Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2024

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Pan-African Studies

Degree Program

Pan-African Studies, MA

Committee Chair

Tkweme, W.S.

Committee Member

Washington, Ahmad R.

Committee Member

Jones, Ricky L.

Author's Keywords

Louisville; Kentucky; black education; education; Central high school; African American history

Abstract

This thesis offers both a historical analysis of the emergence of the black public school system in Louisville, Kentucky and a probe into the academic posture of 19th century black education in the state. It addresses how the early black school in Kentucky worked to shape students’ self-image and worldview by focusing on Louisville’s Central Colored High School, the first public high school for blacks in Kentucky, and more closely, its 1884 yearbook––a collection of student-essays in which each of the seven inaugural graduates wrote lengthy reports concerning their individual outlook on education, American society, and the Negro’s responsibilities as newly minted American citizens. This method brings student-voice to the forefront by offering a thematic and critical investigation of the student-essays themselves; all of which inform the Negro’s fondness for Kentucky, industriousness and black school culture, and the early black school and its affinity for Western writers and thinkers.

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