Black history is a subject receiving much attention from scholars and authors. Researchers are working diligently to unravel the past, while others are applying their talents to bring these stories to the public in print and film. Their work is important because much of this history and these stories have never been told.
Another flourishing activity is the addition of Black history curricula in our primary, secondary and post-secondary schools. This is beginning to fill a gap that lasted well over three centuries. (Sadly, and shockingly, the subject has now become a political issue.)
Much of this effort is intended to bring about a better understanding of the African American experience in this country, a story that began in 1619, when the first enslaved Africans were brought to Virginia. Much of the emphasis has been at the national and state level, on the “big picture.” There has been much less focus on local history. For us, that means telling the stories and describing events here in Winchester and Clark County. These are not easy subjects to investigate—and not always pleasant.
In the Antebellum Era, the Clark County Courthouse was the site where enslaved men, women, and children were regularly bought and sold and where the jailer administered public whippings.
It may surprise some to learn that at the outbreak of the Civil War, 42 percent of the population in Clark County was enslaved. Put into perspective, that exceeded the percentage in the seceding states of the Confederacy: 39 percent.[i] The number of Blacks in Clark County peaked at 4,974 in 1850 and has decreased steadily over time to about 1,600 today. Blacks now represent about 7 percent of the population of Winchester and about 5 percent in the county as a whole.
In the Antebellum Era, the Clark County Courthouse was the site where enslaved men, women, and children were regularly bought and sold and where the jailer administered public whippings.[ii]
In many cases, the very names we seek are omitted from public documents. As an example, the first eight U.S. censuses did not give the name of any enslaved persons, because they were considered property. In the much more detailed censuses of 1850 and ’60, they were listed individually by owner–but their names were omitted. The only data reported were age, sex, and whether black or mulatto.[iii] (The presence of mulattoes tells us something of the unequal relationship between the enslaved and their owners.)
In a few instances, estate records for example, slaves were listed by their first name, age, and appraised or sale value. In some early church minutes, they were referred to as Striblin’s Daniel or Drake’s Agnes—the owner’s surname followed the slave’s given name.[iv]
The U.S. Census reported the presence of free Blacks in Clark County prior to the Civil War. The first census record for the county is for the year 1810 (data from the 1800 census were lost and in 1790 Clark County did not yet exist.). The numbers for Clark County are as follows: 23 free Blacks in 1810, 41 in 1820, 67 in 1830, 146 in 1840, 140 in 1850, and 122 in 1860. The decrease that followed 1840 is partly due to Kentucky laws that were increasingly unfavorable to free Blacks.
Local research has unearthed numerous personal histories of Clark County’s Blacks before and after abolition.
Aaron Abbott earned enough money to purchase his freedom in 1838. He acquired a small farm and soon was able to purchase freedom for his wife Charity and their three sons then, later, for his second wife Harriett and their two children.[v]
On Independence Day 1868 nineteen Black members of Providence Church, all former slaves, resigned from the white church to form their own body. That congregation endures today as the Providence Missionary Baptist Church, and they worship at the Old Stone Church, a local landmark.[vi]
Moses Robinson was an enslaved shoemaker who earned freedom for himself and his family. At the time Robinson died in 1861, he had accumulated an estate of more than $5,000, or the equivalent of $155,000 today. His will directed that the funds be used to buy farms for his children. Three of them came to live near Schollsville, in a Black community they founded called “Dry Ridge.”[vii]
Peter Bruner ran away from his owner numerous times before reaching Camp Nelson, where he enlisted in the Union Army in July 1864. Assigned to the 12th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, he was engaged in combat in Kentucky and Tennessee. He later penned his autobiography, A Slave’s Adventures Toward Freedom.[viii]
There are many more stories of individual determination and perseverance that space prevents us from sharing here.
Following Emancipation, freedom did not result in social or economic equality for Blacks. Upon escaping slavery, most Blacks suffered from a shortage of material goods, near-starvation conditions, and exposure to the elements. Harassment and worse forms of terrorism often made mere survival a challenge.
While violence here did not approach that experienced in the Deep South, there were incidents here in Clark County. For example, there were at least six lynchings that occurred between 1839 and 1895: “a young negro named Knight,” Daniel Sphar’s “negro man,” Fielding Waller, William Hart, Ben Plunkett, and Bob Haggard. A mob hung Plunkett from a tree in the courthouse yard.[ix] (See also: Racial Terror in Clark County).
Clark County Black men and women have regularly answered their country’s call to arms in numbers greater than their portion of the population. According to Retired Army Lt. Col. Michael Lee Lanning, “For more than 200 years, African-Americans have participated in every conflict in U.S. history. They have not only fought bravely the common enemies of the United States but have also had to confront the individual and institutional racism of their countrymen.”
After examining only a portion of the Civil War enlistment records, more than 600 men who served in the U.S. Colored Troops from Clark County have been identified.[x]
A Revolutionary War veteran, John Sidebottom, later ran the Boonesborough Ferry. He enlisted from Prince William County, Virginia, and is credited with saving the life of future president James Monroe at the Battle of Trenton.[xi]
Clark County men in the Ninth Cavalry, a Black regiment, were cited for their heroism in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Teddy Roosevelt, who led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill, later stated that “the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments fought one on either side of mine at Santiago, and I wish no better men beside me in battle than these colored troops showed themselves to be.”[xii]
Discrimination against Blacks continued well into the 20th century. Clark County public schools were segregated until 1956. Our deed books record numerous sales of homes that prohibited the property from being sold to “a person of African descent.” The following language is typical: “said property shall never be leased, sold nor conveyed to any colored person or negro.”[xiii]
The federal practice of “red-lining” prevented Blacks from securing home loans in Poynterville. A local banker told me that banks here followed that policy of redlining Black neighborhoods. The term refers to the practice of using a red line on a map to delineate areas where financial institutions would not invest. From 1934 to 1964, the Federal Housing Administration practiced a policy of “redlining” when determining in which neighborhoods to approve mortgages.[xiv]
There are numerous examples of Blacks with college degrees being denied employment in Winchester except in menial positions such as janitors and domestic service. The distinguished William Webb Banks (1862−1928), author and newspaper publisher, spent nearly three decades in Winchester as janitor of the Elks Club; when he died he left his estate of about $10,000 to his alma mater, Simmons University. William “Pie” Didlick (1907−1980), who graduated from Kentucky State University with degrees in history and education, was the long-time custodian at a Winchester bank.[xv]
This brief essay on Black history in Clark County is not intended to render moral judgment on the past, but rather to lay out the beginnings of a historical record. While some of this record is not easy to accept, there is no sense denying the past ever happened or keeping it hidden so we don’t have to be reminded. It is our shared history.
My personal belief is that in order to know who we are as a people, we must have a realistic knowledge of where we have been. We cannot change the past. We are responsible for what we do today to make Winchester a better place to live for all. Although much progress has been made, much more remains to be done for Winchester to become a truly inclusive community.
Footnotes
[i] Online at www.britannica.com/topic/Confederate-States-of-America.
[ii] Clark County Will Book 10:53, I. N. Massie, “Winchester in Olden Times,” Clark County Republican, April 28 and May 19, 1916, and Thomas N. Allen, Chronicles of Oldfields (Seattle, WA, 1909), p. 88.
[iii] U.S. Census, Clark County, 1810–1860.
[iv] George F. Doyle, First Record Book of Providence Church (Winchester, KY, 1924).
[v] Lyndon Comstock, Before Abolition, African-Americans in Early Clark County, Kentucky (n.p., 2017), pp. 34–44. Comstock, who lives in California but has ties to Clark County, has worked on this problem for over a decade. His 800-page book, Before Abolition, includes the names of more than 7,000 African Americans who lived in Clark County prior to Emancipation. His work includes much biographical information and many personal stories. He is now preparing a much-expanded version of the book.
[vi] Providence Church Minutes, Vol. II, p. 211.
[vii] Harry G. Enoch, The Robinsons of Dry Ridge, History of a Black Family and Post-Civil War Community in Clark County, Kentucky (Winchester, KY, 2020).
[viii] Peter Bruner, “A Slave’s Adventures Toward Freedom,” online at https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/bruner/bruner.html.
[ix] Clark County Democrat, April 7, 1880, Winchester Democrat, July 19, 1895 Winchester Democrat, February 16, 1897, Cincinnati Enquirer, February 25, 1870, George C. Wright, Racial Violence in Kentucky, Lynchings, Mob Rule and “Legal Lynchings” (Baton Rouge, LA, 1996), p. 309, and To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled: “Memorial Of A Committee Appointed At A Meeting Of Colored Citizens Of Frankfort, Ky., And Vicinity, Praying The Enactment Of Law For The Better Protection Of Life, April 11, 1871, online at https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/539.
[x] Lists are available online at Ancestry.com.
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[xi] Eric G. Grundset, Forgotten Patriots (Washington, DC, 2008), p. 503.
[xii] “A Winchester Boy at Santiago,” Winchester Democrat, October 11, 1898, T. G. Steward, Colored Regulars In the United States Army (Philadelphia, PA, 1904), p. 281.
[xiii] The author first ran across this restriction when researching deeds in the Burns Addition (Clark County Deed Book 89:616, 93:615, 94:95, 96:159) and French Avenue (Deed Book 81:371, 83:560, 95:97, 123:341).
[xiv] “A ‘Forgotten History’ Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America,” online at www.npr.org.
[xv] Winchester Sun, September 19, 1928, September 14, 1979.
