African American Schools in Larue County, KY
In 1880, Molly Clagett was a teacher in the colored school in Hodgenville, KY [source: U.S. Federal Census]. There is a paragraph written about the colored schools in Larue County, KY on p. 72 in the 1885-1887 Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky. By 1895, there were four colored schools, the following year five; all of the buildings were frame structures [source: Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, 1895-1897, pp. 484-487]. Each of the schools had one teacher for the five month terms. The average student attendance was 106 in 1895-96 and 113 in 1896-97.
In 1919, a Colored Moonlight School was held in the school house in Buffalo, KY. The teacher was Bessie Ford, and there were 12 students [see NKAA entry African American Moonlight Schools]. Some of the teachers at the colored schools are listed in the Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal: B. H. Larke in Hodgenville (1916, p. 31); Miss Lucile Curle in Upton (1928, p. 37); Rev. Claud and Mrs. Cecilia Taylor in Hodgensville (1929, p. 55); and Mr. Amos Lasley in Hodgensville (1935, p. 58). No high school existed for Negro students, so the students attended Bond-Washington High School in Hardin County.
Below are the names of the colored schools that were in Larue County [sources: Old Schools in LaRue County, by Edward Benningfield; and the 1914-1915 Census of LaRue County Schools (Colored Schools), by L. L. Salsman and C. L. Owens].
The Negro teachers in Larue County in 1940 were Lucy Curle, Meaner Hughes, Amos Lasley, Cecil Lasley, Omer Lasley, Mabel Lasley, and Ollie Lasley [source: U.S. Federal Census]. The schools in Buffalo, Hodgenville, and Magnolia were listed as white and integrated in the Kentucky Public School Directory, 1956-57, p. 436. It would take several years of effort for all of the schools in Larue County to be desegregated by 1967.
- Atherton School [source: LaRue County, Kentucky at kykinfolk.com]
- Buffalo School
- Hodgenville School
- Knob School
- Lincoln Springs School
- Lyons Station School
- Moonlight School in Buffalo
- Orrender School
- Upton School
- Siberia School
- Georgetown School [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1961-61, p. 870]