African American Schools in Carroll County, KY

When R. W. Bevarly was completing his master's thesis in 1936, articles about the colored schools of Carroll County in 1879 were located in the Carrollton Democrat newspaper. The colored school at Liberty Station was attended by children during the day and by adults at night; in Carrollton, Maggie Woods was the teacher [source: History of Education in Carroll County by R. W. Bevarly, p.66]. There were three schools in 1880, the teachers were Ady Pack in Ghent, and Maggie Woods in Carrollton and Prestonville [source: U.S. Federal Census]. In 1881 there were 226 students in the four colored schools [source: Bevarly, p.50]. In 1882 there were 268 students in the schools located in Carrollton, Ghent, Above Ghent, and Liberty Station [source: Bevarly, p.51]. There were five colored school districts in 1885: No.1 Carrollton, No.2. Ghent, No.3 Lynan Craigs, No.4 Sanders, and No.5 Worthville [source: Bevarly, p.30].

All of the schools were under the county school board with the largest colored school in Carrollton and James K. Polk was the teacher. Polk was a graduate of Gaines High School in Cincinnati, OH [source: Bevarly, p.66]. He taught at the colored school for one year and was replaced by J. E. Jackson, and in 1889 Jackson was replaced by Fred W. Burch, also a graduate of Gaines High School. There continued to be five colored schools in Carroll County until 1900 when there was six, and by 1933, there were two [source: Bevarly, p.94].

Dunbar Colored School, in Carrollton, was in a brick building and was under the city school board. Bessie Whitacker was the teacher and had a monthly salary of $69, while her husband Dudley Whitacker had a salary of $75 for teaching at the Ghent Colored School that was held in a rented building that was in poor condition [source: Bevarly, p.94]. After WWII, a new colored school building was constructed in Ghent and it served as the county school for all African American children. There was never a colored high school in Carroll County, and the city and the county provided transportation for high school students attending Lincoln Institute [source: A History of Carroll County, Kentucky: containing facts before and after 1754 by M. A. Gentry, p.53]. The school systems of Carroll County began to integrate in the 1960s, starting with the first grade students [source: "Schools due to integrate at Carrollton," Louisville Courier-Journal, 04/22/1961]. The schools listed as integrated in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1961-62, were the Carrollton Elementary and High School (for Whites) on p.846.

• Carrollton School
• Prestonville School
• Dunbar School
• Ghent School
• Above Gent School
• Lynn Craigs School
• Sanders School
• Worthville School
• Liberty Station School