African-American Family History Resources
Fayette County Kentucky


       photo: african american boy in wooden racer
                 Photo: "Boy With Racer."
Source:  Carrie Ellis and Henry Arnett Smith: A Lexington Kentucky Photo Album from the collection of Gary Young


Colored Marriage Declarations (1866-1908)

Slaves Named in Fayette County KY Newspapers

The Lexington African-American Timeline

African Cemetery No. 2

Finding Voice for the Lyric Theatre: An Oral History


Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project (in the project box, search for "Blacks in Lexington")

Historic African American Churches of Lexington

African American Heritage Trail by Doris Wilkinson   -  References for Trail

Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association

MLK Neighborhood - House Histories
(under community outreach)

Lexington Case Studies (Walter and Fannie Williams / E. Belle Mitchell and Jordan Carlisle Jackson)

Kentucky jurisprudence: a history of the trial of Miss Delia A. Webster at Lexington, Kentucky, Dec'r 17-21, 1844

Letters from Ex-slaves, Lexington Kentucky 1830s-1880s

The Daily Aesthetic - pre-integration photos of Lexington's city parks


Free Persons of Color Named  in 1838
Free Persons of Color named in 1859


List of colored US Civil War soldiers buried in the Lexington National Cemetery
This national cemetery is located within the Lexington Cemetery at 833 West Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky; however, inquiries about military burials should be directed to Camp Nelson National Cemetery (606) 885-5727. 

Slave Captives at Ruddell's and Martin's Forts

An Adams County Mississippi Court Record Book
(contains names of numerous slaves from Fayette County KY)

Dr. Wilkinson's African American barbershops presentation

Roots and Heritage Festival

Fayette County Data from the California Slavery Era Insurance Registry

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The Horace Smith Family
Kate Dudley Baumont, Ex-Slave WPA Narrative
"Brother Captain" - The Rev. Peter Duerett/ Durrett

William Wells Brown, 1815-1884
Biography of London Ferrill, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Colored Persons, Lexington, KY [orig. pub. 1854]
Life of the Rev. Elisha W. Greene [1888]
Isaac Scott Hathaway  Scott Hathaway Museum

Lewis Hayden (1811 - 1889)
Lyman T. Johnson
Life and History of the Rev. Elijah P. Marrs [orig. pub. 1885]
The preceding three biographies are from The Church in the Southern Black Community (American Memory, Library of Congress)

James McNeil, Emancipation of Slaves (Will 1864)

Isaac B. Murphy
Joseph Robinson names Sarah and Millie (Will 1823)
Morgan and Marvin Smith 
Jimmy Winkfield


Camp Nelson
During the Civil War, many Fayette County black men gathered at Camp Nelson, a Union army supply depot 5 miles south of Lexington in Jessamine County. They were often joined there by their families.  In 2002 the National Register of Historic Places highlighted the camp for Black History Month.

Nicodemus Kansas
In September 1877, W.R. Hill and Reverend M.M. Bell enrolled nearly three hundred freedmen from the vicinity of Lexington, Kentucky for settlement in Nicodemus, Kansas. See Colored Emigrants to Kansas.

On September 17, the Lexington, Kentucky group arrived in Nicodemus. This date is still celebrated as the founding of the Nicodemus colony in Graham County, Kansas.

Kentucky Resources
Kentucky African American Griots
Notable Kentucky African Americans
Kentucky African American History Timeline
Jim Crow Laws: Kentucky
KY Civil Rights Oral History Database

Kentuckiana Digital Library
Lots of great images
Research at the KY Dept for Libraries and Archives
African Americans in Kentucky History
Roll of Emigrants to Liberia 1820-1843
The American Colonization Society

The Freedmen's Bureau Online

Slavery in the Hemp Industry
KY Colonization Society
History of Kentucky's United States Colored Troops
African American Union Sailers from KY

Univ of KY African American Resources Page
Kentucky African American Heritage Guide
Illinois slavery era insurance policies registry
Jefferson County, IN - Register of Negros and Mulattoes 1853-1860
1860 census: slaves 100 years old or more


Virginia Runaways Project - a digital database of runaway and captured slave and servant advertisements from 18th-century Virginia newspapers(Un)Reconstructing Uncle Tom's Cabin
KET's Underground Railroad Video Segments

LEXINGTON COLORED FAIR ASSOCIATION
Text From Historical Highway Marker #1961
(Lexington, Georgetown St., Fayette Co.)
Started in 1869 by the Lexington Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Assoc., the annual fair promoted racial achievement and offered entertainment which attracted thousands from Ky. and beyond. When located on Georgetown Pike, the site had an exhibition hall, amphitheatre, and racetrack.
(Reverse) Successful Enterprise
Though similar fairs were held statewide, Lexington's Colored Fair was most successful, lasting well into the 1930s. Fairs were as popular as Emancipation Day among the state's black citizens. Cash prizes were awarded winners in categories from livestock and racing to music and floral display. The fairs showed African American accomplishments since emancipation.

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COLORED ORPHAN INDUSTRIAL HOME
Text From Historical Highway Marker #1963
(Lexington, 644 Georgetown St., Fayette Co.)
Led by Mrs. E. Belle Mitchell Jackson, orphan home opened here in 1894. Orphans and other black youth learned to read and write and acquired a trade; also refuge for elderly women. By 1909 home consisted of 18 acres and 2 brick houses. Burned in 1912. A new building dedicated 1913; serves as Robert H. Williams Cultural Center.
General US
Kenyatta Berry's African American Genealogy Blog
African Ancestored Genealogy Discussion Archives
African American History
Sankofa's Afrikan Slave Genealogy
Gilder Lehrman Center
Looking at Slavery: Going to the Sources

The Slave Kingdoms from PBS
African American Photo Portraiture 1880-1920
Africana Heritage Project
Afrigeneas
Christine's Genealogy Website
: African American & Native American/Hispanic Resources

FamilySearch African American Resources
Princeton's African American Genealogy on the Web
Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society
Television News of the Civil Rights Era 1950-1970
Documenting the American South:
Southern Literature, First-Person & African American Slave Narratives

Federal Records & African American History
The Last Slave Ships
Bibliography of Slavery and World Slaving

African American Lives: Analyzing the Evidence
Paul Laurence Dunbar Digital Collection
African American Sheet Music 1850-1920

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© 2003 - 2006 Pam Brinegar