Mayo–Underwood School
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The Mayo–Underwood School (1929–1964), a successor to the Clinton Street High School (1882/1884–1928), was a segregated public elementary and high school for
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
students in Frankfort,
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, United States. There is a historic plaque at the former site of the Mayo–Underwood School.


History


Clinton Street High School

Clinton Street High School was founded in either 1882 or 1884 as both an elementary school and high school, at what was once 168-170 East Clinton Street. The Clinton Street High School closed in 1928, and many of the students were transferred to the newly opened Mayo–Underwood School, located at the corner of Mero and Wilkinson Streets. Former teachers at Clinton Street High School included Charity A. Boyd, Annie L. Fairs, Margaret E. Gray, Bianca Parker, Sadie M. Kirby, Virginia M. Madison, Katie Smith, Julia M. Spencer, Lettye A. Williams, Martha E. Williams, and Winnie A. Scott. Central High School in Louisville, was the first African American high school in the state. Neighboring Kentucky cities added their own segregated public schools for African American students soon after, including the Clinton Street High School; the Paris Colored High School in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
; William Grant High School in Covington; Russell School in Lexington; Lincoln High School in
Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in the Upland South, and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located in the Southeastern United States at the confluence ...
; and Winchester Freedmen School (or Winchester High School) in
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
.


Mayo–Underwood School

The Mayo–Underwood School was also founded as an elementary school and high school. It was named after two people, the first being William H. Mayo the former principal of the Clinton Street High School and founder of the ''State Normal School for Colored Persons'' (now
Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU, and KYSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, and becoming a land-grant college in 1890, KSU is the second ...
); and the second being Edward Ellsworth Underwood, a local physician, activist, and an organizer of the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
chapter in Frankfort. The Tiger Inn Café (active from 1931 to 1963) was located near the school and was a popular hangout for students. Alumni of Mayo–Underwood School included football player, Kermit E. Williams (1930–2006); and Luska Joseph Twyman (1913–1988), Kentucky state's first African American mayor in 1968. The school was torn down in the 1960s as part of an urban renewal plan. Many African American Frankfort community members were upset with the decision to remove the school, as it was associated with important local history they wished to share with the younger generations. In 2019, the Mayo-Underwood Building at 500 Mero Street, a state building in Frankfort was named in honor of the former school (and replaced the Capital Plaza Tower).


See also

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History of African Americans in Kentucky History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo-Underwood School 1929 establishments in Kentucky 1964 disestablishments in Kentucky Public high schools in Kentucky Historically segregated African-American schools in Kentucky Schools in Franklin County, Kentucky African-American history of Kentucky Defunct schools in Kentucky Demolished buildings and structures in Kentucky Buildings and structures demolished in the 1960s