The August 8th Emancipation Celebration at Stuart Nelson Park
Nelson was a graduate of Lincoln High School, commissioned officer in WWI, and president of several major universities. He marched with Ghandi in India and with Dr. King in Alabama.
Burks Chapel AME,7th and Ohio, ran the first school for Negro children funded b black Paducah residents around 1978. Tuition was 25 cents.
Despite opposition, Dr. Dennis H Anderson founded West Kentucky Industrial College, 1909~1911, to train black teachers. By 1938, it was the third largest black junior college in America.
Lincoln Elementary School, built in 1894, later became Lincoln High School, a center for black education and community activity until the 1960s. After integration of Paducah's schools, it became Whiteside Elementary School.
Rowlandtown School is one of several area structures containing 90 pound, 18 inch long solid concrete blocks developed by Charles and Ed Reynolds.
Marker is on North Water Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
