xt702v2cc25j https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt702v2cc25j/data/mets.xml Russell, Harvey C. Kentucky Negro Education Association Russell, Harvey C. Kentucky Negro Education Association 1946 books English Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal African Americans -- Education -- Kentucky -- Periodicals The Kentucky Negro Education Association 1887-1946 text This publication is held at Kentucky State University Library. The Kentucky Negro Education Association 1887-1946 1946 1946 2021 true xt702v2cc25j section xt702v2cc25j

{T117113 KENTUCKY NEGRO
DUCATION ASSOCIATION
‘ 1877—1946

The Old State Capitol Building
Where K. N. E. A. Was Organized
RUSSELL — 1946

The Kentucky Negro
Education Association

1877—1946

By HARVEY c. RUSSELL

President, West Kentucky Vocational Training School
Former President) K. N. E. A.

Guide Quality PRESS
Norfolk, Va.
1946

PRESIDENT JOHN. H; jACKSON
1877-1878

pawl?
‘ Us KR ‘
Contentd

PAGE
Preface ............................................................................................ IV
PART I—Organization and Early Development ...................... 5
SECOND PERIOD—The Reorganization ..... 7 ............................. 19
THIRD PERIOD—The Difﬁcult Years. _____________________ 24
FOURTH PERIOD—The Drive for Equality .................................... 32
List of Presidents ........................................................................... ' 38
List of Secretaries ______________ , ............................................................. 39
Meeting Places and Dates 43
Auxiliaries ...................................................................................... 49
County and District Teachers Association........,.........L ............. 53

Contributions of the Kentucky Negro Education Association 55

Issues To Be Met ............................................................................ 59

Preface

His BOOKLET is published with the endorsement of the Ken-
tucky Negro Education Assodation, which granted some
assistance toward its publications The Assciciation, through its
former and present executive secretaries, Atwood S. Wilson, and
William H. Perry, Jr., permitted the author the use of its records
and publications in the accumulation of most of the materials
which have. gone into the subject matter.

The author, who served six years as the president of the Asso-
ciation, has kept in close touch with its progress and develop-
ment over a period of forty years. One would therefore expect
to ﬁnd the writer’s personal interpretation of many events and
developments that are described in the pages of the volume.

The volume is the result of a long and recurrent call for a
compiled record of the K. N. E. A., which is one of the most
potent organizations in the vast complex that constitutes “The
Negro in Kentucky". This is one of several monographs which
the author has composed on what may collectively become a his-
tory of the rise and progress of education among Negroes in the
state. The reception of the present monograph may determine
to no small extent whether or not the larger undertaking shall
be carried through to completion.

The Kentucky Negro Education Association
' Part I
ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT

The Author’s Purpose

THE MORE one learns of‘ the Kentucky Negro Education Asso-
ciation and its long record of achievements the more evident
the value of the organization becomes. From time to time
participants in the annual convention programs have presented
brief narratives of the Association’s history and accomplish-
ments, but not since the annual convention of 1926 when Dr.
Charles H. Parrish, Sr., read a historical paper, has any one
brought the record forward. The Parrish presentation, which
was arranged in chronological outline form, constituted a con-
densed calendar of the principal dates and events in the or-
ganization’s history up to that time. A previous paper by
Professor William H. Perry, Sr. was very much of the same
character. In the present study the author’s purpose is not only
to trace the rise of the association as an organization, but to point
out its relation to the general progress of education among Ne-
groes in Kentucky; to make some evaluation of the work and
contributions of various leaders who have served the Association,
and of the programs which they have fostered and supported
through the years.

A Pioneer Educational Body

The State Association of Colored Teachers, originally estab-
lished in 1877, was reorganized into the Kentucky Negro Educa-
tion Association in 1913. From its very beginning the organi-
zation has been a functioning part of the public school system
of Kentucky. Its establishment was authorized in the Legisla-
tive Act of 1874, which created the “Colored Common Schools”
of the state, and its organization was ofﬁcially effected in the
ofﬁce of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction at Frank-
fort=in-1877. --The Superintendent. served as chairman of the or-

6 THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION—18774946

ganizing conference. Since the year of its establishment the
Association has never failed to meet in annual convention except
for three years of National emergency, when it met in executive
council. This unbroken record seems to establish the Kentucky
Association as the oldest state educational organization among
Negroes in any of the Southern states.

One state organization, the Georgia Teachers and Education
Association, was formed as early as 1870 as a mixed body of white
and Negro teachers,1 and it probably functioned as such until
the breakdown of the Reconstruction government in Georgia.
The time of the separation of the white and Negro teachers, and
the formation of the separate Negro association could not be
deﬁnitely ascertained.

By the end of the nineteenth century there were general
associations of Negro teachers in half of the states in which segre-
gated school systems are maintained? In their order, these Asso»
ciations have the founding dates: The Georgia Teachers and
Education Association, 1870; The Kentucky Negro Education
Association, 1877; The North Carolina Negro Teachers Associa-
tion, 1881; The Missouri State Association for Colored Teachers,
.1884; The Virginia State Teachers Association, 1887; The C01—
ored Teachers State Association of Texas, 1890; West Virginia
State Teachers Association, 1891; and the Louisiana Colored
Teachers Association, 1900. Other state associations formed at
later dates include the Mississippi Association of Teachers in
Colored Schools, 1906; the Oklahoma Association of Negro
Teachers, 1907; The Palmetto State Teachers Association, South
Carolina, 1913; and the Tennessee Negro Education Association,
1923. Other state associations of uncertain founding dates are
the Alabama State Teachers Association, the Arkansas Teachers
Association, the Maryland Education Association, and the Florida
State Teachers Association.

Altogether, the establishment of the Negro state educational
bodies covered a period of more than ﬁfty years. Each state
created its own organization as the local situation warranted, and

1Letter from President Horace Mann Bond Fort Valley, Ga.. Feb 8,1945.

“The dates of the organization of Associations in the various states were furnished by
the ofﬁcers of these be

1es end the presidents of the state colleges.

ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT 7

not, as with so many educational movements, in response to
some concentrated national drive, trend, or propaganda.

Kentucky Teachers and Trustees Organize

The Legislative Act of 1874, which established the ﬁrst con-
tinuous system of public schools for Negroes in Kentucky, pro-
vided in section 20 that:

The colored school ofﬁcers and teachers may originate a state

association and auxiliary institutes, under similar provisions

to those made for the ofﬁcers and teachers of white schools in

chapter 18 of the general statutes.
Conforming with the provisions of this act, the State Superin—
tendent of Public Instruction, Hon. H. A. M. Henderson, called
a convention of teachers and trustees of colored schools to meet
at Frankfort, August 22, 1877, to form the State Association of
Colored Teachers. When the group assembled in the Super-
intendent’s ofﬁce, they listened to addresses by Mr. Henderson,
John H. Jackson of Lexington, and J. M. Maxwell of the Louis-
ville Central High School. They went into organization and
elected Mr. Jackson as president, Rev. C. C. Vaughn of Russell-
ville as secretary, and other regular ofﬁcers. The newly con-
stituted body then selected Danville as the meeting place for the
ﬁrst convention, to be held in 1878.“

The First Convention

The ﬁrst regular session of the Association convened as per
appointment in the court house at Danville, August 7, 1878, and
immediately launched upon a program for the improvement of
educational facilities. Again, James Maxwell and John H. Jack-
son were the main spokesmen and leaders in the formulation of
plans and policies of the convention. “lilliam H. Jackson of

aThe original minutes of the Kentucky Negro Education Association from 1877 to [895
are preserved in the handwriting of the recording secretaries. With the exception of
the period 1896 to 1899, the record is complete to the present time in written or type»
written form. Beginning with 1918 the annual programs and periodical publications have
been preserved in the bound volumes of the K. N. E. A. Journal, and kept in the
secretary’s ofﬁce at Louisville. The Legislative authorization of the Association is found
in Kentucky Session Acts of 1873-1874, chap. 52, p. 63; and the ofﬁcial account of the
organization meeting is recorded in Kentucky Documents, 1877, No. 2, p. 12, 13. Many
news and editorial accounts of the annual conventions since 1920 are found in the ﬁles
of the Louisville Leader.

Considerable biographical and background materials are given in William J. Simmons‘
Men of Ma'rk, W. D. Johnson’s Kentucky’s Prominent Men and Women, C. H. Parrish’s
Jubilee Volume of Colored Baptists in Kentucky, W. H. Gibson‘s History of the Uni'cd
fggéhers of Friendship and copies of the Southern Teachers Advocate, Lexington, 1904-

THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION—1877-1946

Lexington became secretary, succeeding Rev. C. C. Vaughn.
The Association appointed a committee to prepare a memorial
setting forth “the educational wants of the colored people, to
be presented to the State Legislature”, and instructed the com-
mittee to make its report to the next annual session of the Asso—
ciation at Louisville in 1879.

To appreciate the importance of these ﬁrst steps toward a
state organization, one must realize the scarcity of teachers of
any sort at that time, and the very low state of preparation of
those who were trying to implant a knowledge of the three R’s
in the minds of the 50,000 children and hundreds of adults whose
great faith in education was a ringing challenge to their efforts.
Except for the few individuals who had attended Berea College—
most of them as elementary school pupils, and a small number
who had been touched by the inﬂuence of the American Mission-
ary Association in schools at Louisville, Lexington, and Camp
Nelson, there was practically no supply of teachers for the schools.
After the debacles which had resulted from the school legisla-
tion of 1866 and 1870, and the complete black-out inﬂicted by
the repealing act of 1871, the Legislature had at long last set up
a Colored Common Schoool System which seemed to have the
earmarks of permanency. Second only to the opening and
housing of the newly created schools was the problem of ﬁnding
teachers to man them. It was to this task that the earliest leaders
in the State Association of Colored Teachers devoted their main
deliberations and efforts. This situation was responsible for the
vigorously prosecuted movement for the establishment of a nor—
mal school. This was the ﬁrst goal which the Association set.
for itself.

The Drive Launched for a Normal School

Consideration of the Memorial Committee’s report con-
stituted the main business of the Louisville session. The ﬁnished
document contained recommendations for better common school
facilities for Negroes and a special appeal for the establishment
of a state normal school. Following the adoption of the report,
the president appointed a legislative committee to submit it to
the State Legislature at its next sitting. Professor J. M. Maxwell,
the second president, presided.

ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Pres. J. M. Maxwell Pres. Henry Shirley Pres. William H. Perry
1 79-1881 1882-1883 . 1884-1886

Pres. Chapman C. Monroe Pres. James S. Hathaway
1889-1890

1887—1888

Pres. Willilasm J. Simmons

Pres. William H. Mayo Pres. Robert Mitchell Pres. Charles H. Parrish
9 1896-1897

1892-1893 1894-18 5

i
]

10 THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION—18774946

Another feature of the Louisville session was an address by
Professor John H. Jackson, in which he strongly advocated the
establishment of a state normal school as recommended in the
Memorial Committee’s report. The address was made a part
of the report. In support of its normal school recommenda-
tions, the Association issued an appeal to the people of the state
to urge their legislators to grant the sought relief. This was the
beginning of an organized campaign for a state normal school
for Negroes.

The Normal School movement. reached its high point in
1885, when under sponsorship of the Association, a state con-
vention of leaders was called in Lexington to plan a legislative
campaign. The body agreed upon plans of procedure, and ar-
ranged for a delegation to meet in Frankfort after the opening
of the Legislature to present the plight of the state’s Negro citi—
zens in the matter of education and civil rights. According to
appointment, the Frankfort conference convened in January,
1886, with William H. Mayo, of Frankfort, as chairman. Follow-
ing a preliminary conference, Dr. William J. Simmons, president
of Simmons University, appeared before the Legislature as
spokesman, presented the memorial that had been agreed upon
and made a ringing appeal for Legislative action. His address
is said to have “ﬁred the Legislature to action and resulted in
the establishment of the State Normal School”.4 The establish-
ing act was passed May 6, 1886, seven years after the State Asso-
ciation had launched its ﬁght for the school. V

Its part in the establishmth of the State Normal School
marked the ﬁrst great accomplishment of the State Association of
Colored Teachers, and it has remained one of the most signiﬁcant
in its entire history. Having reached its ﬁrst goal, the Associa-
tion now shifted its attention to the much needed task of in-
spiring and training a supply of teachers to man the colored
common schools of the state. The body gave a great deal of
consideration, also, to the subject of industrial education. Dr.
William J. Simmons, whose writings and speeches on industrial
education had won national recognition, was the foremost advo-
cate'of that phase of education.”

‘Barksdale Hamlett, History of Education in Kentucky, 1.7. 278.

" ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT

The Association Trains Teachers

While the opening of the State Normal School had consti-
tuted a major step toward the production of a trained teaching
staff for the schools, the leaders of the State Association realized
that the new institution could prepare but a small fraction of
the urgently needed number of teachers. In consequence, they
would resolve the annual Association meetings into pedagogical
training classes in which the better informed teachers delivered
lectures, read papers, and led discussions on questions of school
methods and management and public school relations. They
sought also to cultivate aesthetic and cultural values by the in—
terspersal of musical and elocutionary renditions in the annual
programs. As a further medium of professional growth, the
Association sponsored a teacher’s reading circle through which
the members could become acquainted with certain prescribed
books.

Typical programs of the annual Association meetings of the
1890’s contained such subjects as Methods of Teaching Arithme-
tic, primary grammar, orthography, and object lessons. Much
time was given to discussion of such subjects as industrial train-
ing, corporal punishment, how to create educational enthusiasm,
habits and inﬂuence of the teachers, and similar topics. A reso-
lution of 1890 ordered ”that institute work as it pertains to the
science of pedagogy be the feature of the proceedings of at least
one session of each day” ,of the annual conventions.ﬁ At these
annual conventions the social side was not neglected. A popu-
lar feature (and gala occasion was the annual banquet to be
given by the convention hosts in whatever city the meetings were
held. The Louisville banquet of 1886 at Simmons University
inspired the following description in the minutes of that session:

“A banquet, grand in all the word implies, was tendered the
visiting teachers by Louisville friends and teachers in State
University grounds, the latter being lighted with electric light,
which gave a scene of magniﬁcance. The handsomely dressed
guests walked toand fro upon the lawn, and the love making
couples, whose hearts beat in unison, were seated beneath the
trees and arbors i'n'pleasant conversation when the guests were
summoned to listen to the program.”

5Minutes. State Association of Colored Teachers. 1890.
6Ibid. 1886

ate. ‘2001169‘8

12 THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION—lS77-1946

Elarly Leadership in the Association

The early presidents of the Association were highly intelli»
gent and serious minded men. Each was a leader in his own
right before he was called to direct the affairs of the Association.

John H. Jackson was a Berea College graduate and an experi-
enced teacher and principal; J. M. Maxwell had attended Howard
University, taught in Ohio, and, at the time of his election, was
principal of the Louisville Central High School; Henry Sherley
was a public school teacher at Glasgow and the educational
leader of southwestern Kentucky; \A7illiam H. Perry, a variously
talented man, was principal of Western School at Louisville,
then the largest Negro elementary school in the state, and re-
puted to be the largest in the South; William J. Simmons, presi-
dent of State (Simmons) University was a Howard University
graduate and a nationally prominent orator and author. His
“Men of Mark” remains the greatest book of Negro biographies.
Chapman C. Monroe had attended Oberlin College and taught
in the State Normal School; James S. Hathaway was a Berea
College graduate and a former instructor in that College; \Nil—
liam H. Mayo, educated in Ohio, was the organizer and princi-
pal of the Clinton Street High School at Frankfort; Robert
Mitchell was a scholarly minister and teacher; Charles H. Parrish,
a disciple of \Villiam J. Simmons, was a prominent young min-
ister, and, following the death of Simmons, he was the principal
of Eckstein Norton Institute; 'Miss Marie Spratt Brown was a
highly accomplished woman and a teacher in the Louisville
Public Schools; Rev. John E. Wood was a former teacher, a
gifted speaker, and at the time of his election was pastor of the
Danville Baptist Church. He was later president of the Unin—
corporated National Baptist Convention. Under these leaders
the Association initiated and piloted much of the legislation
‘which gave the state its Normal School for Colored Persons, se-
cured a law prescribing a common curriculum for White and
colored schools, and worked for the clause in the State Constitu-
tion providing for' a single per-capita distribution of public
school money regardless of race. Largely through their vigilance
a teaching force was created in the state, and educational stand-
ards were gradually raised. As the nineteenth century drew to

ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT 13

a close, there was arising a new educational emphasis in which
the natural and social sciences were to play a larger part than
previously. The “new” psychology was questioning such popu—
lar theories as formal discipline, Pestalozzian methods, etc.,
while experimental laboratories were exploding much of the
scientiﬁc heritage which the older scholars possessed. The bold
experiments of William Rainey Harper at the University of
Chicago, Edward L. Thorndike, and John Dewey at Columbia
University, Booker T. “fashington at Tuskegee, and their kind,
were fast revolutionizing educational thought and practice in
every level of the American school.

That the newer trends were affecting the educational think~
ing of Kentuckians was evidenced in the election of the State
Associations of Colored Teachers in 1900, when Frank L. Wil-
liams was chosen president. To a great extent, Professor
‘A’illiams represented a new type of leadership. His opportun-
ities for study and advanced educational contacts had afforded
him advantages over most of his co-workers in the state. In
fact, he was closer in touch with the newer educational theories
and developments than any other Kentucky school man of that
time.

The Williams Administration—19024908

That new life was needed in the Association is evident from
a resolution which the body adopted in 1900 deploring “a grow-
ing indifference to the State Teachers’ Association, apparently
on the part of the teachers of the state”, and a pledge “to unite
in an effort to build up the Association numerically, intellectu-
ally, and socially.” The election of President Frank L. Williams
was an effective means toward these ends.

Mr. Williams was principal of the Covington High School,
and a graduate student in the University of Cincinnati. He had
made a good record as a student in Berea College, and later,
earned his Master of Arts degree from the University of Cin-
cinnati. He had made a close study of educational administra-
tion in the Cincinnati public schools, and had served as a con-
sultant to the textbook department of the American Book Com-
pany of that city. He was popularly known throughout Ken-
tucky for his work as teacher institute instructor. Upon assum-

:ﬁlnutu, State Association of Colored Teachers, I900.

14 THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION—18774946

ing the presidency of the Association, Mr. \Nilliams immediately
appointed a Committee on Future Policy, which issued a report
recommending a change from July to December for the annual
conventions and a raise in the annual membership fee from ﬁfty
cents to one dollar. The report also called for the best speakers
obtainable for future programs.

Other resolutions of the Williams regime favored a state—
wide trustee board and increased appropriations for the State
Normal School, and proposed a system of free transportation of
selected students to attend the school. President Williams also
launched a movement to erect a monument to the memory of
Reverend John G. Fee, the founder of Berea College,s but this
plan was never carried through.

During Mr. Williams’ administration representative speakers
were brought to the Association from many sections of the coun-
try. Various programs bear the names of Dr. George W. Carver,
Dr. W. E. B. Dubois, Rev. M. C. B. Mason of the Methodist
Church, Dr. Louis B. Moore of Howard University, President
William G. Frost and Professor L. V. Dodge of Berea College,
Dr. Kelly Miller of Howard University, and Professor J R. E.
Lee of Tuskegee Institute. The rejuvenated‘convention was ad-
dressed also by several professors from the University of Cin-
cinnati, and school administrators from Ohio, Michigan, and
Kentucky. Prior to the Williams administration but few out—
of-state speakers had appeared on the annual programs.

When President Williams retired in 1908 to live in St. Louis,
where he had accepted the principalship of the Sumner High
School, the Association adopted a resolution of commendation
for his policy of “employing the best lecturers to be had,” and
for his “energy and tact in bringing about the large growth of
the Association.” The resolutions might well have mentioned
Mr. Williams’ contributions through his own addresses before
the annual conventions. The president’s address was always
a highlight of the annual conventions. It. was through these
periodic offerings that he interpreted the educational trends
and issues of the time, and held for himself a place of recognized
leadership among his fellow teachers.

:Minutes, State Association of Colored Teachers, 190].
nIbid, 1908.

ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT 15

Prcs. Marie S. Brown Pres. John E. Wood Pres. Harvey C. Russell
1898-1899 1900-1001 1917-1922

\‘1

Pres. Ernest E. Reed Pres. Edward B. Davis Pres. Albert E. Meyzeek
1923-1925 1926-1927 1928-1929

Pres. William H. Humphrey Pres. Dennis H. Anderson Pres. Rufus B. Atwood
1930-1931 1932-1933 1934-1935

16 THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION-1877-1946

The Crisis of 1908

The annual convention of 1908 was a climactic event in the
history of the Association. The session opened in \Vinchester,
December 29th, with thehfaculty of the Oliver Street School as
hosts. James H. Garvin was principal. The enrollment of 162
members was the highest on record to that time. During the
year of 1908, the state had been in the midst of the historic
\Vhirlwind Educational Campaign, initiated by John G. Crabbe,
then State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and sponsored
by the State Department of Education. This popular drive for
better schools had aroused unprecedented enthusiasm through-
out the state. The campaign song, ”Kentucky Schools,” was
the popular song of the year in schools and public meetings, and,
as might be expected, it was the theme song of the Winchester
convention. Notwithstanding the general interest of the con-
vention in the ‘Vhirlwind propaganda, there were particular is-
sues which developed beyond the “whirlwind” stage as the meet-
ings progressed. '

First, there was the case of Berea College, from which Negroes
had been debarred by the enactment of the Day Law. Although
four years had elapsed since the passage of this law, the case had
only recently been passed upon by the United States Supreme
Court. Meanwhile, the question of who was responsible for
the Day Law was hotly debated among former Bereans. One
element insisted that the legislation was encouraged by Dr.
William G. Frost, then president of the college. An excerpt
from the State Association minutes of 1907 describes the issue in
the following language:

"‘The Berea question was taken up for discussion. Professor
James Bond spoke at some length, placing before the Association
the Berea question from the standpoint of the trustees of Berea.
The secretary read a paper prepared by A. W. Titus of Berea,
stating the position of those who oppose the policy of President
Forst and the trustees of Berea. Professor Frank L. Williams
was called before the Association to speak on the question. . . .
He showed that from the founding of Berea College until Presi-
dent Frost’s administration, the policy had been ‘equal oppor-
tunity for all.’ Because of: President Frost’s ambition to enlarge
the school and make it more popular with the whites, he set out
upon deﬁnite measures to eliminate the blacks. . . .”1°

The running debate consumed the better part of one day’s session

10State Association of Colored Teachers, Minutes of 1907.

ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT ‘17

during which, Dr. Bond ably defended his side of the case. Mean—
while, President Frost had issued a public statement commending
the success of the Berea system of educating white and colored
people together and in the same classes, “without contamination
and reproach.” He also published resolutions from the Berea
student body condemning the Day Law as unjust.11

\Vhen the teachers assembled in \Minchester for the 1908 con—
vention, the Berea issue had by no means subsided,.and there
was wide expectation that the debate might break out anew at
any moment. Dr. Bond, President Frost, and Professor Williams
were all present, each the center of many conferring groups.
The hallways and cloak rooms were alive with discussions on the
Berea affair, and especially on the merits of the new Lincoln
Institute, a school for Negroes only, which was to be built under
Berea sponsorship. But the debates never reached the ﬂoor of
the convention. The Supreme Court had written the ﬁnal chap-
ter of the controversy. Further debate would be only academic
and futile.

Another high point of interest at Winchester was the pro-
spective retirement of Frank L. Williams from the presidency
of the Association, and the consequent election of a new presi-
dent. In anticipation of this change, several available candi-
dates were attending the convention. Once on the ground,
however, it did not take an observer long to sense a sharp rivalry
between the followers of Professor Williams and the members of
an opposing group made up of the younger teachers. It soon
developed that the Williams partisans would support Dr. C. W.
Houser, a veteran Louisville teacher and physician, while the
opposition would center their support on Francis M. Wood,
popular young principal of the Lebanon public school. Once
the lines were drawn, a vigorous contest ensued. It was attended
with a great deal of parliamentary wrangling, political maneuver-
ing, and some expressions of personal bitterness. “hen the
ballot was ﬁnally taken, Professor Wood was announced the
winner. Plainly sensing that the affairs of the Association were
passing into the hands of a new and younger group, some of the
older members of the convention took the election in very poor

11D. 0. W. Holmes, The Evolution of the Negm College, [7. 79.

18 THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION—lS77-1946

grace. Numerous expressions of ridicule and lack of conﬁdence
in the new president and his followers were made from the ﬂoor
of the convention. President Williams was certain that the
Association had voted its own ruin. He eloquently pictured
its imminent disintegration, and mournfully predicted its event-
ual dissolution. Professor G. P. Russell of Lexington spoke in
the same vein. Williams and other prophets of failure were
answered by Rev. J. E. Wood of Danville, who defended the new
regime with force and sarcasm as devastating as that of the at-
tackers.

President F. M. Wood assumed the duties of his ofﬁce with
a calm and dignity that compelled the respect of the whole con-
vention. It was not long before he had reconciled the factional
elements and attracted an ever increasing following into the
Association. Subsequent events proved the election of Wood
to be a major turning point in the history of the Association.

_THF. REORGANIZATION 19

Second Period

THE Eli-ORGANIZATION
Administration of Francis M. Wood—1909-1916

President Francis M. Wood's term of eight years was the
longest and, at the same time, one of the most fruitful for edu-
cational progress in the history of the Association. His policy
was two-fold. First, he sought to place the Kentucky Negro
Educational Association upon a closer working basis with the
State Department of Education and the Kentucky Education
Association. He sought, further, to enlist greater interest and
cooperation from the rank and ﬁle of the teachers of all levels
and from all sections, for the development of the Association.
His success with both of these objectives accounted for the un-
precedented expansion of the body in membership and inﬂuence
which it enjoyed under his leadership.

In 1913, the Wood administration proceeded to reorganize the
Association by incorporating the body under a new state charter
in which the name was changed from State Association of Colored
Teachers to the Kentucky Negro Education Association. The
reorganized body chose Louisville as the permanent meeting
place, and changed the time of the annual sessions from Decem-
ber to April, at which time the Kentucky Education Association
is also in annual session in Louisville. The simultaneous meet-
ing of the two associations in the same city made available many
national speakers whom the K. N. E. A. alone would not be
able to secure. The new arrangement also afforded opportuni-
ties for contacts between state school leaders through exchange
Visits to the two conventions. The consummation of this re
organization was the crowning achievement of the “700d ad-
ministration, and it was one