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As we come to the close of Black History Month, but not to the end of our remembering and celebrating African-American Heritage, today we are highlighting some African American firsts:
In 1913, Mary E. Merritt (1881-1953) was born in Berea, Kentucky was the first African American nurse to be licensed in Kentucky.
In 1935, Charles W. Anderson, Jr. (1907-1960), was Kentucky's first African American legislator in the South since Reconstruction.
In 1937, Willa Brown Chappell (1906-1992) born Willa Beatrice Brown in Glasgow, Kentucky earned her pilot’s license, making her the first African American woman to be licensed in the United States.
Anna Mac Clarke (1919-1944) a native of Lawrenceburg, KY and a graduate of Kentucky State University was the first African American woman in Kentucky to enlist in the military during World War II and was a member of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp, or WACC.
In 1949, Lyman T. Johnson (1906-1997) became the first African American to attend classes at the University of Kentucky.
In 1953, Grace Marilynn James (1923–1989) was born in Charleston, West Virginia was the first African American physician on the University of Louisville School of Medicine faculty.
In 1959, Alberta Odell Jones (1930-1965) was the first African American women to pass the Kentucky bar and the first woman appointed city attorney in Jefferson County.
In 1952, Zirl A. Palmer (1919-1982) was the first African American pharmacist to own a Rexall franchise in the United States (Lexington, KY) and also the first black member of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees.
In 1961, John T. Smith (1919-1994) was the first African American student to receive a doctorate from UK.
In 1963, Harry N. Sykes (1927- 2012) a native of Starkville, Mississippi was the first African American city councilman and served as mayor pro tem of Lexington, KY.
In 1969, Moneta J. Sleet Jr. (1926-1996) born in Owensboro, KY was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize in photography.
In 1969, Doris Wilkinson was the first African-American woman appointed to the full-time faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky.
In 1971, Rev. William E. Summers III (1918-1996) born in Louisville, became the first African American radio station owner in the state of Kentucky when he purchased WLOU.
Brenda Denise Cowan (1963 – 2004) born in Sturgis, Kentucky, was Lexington, Kentucky's first black female firefighter.
In 1980, Viola Davis Brown (1936-2017) born in Lexington, Ky, was the first African American nurse to lead a state office of public health nursing in the United States.
In 1988, Judge Gary D. Payne was the first African American judge in Lexington/Fayette County, Kentucky.
In 1999, Judge Pamela Goodwine became the first African American woman in the Fayette County judiciary.
In 2001, Anthany Beatty became the first African American Chief of Police in Lexington, KY.
In 2007, Andrea M. James born in Lexington, KY, became the first African American woman elected to the Lexington City Council.
In June, 2012, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Keith L. Jackson made history by becoming the first African American appointed Chief of the Lexington Division of Fire and Emergency Services.
On October 1, 2022, Kimberly Baird, was sworn in as the first African American to serve as Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney.
On October 1, 2022, Angela Evans is the first African American Fayette County Attorney.
In February, 2023, Thomasena Grider the first African American woman promoted to Lieutenant in the Lexington Police Department.
May we forever remember and celebrate our African-American Heritage.
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