’Untold exceptionalism.’ Database tracks extraordinary Kentuckians in black history

As both general counsel and chief of staff for Gov. Andy Beshear, La Tasha Buckner is one of the most powerful people in Kentucky. She’s also the most recent entry in the University of Kentucky’s Notable Kentucky African Americans Database. Her race and gender might seem beside the point, except in a state in which neither one has been much recognized or celebrated in the halls of power.

That’s the idea behind the database, to showcase black Kentuckians whose stories were marginalized or even erased throughout history. It’s why UK Special Collections Librarian Reinette Jones and her colleague Rob Aken started a website culled out of boxes of papers in her garage, bits of history she knew would be important some day. They started in 2003 with a site of 200 entries; today it’s up to more than 4,000, with 300,000 hits a year from the public, both in Kentucky and from around the world.

“It’s grown way beyond what I imagined,” Jones said.

It’s a constant work in progress, supported by Jones, Aken, and a host of contributors who give them ideas and even write the entries sometimes. A co-worker sent in Buckner’s entry, although Jones still does much of the research herself. Often it’s a story of unknown or untold exceptionalism.

For example, Jones was doing some research on the first black lawyers in Kentucky around 1890. In one of the articles, she saw a reference to a law school in Louisville that she’d never heard of.

With more research, she wrote the entry on Central Law School, one of just four law schools in the entire country that taught black students at that time. The others were Howard University, Walden University, and Shaw University. Central was part of State University, now Simmons University, the oldest black college in the state. It was started by Nathaniel Harper, the first black lawyer, inducted into the bar in 1871, who later went on to become Kentucky’s first black judge in 1895.

Shortly after being admitted to the bar Nathaniel Harper established the Harper Law School, which was housed in his law office. The Harper Law School flourished for several years until 1890, when the school was absorbed into the Central Law School, which began as part of State University, which subsequently became Simmons University. Nathaniel Harper became Kentucky’s first African American judge in 1895.

“At the time, there were three African Americans practicing law in the city of Louisville, KY,” the entry says. “Over the 50 year period that the school existed, Central had 100 graduates.”

Another entry that intrigued Jones was about black dressmakers counted as part of the 1900 census. The census bureau tried to appease W.E.B. DuBois, who had complained that the census was not accurately reporting black citizens. So the census reported a 65 percent increase in black dressmakers. As Jones details in a lengthy entry, the true number was much more complicated.

Yvonne Giles, the preeminent chronicler of Lexington’s black history, said the database is her first stop in any new research.

“It is a primary source because the entries are concise and they list references so you can find the primary documents ourselves,” said Giles, who is embarking on a new project on 19th-century journalist and reformer Lucy Wilmot Smith.

Jones is happy to talk about the database, frequently traveling to elementary schools and college classes to tell students about some of the fascinating folks Kentucky produced.

I asked her if black history had become mainstream enough to stop Black History Month celebrations, and her answer was a definite no.

“We still need Black History Month because there are quite a few people not talked about, not discussed, not included enough in our overall history,” she said. “We want to honor those from the past and those who are alive and well.”

Right now, Jones is researching the history of sugar and black history, starting from the enslaved who worked the sugar plantations of Brazil and the Caribbean to ice cream makers on Kentucky plantations and ice cream consumption today.

Before too long, it will end up in the database.

“It takes time,” she said. “I put blood, sweat and tears into it but I get so much out of it. It’s personal.”