African American Schools in Casey County, KY

In 1880 there were four colored school districts in Casey County, KY, with two schools and 190 students on the enrollment list [source: History of Education in Casey County, Kentucky, Lloyd Bryant Cox, p.111]. In 1885, there were five colored schools [source: Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1895-1896, pp.295-298]. The average attendance was 80 students 1895-96, and 113 students 1896-97. In 1890, there were still five colored schools, each with one teacher, and there were 94 students on the enrollment list. There were six schools during the 1901 and 1902 school terms [source: Cox, p.112].

Sometime around 1895, when the Pine Grove School District was established in Casey County, the former Yosemite school for whites was purchased by James K. Jones who made the purchase as a representative for the Colored Baptist Church. The building was also used for several years as the Colored School. Source: The Men, Women, Events Institutions & Lore of Casey County Kentucky collected by W. M. Watkins, p.58.

James K. Jones would become the teacher at the Yosemite Colored School, he is enumerated in the 1920 U.S. Census. James B. Campbell was the school teacher at the Liberty Colored School.

By 1914, there were two schools, one in Liberty and one in Indian Creek, and by 1931, there was an average attendance of 23 students at each of the schools [source: Cox, p.113-114]. African American high school students from Casey County went to the colored high school in Stanford, KY. In 1936, there was one colored school in the county [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1936-37, p.41]. Beginning in 1957, there were no colored schools listed for Casey County in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1957-58, p.620. It is not known at this time where the African American students in Casey County attended school.

The following year, in 1958, the Liberty Independent Schools were first to be listed as integrated [source: Kentucky Public School Directory, 1958-59, p.996].

• Colored Schools (6)
• Liberty School
• Indian Creek School
• Yosemite Colored School