Good to see a little right done in my hometown

Kentucky School for the Deaf honors black students once denied diplomas

The Kentucky School for the Deaf became the first state-supported school of its kind in the nation in 1823. But blacks were segregated into the KSD "colored division." They did not have the same expectations or opportunities as their white counterparts, and were not held to the same academic standards.

Students at KSD could stay until graduation or until they were 21 if they had not qualified for graduation, said Carolyn Gulley, whose mother, Margaret Marshall, taught black deaf students. All KSD students at that time graduated with an eighth-grade education, Gulley said in remarks to the assembly.

Integration came gradually at the school. First-year classes were integrated in 1959, and in 1960 it was carried out in all academic classes, Gulley said. Full integration in dormitories and dining halls came in 1963.