Williams, Lawrence H.

Black Higher Education in Kentucky 1879-1930 the History of Simmons University

1986 0-88946-668-8
This definitive account of Simmons University and the history of the Black Baptists in Kentucky is written from the perspective of the oppressed and their striving for a better community.

Charles H. Parrishes. Pioneers in African- American Religion and Education, 1880-1989

2002 0-7734-6907-9
This work examines the little-known story of this father and son whose work in religion and education spanned a period of more than a hundred years. A former slave, Charles H. Parrish, Sr. graduated in 1886 from State University in Louisville (later Simmons College). The school was owned and operated by black Kentucky Baptists, the only school of black higher education in the state until 1930. Parrish, Sr. served as president from 1918 to 1931. As a founding member of the National Baptist Convention, he also served as chairman of the foreign mission board and editor of the publishing board. During a period of rank segregation, he was an officer of the Baptists World Alliance, a racially integrated worldwide organization. Parrish, Jr. was a leader in black higher education during several transitional periods. He was a part of the transition from missionary schools to public black schools, and from public supported black schools to integrated ones. He was the first black professor to teach at a public supported university in the South, teaching at the University of Louisville.