Lexington lawyer, first Black state KY representative from Fayette County dies
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- Jesse Crenshaw, 79, died April 26 at UK Chandler Hospital
- Crenshaw served 22 years as the state representative for the 77th District.
- He was the first Black assistant attorney for the U.S. District of Eastern Kentucky.
A Lexington lawyer who was the first Black person in Fayette County to be elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives died Sunday, April 26.
Jesse Crenshaw, 79, died at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital after an illness, according to family and friends.
Crenshaw served 22 years as the representative for the 77th House District, representing Lexington’s north side from 1993 to 2014. A Vietnam Veteran, Crenshaw also was the first Black assistant federal prosecutor in the U.S. Eastern District of Kentucky. He also taught at Kentucky State University for years.
Crenshaw was a trailblazer who broke many racial barriers through steely determination and a second-to-none work ethic, said Braxton Crenshaw, Jesse Crenshaw’s younger brother and former law partner.
Jesse Crenshaw inspired many young Black Kentuckians to pursue law as a career at a time when there were few Black lawyers and judges, he said.
A quiet and reserved man, Jesse Crenshaw also went out of his way to help people but rarely sought the limelight or credit, Braxton Crenshaw said.
“He helped so many people. He helped me,” Braxton Crenshaw said, in tears. “I wouldn’t be a lawyer today if was not for him.”
From segregation to the state house
Crenshaw, born Sept. 23, 1946, was the first of four sons of O.C. Crenshaw and his wife, Magdalene Brewer Crenshaw.
Crenshaw‘s father worked for years in Detroit in the automotive industry. He tried farming in Metcalfe County for a short time, but he did not like it.
Crenshaw‘s mother was an elementary school teacher who impressed upon her children the value of a good education, Jesse Crenshaw previously told the newspaper.
Crenshaw was raised by his grandparents, Jessie F. and Elva Crenshaw, from the time he was about 8. They owned and operated 168 acres near the Metcalfe-Barren County line in Knob Lick.
Life on the farm for Crenshaw involved hard work. The family milked about 11 cows twice a day and raised a variety of vegetables and fruits: “At 16, I planted and harvested 6 acres of watermelons and cantaloupes,” Jesse Crenshaw told the Lexington Herald-Leader in 2014.
Crenshaw attended segregated elementary and high schools. He was the valedictorian of his high school class in 1963. Crenshaw later attended and graduated from Kentucky State University in Frankfort in 1968 with a degree in history and political science.
He knew when he was a teenager he wanted to be a lawyer, Braxton Crenshaw said.
“The only Black professionals we knew were teachers in segregated schools or ministers,” Braxton Crenshaw said.
A counselor at Kentucky State University and Crenshaw’s father both tried to discourage Jesse Crenshaw from attending the University of Kentucky College of Law. Both men thought Crenshaw should set his sights on something more attainable, Braxton Crenshaw said.
Jesse Crenshaw didn’t listen.
“I knew that he would do it. He just had something from an early age. He had a work ethic,” Braxton Crenshaw said.
Much of that grit, determination and ease with hard work was born on their grandparent’s farm, Braxton Crenshaw said. When their grandparents became ill and could no longer manage the farm, Jesse Crenshaw stepped up. He delayed his entrance to Kentucky State University to do so. He was only 16 or 17 years old yet was negotiating sales with largely white-owned grocery stores to sell their products, Braxton Craxton said.
His path to graduation from UK law school and dream of becoming a lawyer was further stymied by war.
Crenshaw had to take two years off from law school to serve in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He eventually graduated from UK in 1973.
After graduating from law school, he worked as a lawyer for the state labor cabinet, was the first Black assistant attorney for the U.S. District of Eastern Kentucky and also taught at Kentucky State University. He also had a thriving private practice for decades.
He also worked in various Democratic Party campaigns and joined the local NAACP chapter in 1979.
In 1992, Crenshaw was vice chairman of former President Bill Clinton’s successful campaign in Kentucky.
Also that year, Crenshaw was elected to the state House.
Crenshaw served from 1993 to 2014
As a legislator, Crenshaw served in multiple leadership positions during his 22 years in Frankfort. He told the newspaper in 2014 he was proud of his efforts to help build a new Eastern State Hospital and secure a new campus for Bluegrass Community and Technical College on Newtown Pike on the former mental hospital’s grounds.
He also helped persuade the University of Kentucky to locate the Polk-Dalton clinic on Elm Tree Lane and worked with Community Ventures, a nonprofit, to help spur more business development in Lexington’s East End. He also helped secure funding for the Robert F. Stephens courthouses in downtown Lexington, among other capital projects.
“I could spend a whole day talking about the good things Jesse Crenshaw has done for his district and the state. He is a remarkable person, and I will miss him greatly,” said then-House Speaker Greg Stumbo, at the time of Crenshaw’s retirement from the Kentucky General Assembly in 2014.
Martha Moore, Crenshaw’s friend of more than 40 years, said Crenshaw served the people, not himself.
“He was very civic-minded and never wanted to do anything to help himself. He was a very unselfish legislator,” Moore said. “He was always willing to help whether it was a neighbor or a constituent. He was always read to help.”
Crenshaw continued to support Democratic candidates and causes after he left office. He also worked to make sure more women and minorities attended law school. Crenshaw, along with former Kentucky Chief Justice Joseph Lambert, helped establish and fund the Kentucky Legal Education Opportunity program, patterned after the national CLEO program to increase the number of historically under-represented students in Kentucky’s public law schools, according to the UK College of Law website.
Jesse Crenshaw received multiple awards and accolades during his time in public service. He was elected to the UK College of Law Hall of Fame in 2020.
Braxton Crenshaw said many women and minority lawyers have told him they were able to attend law school due to the KLEO program.
The two brothers didn’t always agree or see eye-to-eye. But Braxton Crenshaw said his older brother was an inspiration and role model for himself and others.
“I felt privileged to have been his brother,” he said.
Crenshaw’s funeral arrangements are being handled by Smith and Smith Funeral Home in Lexington. Services will be announced at a later date.
This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 12:16 PM.
