A Harder Road: Black Women Forge Their Own Path

This Central High School 1976 reunion mug is commemorative of the classes of 1935 1/2 and 1936. It was recently donated by Elmer Lucille Allen.

The Current Annual

Yearbook, 1934 

This program was from the Central High School commencement at Macauley's Theatre on June 23rd, 1911. The program included multiple orchestral overtures, choral performances, and speeches. 

Inside of commencement program

Facing discrimination at the intersection of race and gender, Black women faced even more obstacles to education than white women. Though public schools were first established in Louisville in 1829, the first public school in Kentucky for Black students, Central Colored High School, was not open until 1873. Prior to this, informal systems of education were innovated in Black churches, abolitionist outposts, and community centers, often led by Black women. Though no longer outright illegal, educating Black children was considered “dangerous” by white communities, so many such schools were forced to operate in secrecy.