concerns that an educational institution for Blacks may bring Black vagrants and thus be a detriment to the town. In addition those in opposition to the institution threatened violence, published a resolution and passed the Holland Law. The Holland Law was an effort by John Holland a state legislator representing Simpsonville and Shelbyville. The bill made it “mandatory for three-fourths of the voters of the county to approve the location of any school in the county.”284 Akin to the Day Law the Holland Law sought to hinder education of Blacks. However, this law was vetoed by Kentucky Governor A. G. Willson and declared unconstitutional by the state appellate court on June 6, 1910. The Institute could be located in Simpsonville. Although Lincoln Institute was successfully opened in 1912 the climate from which it arose was very tenuous. Despite these instances of hostility the Lincoln Institute, named after

280 John Kleber ed., The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 558. 281 “Meeting Of The Trustees: The Colored School Discussed.- Decided to Build New Hospital.- College to Have Charge of the Construction of Side Walks,” Berea Citizen vol. IX, no. 51 (June 18, 1908). 282 George C. Wright, “The Founding of Lincoln Institute,” The Filson Club Historical Quarterly, Vol. 49 (1975): 63. 283 Ibid., 62. 284 Ibid., 63.

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Abraham Lincoln, served as beacon of hope against the hegemony. In fact the naming of Lincoln Institute served as both a symbol of the efforts for freedom exhibited by Abraham Lincoln, and a view into the future as Blacks tried to move forward in gaining their objectives. The Lincoln Institute although an addition to the limited educational opportunities, was not a replacement of the interracial experiment at Berea College. The trustees were formed with mostly white members and two Black members Rev. James Bond and Charles Parrish. However, unlike Kentucky State University, Lincoln Institute did not begin with Black leadership. It was distinctly different because of the controversy surrounding its existence and the demographics of the board and leadership. Lincoln Institute did meet an important need in the Kentucky educational landscape by providing another educational opportunity for Blacks. The Berea College influence of student labor was evident as students had to work to pay for the tuition. The Lincoln Institute also attempted to maintain a spirit of self- reliance not only for the students but by employing Blacks. For example, Black architects from the firm Tandy and Foster of New York were commissioned to design the buildings. Building contracts were awarded to a Louisville firm, that later resigned fearing mob violence. Even after overcoming all of these obstacles, developing a spirit of Black self-reliance was still difficult in this negative racial climate.

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CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION: RACISM, PATERNALISM, OPPRESSION AND DETERMINATION AS ELEMENTS OF EDUCATION FOR

BLACKS IN KENTUCKY

The establishment of Berea College in 1865 (respectively) and Lincoln Institute in 1912 encompasses a span of resistance of over 50 years in Kentucky. Throughout these years Kentucky Blacks were consistently and successfully involved in the establishment and growth of their educational opportunities. There is no rationale for arguing that only whites provided significant leadership in the education of Blacks in Kentucky. In fact, we find that it is through the types of resistance efforts described in this dissertation, that we come to better understand how Blacks agitated both overtly and covertly for educational opportunities. Throughout this research, resistance has been examined as a complex and often competing effort. These efforts often provided some types of opportunity, and yet sometimes served to undermine future endeavors. This competition between Blacks is often an embedded reality in African American history. In almost all efforts of significant Black leadership within the Black community there have been efforts to undermine values and approaches. Under the authority of white supremacy, divide and conquer is a real tenet. Nevertheless, the difficulty for educational historians is to decipher if the educational resistance efforts were indeed as a result of some white supremacist puppeteer or a conglomeration of efforts to affect change. The tension either brings about change, or destroys the efforts of resistance. Kentucky educational history does provide those instances of thwarted resistance efforts. There is no formula for resistance, therefore when they compete they can damage efforts or provide an array of opportunities. The confrontation against Berea College highlights that competing resistance efforts sometimes do provide viable outcomes. If Frank Williams did not push for Berea College to fight against the Day Law, would there have been the energy and commitment to the development of the Lincoln Institute by Frost? The research suggests that there would have as Bond and others pressured him to jumpstart the efforts. And yet there is a lingering question about how these types of resistance efforts set into motion other efforts.

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Although this is a difficult question to answer, one can deduct that it did influence some aspects of the decision-making process for Bond and Frost, because they referred to it in their correspondence. When Berea College had made their decision, should Williams and other opponents have spent their time helping in the efforts of building a new institution? Having only contributed about $20,000.00 to the Adjustment Fund does not change that Blacks had a greater stake in the institution. In the end the institution was built and had students. On the other hand, what if Bond used his efforts and collaborated with Williams, Titus, et al., and demanded that they fight against the segregation? What would have been the implications for the future of the Lincoln Institute if Bond took such a position on segregation? This is the unstable position Blacks found themselves in consistently during this period. This unstable position often provided an either or option, no middle ground or alternative, this is how white paternalism was successful and was woven into the daily lives of Blacks. At the close of the 19th century, slavery no longer existed in the Western Hemisphere, but segregation was the normal reality of many Americans. The formative years of segregation were a complex experience for Blacks. In Kentucky the completion of legal segregation was indicated by the implementation of the Day Law. The movement toward segregation should be characterized beyond simply the separation of Blacks and whites; but a systematic way of life for Blacks that included daily resistance and survival. Historians describe the formative years of segregation as a violent and chaotic time for Blacks. The formative years of segregation teetered on dual lifestyles for Blacks, one free and one pseudo free. Throughout those years Blacks were simultaneously attempting to live out their freedom and defend it. These two states of being can’t co-exist, one eventually will win. In this case, Blacks lost their freedom until the reversal of segregation (at least in theory). The freedom struggle for Blacks both pushed the system to provide the opportunities it had promised, but also meant that they could not live as other citizens. Living without full citizenship meant a lifestyle of resistance. Always a battle for their basic survival, the acts of resistance could not be a widespread labor for Blacks. Even more important, the opportunities generated from resistance efforts continued into the 20th and 21st centuries. Paulo Freire’s notion of resistance presents itself as a movement of revolution. In the end a revolution always has winners and losers. Unfortunately Kentucky Blacks were not the winners in this educational revolution. First, the efforts of Black Kentuckians to change the system of

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oppression were both effective and ineffective. The dichotomy of white supremacy did not “allow” Blacks to enter into American life as truly free. The societal gains were earned, not given by American society. While whites because of the color of their skin, were able to access certain governmental benefits. However, because Blacks had to struggle for basic human rights, this disproportionately placed Blacks at a disadvantage. The hardship placed on Blacks genuinely affected both their morale and their ability to engage in the system. Therefore, the expectation that Blacks demand equality, in and of itself speaks to the inequality of the system. If indeed the United States is a government for the people and recognizes that all people are created equal, why then must one group petition for inclusion, when another group is afforded certain rights by virtue of their skin color? No matter what Blacks did, they were burdened beyond their white counterparts. The discussion about the education of Blacks is not limited to equal educational experiences, but as citizens, Blacks should have been able to participate, lead, communicate, and engage without being encumbered by violence and intimidation. Therefore, no matter the efforts of Blacks during this period of 1865-1910 short of radical revolution, in Kentucky their efforts could only facilitate the system of oppression, not create a new system. Unfortunately, Blacks were not able to revolutionize the system in ways that Paulo Freire’s work suggests is vital to undoing oppression, glimpses of that revolution came later in the 1950s and 60s. However, the efforts of Kentuckian Blacks did lay the foundation for this future revolution. Additionally, Blacks in Kentucky education also provided a model for future endeavors and a reflection of a possible past. Key elements to consider when analyzing the educational history of Kentucky include the state’s participation in the Civil War as part of the Union, the enfranchisement of Blacks early after the Civil War, and finally an interracial and co-educational institution of learning which facilitated Black teachers and leaders. These core elements led to a different atmosphere of opportunity for Blacks in Kentucky, almost like a chain of events. For example, the opportunity to attend Berea Institute/College provided Blacks with an education, thus contributions to an educated Black class in Kentucky, who in turn provided teachers and other professionals to affect the Black masses, and continue to develop the “Talented Tenth.” This example summarizes many other efforts that developed a cadre of professionals in Kentucky. What Blacks were able to accomplish in Kentucky educational history is astounding.

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Although the resistance efforts of Blacks to segregation was another aspect on the continuum of unraveling oppression and creating the revolution, the results still affect educational policy in the present. After the 1954 ruling to desegregate the Kentucky educational system, the constraints of legal segregation were lifted. The Day Law was overturned and individuals could return to interracial education; except, the educational separation of Blacks and whites created a new dilemma, desegregation. The former goal of equality through interracial experiences, could not undo the decades of segregated life. From segregated life the establishment of separate systems was beyond living in dual worlds. In fact, from this segregation came culture, businesses, judicial systems, churches, and educational institutions that were distinctly different than their white counterpart. What Blacks could not predict was with desegregation the threat for dismantling Black institutions was real. As the dismantling of the distinct Black experience simultaneously occurred, Blacks were being “allowed” access to white institutions. In many minds, this was the ideal of equality. In fact, this access to white institutions was lauded as the purpose of the earlier Black educational resistance movements. At this point in history we must ask the important question, were the educational resistance efforts in Kentucky a precursor for what type of educational framework we have in the present? The landscape of education in Kentucky from 1910- present evolved. The institutions that survived over time teach us that no revolution was able to take place by Blacks. Their efforts did not lead to a system for the people by the people, but rather a continuance of the system of oppression. Determining success is always convoluted, but using the works of Freire we can determine, that no outcome included full control, but rather a replication of already established practices. In regards to the development of Kentucky State University, the same system of domination occurred. KSU in some ways was unlike other HBCUs, as it had a Black president from its inception. Even with a Black president, which was remarkable for any Black institution at that time, the domination of whites did not subside. In Reading, ‘Riting, and Reconstruction, author Robert Morris summarizes this treacherous relationship as sometimes beneficial and “dangerously mimicked old slave routines.”285 The Black college presidents understood this

285 Robert Morris, Reading, ‘Riting, and Reconstruction: The Education of Freedmen in the South (Chicago, 1981), 11-14. 107

routine as administrations came and went according to political affiliations and demands for KSU growth. The Black president puppet show at KSU did not end until the 1929 when President Rufus B. Atwood refused to campaign for the governor.286 KSU was established as a normal school for teacher training, but turned away from teacher education and towards industrial education.287 The battle of resistance did not end because this important Black educational opportunity was created. In fact, the nature of resistance suggests that resistance in Kentucky was an on-going process. At the core of resistance is the need for change. Resistance can be both temporary and permanent. In the case of Lincoln Institute, there was always a reality that it would cease to exist because of funding or lack of students. Indeed it did cease to exist as a school in the late 1970s.288 Likewise Kentucky State University, considered a Historically Black College and University, has an increasing white student body. What then do we make of the resistance when it seems to only temporarily address the needs of the oppressed? Was desegregation the ultimate goal of these early resistors or was equality and self-governance the foundation for their motives. It is difficult to determine success of African American resistance to educational segregation in Kentucky, but it is clear that at every turn Blacks were active in their attempts to prohibit, mitigate, and unravel segregation as a means to equality. As we reveal the efforts of Black resistance in Kentucky, it is difficult to analyze the effectiveness of their labors. What history of education facilitates is an opportunity to reflect on the moments in educational history that have affected our systems of education today. Race relations are an integral part of the schooling in the U.S. In fact, the desegregation movement overshadows the many other movements in educational history, thus limiting our opportunity to understand the other factors that have influenced schooling. Desegregation of course is an important component of schooling history, but it is incomplete without a fuller understanding of the period prior to segregation. Additionally, the context for writing about desegregation often uses the Deep South as a backdrop for this complex conversation. In this dissertation the reader is led on an important journey through the trials and tribulation of Blacks to obtain equality in the border state of Kentucky.

286 Lawrence H. Williams, Black Higher Education in Kentucky 1879-1930 (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), 144. 287 Ibid.,144 288 Alice Dunnigan, The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians: Their Heritage and Traditions (Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, Inc., 1982), 181-182. 108

Approaching education for Blacks outside of the paradigm of the southern locale and before desegregation efforts provides a vast set of additional themes to consider. The institutions and structures which became the educational foundations for African Americans are a product of this period, not the desegregation period. The past is always full of opportunities to reflect, but what if individuals in KY had not the purpose of mind to influence schooling for Blacks. What if Kentuckians had not had a Berea Institute (Berea College) to provide a model for interracial education or a forward thinker like Reverend Henry Adams to develop a pre-emancipation school for Blacks? A greater question is what would education for Blacks have entailed without the types of resistance shared throughout this dissertation? Of course there is no way to know for sure, but we can speculate that the educational landscape would be vastly different. In fact, what the research has illuminated about the race to educate in Kentucky is that resistance methods were effective in various ways. A summary of the effectiveness of Black resistance include the establishment of laws providing access to and funding for public education, the development of institutions of learning, and finally, power to engage the white supremacist structure. Consequently, the most compelling indicator of successful resistance relates to our aforementioned theoretical framework. Resistance was not only about an individual opportunity, but a greater purpose. In this case the resistance not only facilitated new schools, but there were revolutionary acts that provided new ways of knowing, institutions, and historical occurrences. Out of Kentucky’s quest for early equal educational access we learned that Blacks were ever present in the leading and regulating educational opportunity for Blacks. In the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire describes that to unravel oppression the oppressed must know they are oppressed and not replicate the system of oppression. This is the difficulty with resistance, even if one overcomes oppression, can they truly be free from replicating the system that oppressed them. If this is the indicator of success for educational resistance efforts in Kentucky, than one can argue that these efforts were unsuccessful. The institutions that resistors were able to advocate for were replications of their white counterpart’s schools. These institutions resembled the very institutions that oppression was learned. Schools can be facilitators of oppression. They can serve a purpose in transmitting knowledge of the majority. However, Freire viewed education as a possibility of liberation. Blacks after slavery used schooling to engage in the liberation process. However, liberation as Freire has established is not given but must be taken.

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The process for Kentuckian resistance to educational segregation did not lead to a total liberation in most cases, as Blacks did not have pure governance of these institutions. Educational institutions both private and public seemed to always have a white supremacist presence, thus ensuring that total liberation could not happen. In Kentucky, racism, racial politics, white supremacy, and schooling were almost impossible to decipher. Every step of the way the push for control was pushed back by the more powerful. The obstacles were immense, but the resistance continued well into the 1990’s as the process for desegregation continued. Therefore it is important to think about resistance to educational segregation in Kentucky as an on-going process. What resistors were able to accomplish in the 19th century provided a foundation for 20th century and so on. What we must then acknowledge is resistance is a series of acts that create a process for liberation. Meaning, liberation is not solely a heroic act of resistance, but an on-going culmination of these acts. The efforts of resistance is not a single process, in fact when we reflect on resistance as part of the lives of Africans in the New World, it reveals the on-going culture of resistance. In addition, it points to a more problematic theory that as formerly enslaved people that the culture of resistance will not dissipate, just as the system of oppression can’t simply go away. Basically, U.S. education doesn’t liberate Blacks, because it is the product of the system of oppression. It replicates the system and thus creates a façade of give and take when really all it may do was steal hope from the oppressed. In these Kentucky cases it stole energy, faith, and liberation. In the example of Berea College/Lincoln Institute those who resisted saw the school rise and serve Blacks. However, there was a personal and professional toll for all those involved in resistance. The impact of those resistors was far reaching and their names not completely forgotten. Frank Williams, who was actively involved in the resistance efforts against the dismissal of Berea College’s lone Black professor James Hathaway and the acceptance of segregation at Berea College, continued on as a major resistor to educational segregation. Although he used his position as KCSTA president to provide voice against various injustices, he did not end his efforts even when it seemed that there was no defeating segregation. Williams continued to identify and address educational injustice in Kentucky and beyond. He served as a principal of Sumner High School during which was named the number one high school for

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Negro students in nation by the Phelps Stokes Foundation. Mr. Williams also played a significant role in the founding of two high schools in St. Louis.289 The lives of the resistor continued after their contributions. Rev. James Bond continued to serve the Black community in a variety of ways. However, he should best be remembered for his extensive efforts supporting Lincoln Institute and Berea College. In his efforts to raise funds for the establishment of Lincoln Institute, one has to wonder if Bond ever questioned the motives of Frost. Was Bond really an accommodationist or was he the ultimate resistor? In a 1962 correspondence with Berea College from Mr. Horace M. Bond (son of James Bond and prominent HBCU president/educator/historian and father to a former Georgia State Representative and Chairman of the NAACP, Julian Bond), H.M. Bond inquires about his father’s activities at Berea College. In the letter H.M. Bond sheds light on Bond’s feelings on the way in which Berea College responded to the Day Law, “Papa always believed Frost was quite happy when Negroes were excluded; and that he had been working on a quota system for some time before it did happen.”290 This little tidbit seems to be in contrast with the work of Bond in developing the Lincoln Institute. One of the challenges in the resistance model is the competition of resistance efforts. In chapter 4, I described Bond’s efforts and Titus, Williams and et al, as appearing to conflict. It also presented Bond as a possible loyalist to Frost and Berea College, even as a race traitor by not siding with resistance efforts to force Berea College to maintain their interracial education commitment. The son’s revelation about Bond’s feelings if true, doesn’t change the dynamics or the value of his resistance, but challenges us to diversify our understanding of resistance beyond the either/or paradigm. Bond and Williams’ goals were similar in that they both wanted outcomes which included educational access for Blacks, their solutions seemed different. The legacy of resistance exhibited by Kentucky Blacks facilitated so many educational opportunities that it is difficult to gather the extensiveness of their efforts. There is no area of Kentucky where there was Black schooling that Blacks did not engage in their development. Additionally, the network of agitators was organized and effective. How ironic the very organization founded by the state government, Kentucky Colored Teachers’ State Association, was so impressive in the agitation against the system. There seemed to be a spirit in this

289 “An American Family VIII,” The Educational World, August 1946, Berea College Archives 290 Letter from Horace Mann Bond to Fredrick L. Brownlee, February 12, 1962, RG 9, Box 6 Record Group Faculty/Staff, Folder: James Bond 1891-1972, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY. 111

organization that surpassed the infighting that many other organizations experienced. Sometimes the white supremacy did not have to do much to stifle the efforts of Blacks in Kentucky. In fact, in-fighting and backbiting has been used to discuss why Blacks were ineffective in their equality efforts in education and other components of life. On the one hand the dissension within groups is natural, but in overturning a system, solidarity is important. The Kentucky Colored State Teachers’ Association changed its name to the Kentucky Negro Educational Association in 1913. The association continued to advocate for educational opportunity and equality. The K.N.E.A. continued to set an agenda for addressing segregation in KY and grew membership from 28 members (1878) to 1380 (1942, respectively).291 Despite this growth which represented expansion and challenges in educational opportunity for Kentucky’s Blacks, the K.N.E.A. ceased to exist and merged with the white association to form the Kentucky Teachers Association when schools desegregated in KY. The merger signaled the major dilemma of desegregation, whether there is still a need for Black organizations. When Kentucky Blacks were able to gain institutions as a result of their resistance efforts it was not a clean transfer of power. Always at core of Black and white relations was the undefeatable belief that Blacks were inferior, and thus incapable of governing themselves. Over and over again this ideology penetrated white Kentuckians psyche. This argument was even used to advocate for desegregation, that somehow Black educational opportunities were inferior. This idea of inferiority is never really explored further, how can an institution which is constantly concerned about equality of funding, white mobs, and racist governance, be equal. By nature of these problems there will always be inferiority because they began as substandard and as separate. The race to educate did not end because Blacks fought for equality or even when they were afforded elements of equality. Economic resources can only cover the psychological and ideological damage of racism, not eradicate the damage. In many ways this is what the BC alum and famous educator/historian Carter G. Woodson was describing in The Mis-Education of the Negro, equality to whites is a myth that facilitates our demise in the present system. The burden is placed on Black Kentuckians to vie for equality, but it is always the powerful who determine the parameters for equality, unless there is radical revolution of some sort.

291 Harvey C. Russell, The Kentucky Negro Education Association, 1877-1946, (Guide Quality Press: Norfolk, 1946), 43, Pamphlet 371.974 R963, Kentucky State University Archives, Frankfort, KY. 112

Even the radical 1950’s and 1960’s Civil Rights Movement did not provide the radical revolution needed for overthrowing the notion of segregation. Schools were one place that Blacks believed they could transcend their second-class citizenship. The battle did not end just because the white supremacist structure allowed controlled access, glimpses of self-governance and even equality. However, this was not equality, because there always had to be permission granted by the structure. Unfortunately this is the other issue with the resistance efforts success, many of the efforts and outcomes were not sustainable over time. During 1865- 1910, the goal was for equal access to education through institution building. From what I have gathered, resistors’ goals were to provide access for Kentucky’s Blacks to educational opportunities including basic learning, liberal arts education, industrial and normal school training. After obtaining these institutions the next phase of resistance included Black autonomy and keeping the doors open. Unfortunately many were not successful in these two areas. Very few organizations survived into the present. In fact, many have merely left traces of their existence, which is why they were not explored in this dissertation. Institutions like Lincoln Institute, Kentucky State University both exist in some form today. KSU still is considered a HBCU but has a large Caucasian student and faculty body. Lincoln Institute is now a site for Job Corps, but maintains its commitment to the education of Blacks through the Lincoln Foundation’s college access programs housed in Louisville. William J. Simmons had been so eager to assist in the formation of Kentucky State University, later to the demise of his own institution Simmons University (State College). Simmons University, after the expulsion of Blacks from Berea College was the only institution in the state that provided liberal arts education to Blacks.292 Simmons University was one of the best institutions in Kentucky for Black education. They primarily were sustained by Black and white support in its early creation. Its demise was a combination of factors, the Great Depression, financial instability, white paternalism, and disfavor of the ministry. Simmons University became a part of the University of Louisville in 1930 as a branch called the Louisville Municipal College for the Colored. The demise of Simmons University for some may have seemed inevitable, but it signaled a greater problem, that Blacks still were at the mercy of the

292 Lawrence H. Williams, Black Higher Education in Kentucky 1879-1930 (Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), 144. 113

white supremacist structure. If Simmons University was labeled as one of the most outstanding in Kentucky could close, then were earlier resistance efforts successful? After 1910, resistance continued in the race to educate. The race was up and down and full of failures. In 1920 Louisville’s Black community successfully defeated a bond issue relating to the whites only University of Louisville. The bond issue failed due to the concerns of Blacks who would have their taxes raised for an institution that they could not attend due to segregation.293 In response to this issue, Blacks used their enfranchisement to affect the law. What was remarkable was that even under the restrictions of segregation, that Louisville Blacks were not afraid to utilize their political power to block unequal educational projects, but were able to resist to the point of receiving other educational compensation when desegregation was impossible. The remuneration for Blacks included the development of Louisville Municipal College for Negroes (December 1930). The formation of the LMC was an example of the previous culminating efforts to create a public higher education institution for Blacks. The securing of the public higher education institution LMC was a feat not to be overlooked. For Blacks gaining this institution represented the decades of opposition to white domination that feted very little if any great educational achievements for Blacks. In context we must remember that for every significant victory, there were hundreds of lost battles. In Kentucky, like the rest of the country, desegregation movements were materializing. In the 1950’s as Blacks were fighting for entry into public institutions, Berea College desegregated. Jesse H. Lawrence the only Black Kentucky State Representative provided an amendment to the Day Law. Public and private higher educational institutions were opened for admission to Black students in Kentucky on March 2, 1950. In June of 1951, LMC closed.294Desegregation in Kentucky was well on its way, before the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling required its demise. Perhaps resistance had been successful, and the integration that the country was experiencing was akin to equality? Unfortunately, Kentuckians learned like the rest of America that desegregated education did not mean equality. The implications of the African American Educational Resistance in Kentucky 1865- 1910 are profound. First, without resistance Black Kentuckians would have been exponentially behind their white counterparts. Although the inequality of the situation directly slowed full

293 Ibid., 151. 294 James Blaine Hudson, “The History of Louisville Municipal College: Events Leading to the Desegregation of the University of Louisville,” (Dissertation, The University of Kentucky, 1981), 82. 114

access to educational opportunity for Black Kentuckians, there were at least limited opportunities. The institutions of public and private, kindergarten-twelfth grade and higher education were strengthened by these watchdog efforts. Even with the up and down nature of outcomes from resistance efforts, the success was educational opportunities for Blacks that may have not existed. Next, African American resistance in Kentucky illustrated the power of African Americans when organized. Throughout the history of Black resistance, there has been an underlying problem of dissension, Uncle Toms and “selling out.” Resistance is only as effective as the weakest link, and when the weakest link succumbs to embracing the white supremacist, the efforts can fail. We are usually provided with models of failed resistance and/or the limitations of individual resistance, but these episodes in Kentucky educational history such as the Kentucky Colored Teachers’ State Association (KNEA) illuminated the power of Black cooperation. Efforts of the Association moreover provided an on-going plan for addressing the disparities of segregation. The Association provided the blueprint for not only how to eradicate segregation, but also the possibilities of positive Black and white relationships. The final implication of this work provides the foundation for unraveling the system of oppression. This resistance in Kentucky is the link for the process of revolution needed to unravel the system of oppression found in U.S. schooling.

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Periodicals: Berea Citizen. “College Items: Here and There,” September 22, 1904 (vol. VI, no. 14).

Berea Citizen. “Safety of Berea Students: Committee from the Board of Trustees.” June 16, 1904 (vol. V, no. 52).

Berea Citizen. “The College and the Colored People.” July 27, 1905 (vol. VI, no. 23)

Berea Citizen. “Praise Meeting: Colored Friends of Berea College Meet to Give Thanks for Carnegie’s Gift of $200,000.” February 20, 1908 (vol. IX, no.3).

Berea Citizen. “Meeting Of The Trustees: The Colored School Discussed. - Decided to Build New Hospital.- College to Have Charge of the Construction of Side Walks.” June 18, 1908 (vol. IX, no. 51).

Archives and Special Collections: “An American Family VIII,” The Educational World, August 1946, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Berea College, KY Extract from Report of Colonel Ben. F. Runkle, Assistant Commissioner for Kentucky, to Gen. O. O. Howard,” Berea Citizen, 1868, Vertical Files, Record Group 13.7, Folder I: Blacks 1836-1894, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Letter from Booker T. Washington to Frost , February 12, 1903, Record Group 3.03 Box 6 Presidents, Folder 6-4 Frost Correspondence- 1903 (L-Z), Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Letter from Booker T. Washington to Frost , February 12, 1903, Record Group 3.03 Box 6 Presidents, Folder 6-4 Frost Correspondence- 1903 (L-Z), Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Colored Praise Meeting.” Berea Citizen (March 19, 2009). Vertical Files: Day Law II, 1902- 1905, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Colored students Petition to Frost, March 28, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law c. 1904, RG 3.03 Box 23/6, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Colored Graduates Meet to Adopt Resolutions Urging That Their People Be Given the Chance to Help in New Enthusiastic and Harmonious Meeting,” Berea Citizen, April 9, 1908. Vertical Files Day Law II, 1902-1905, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Frank L. Williams et. al, “President Frosts Betrayal of the Colored People in his Administration of Berea College,” Vertical Files: Day Law III, 1902-1905, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

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Letter from Horace Mann Bond to Fredrick L. Brownlee, February 12, 1962, RG 9, Box 6 Record Group Faculty/Staff, Folder: James Bond 1891-1972, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Hall, Richard Allen and Heckman, Betty Jean. “Berea College and the Day Law.” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. Berea College Special Collections.

Honorable Guy Ward Mallon Letter to President Frost, July 30, 1904, RG 13.7 Blacks- Berea Education of 1877, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Industrial Education. What Lincoln Institute Can Do for the People of Kentucky.” The Lincoln Institute Worker, vol. I, No. I (March 1909), 4. Lincoln Institute Collection, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Guy W. Mallon letter to Frost, November 21, 1905, RG 3.03 Box 8, Record Group Presidents, Folder 8-4 Frost Correspondence 1904 (M-Z), Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Kentucky Negroes; Their Educational Convention in Louisville.” New York Times (July 17, 1 869). Berea College Archives, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Kentucky State Colored Teachers’ Association. Resolutions of Kentucky Colored Teachers’ Association, 1890’s, Vertical Files RG 1307 1836-1894, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Lincoln Institute Selected as Name.” Louisville Herald, February 6, 1909. Lincoln Institute Collection, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Workers for Department of Berea College for Negroes arrive in City to begin Campaign.” Lexington Herald, February 5, 1909. Lincoln Institute Collection, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Letter from colored students to President Frost, March 28, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law c. 1904, RG 3.03 Box 23/6, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Letter to President Frost from James Bond, January 29, 1908, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 9, Series II, Correspondence, 1906-08, RG3.03, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“Our Friends at Fisk,” Berea Citizen, November 24, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law, c. 1904-1910, RG 3.03, Box 23/7, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Letter from J.C. Browne to T.J. Osborne, July 26, 1909, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Rev. James Bond letter to Frost, January 8, 1904, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

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Correspondence between James Bond and T.J. Osborne regarding Adjustment Fund Pledges, October 3, 1908, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Letter from Bond to Osborne about Titus, Williams, and Company, December 27, 1908, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Letter to Mr. T.J. Osborne from James Bond, July 30, 1909, Record Group 13.29 Box 1 Associated Items Lincoln Institute, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Report to A. Eugene Thompson from Mr. Thos. J. Osborne, May 18, 1912, Lincoln Institute Correspondence, 1909- 1917, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Students dropped from list of Colored Students, June 4, 1906, RG 137 A, 1874-1906, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

Supplement to the Richmond Climax, February 22, 1905, RC 7 Box 13.6, Folder: Day Law I, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“What the Negro Promises and What He Asks,” New York Tribune, February 2, 1906, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

White Citizens against the Day Law To the Educational Committee of the House of Representatives, Commonwealth of Kentucky, February 4, 1904, William Goodell Frost Papers, Box 23, Day Law, c. 1904-1910, RG 3.03, Box 23/6, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

“2100 Added to Lincoln Institute Fund,” Louisville Courier-Journal, Thursday, February 11, 1909. Lincoln Institute Collection, Berea College Archives, Berea, KY.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

TASHIA LEVANGA BRADLEY

Tashia Bradley was born in Orlando, Florida and is a graduate of Florida A&M University and the University of Kansas. Currently, she serves as the Director for the Black Cultural Center at Berea College in Berea, KY. There are moments in time when we must either choose to go forward or turn back; this is for those of us who choose to always go forward...

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