Mays Lick Negro School

(Redirected from May's Lick Negro School)

Mays Lick Negro School is a former black school in May's Lick, Kentucky. The schoolhouse, which dates to the 1920s, has been declared a historic landmark. It was a Rosenwald School.

Mays Lick Negro School
Historical marker in front of schoolhouse
Mays Lick Negro School is located in Kentucky
Mays Lick Negro School
Location5003 Raymond Rd. Mays Lick, Kentucky
Coordinates38°31′05″N 83°50′19″W / 38.51817°N 83.83848°W / 38.51817; -83.83848
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1921
NRHP reference No.100002160[1]
Added to NRHP2018-03-05

After the American Civil War, the Freeman's Bureau was tasked with educating the newly freed black children. The Freeman's Bureau opened a school for black children in the May's Lick community ca. 1868. The location was behind the Second Baptist Church, near US 68 and Nicholas Street. A new schoolhouse was dedicated July 17, 1921. This school was constructed with help of the Rosenwald Fund. The school remained in operation until the early 1960s.[2]

The square brick building with long windows has been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.[3] As of 2019, fund-raising efforts are being made to restore this building.[4]

Its National Register nomination states baldly:

Mays Lick Negro School operated as a consolidated school for African Americans in Mason County Kentucky from the year it was built, 1920-1921, until Mason County ceased to segregate education racially, in 1960. It is significant all the years from 1920-1960 in the history of local education for showing the interest of the county's white citizens in keeping children in school from interacting racially.[5]

The spelling of the school's name includes no apostrophe, as the school was termed, and literally labelled, "Mays Lick" not "May's Lick".[5]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 1976-03-26.
  2. ^ "May's Lick Negro School being renovated". The Ledger Independent. November 4, 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Fund-raiser planned for May's Lick School". The Ledger Independent. November 1, 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Rosenwald's May's Lick Negro School". Kentucky Department of Tourism. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  5. ^ a b Robert F. DeVoe (May 15, 2017). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: May's Lick Negro School / May's Lick Rosenwald School / May's Lick Consolidated Colored School / MSML-80 / May's Lick Elementary School". National Park Service. Retrieved November 22, 2022. Includes historic photos and photos from 2017.