Simmons University/Louisville Municipal College

1018 South 7th Street

Chartered through the state legislature in 1873 as Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute, the Baptist initiated school was the state’s first African American controlled institution of higher learning. It grew under the leadership of William Simmons, a college educated formerly enslaved person and minister.

After a Depression era slump, the University of Louisville bought the property as a branch campus for blacks, operating it as Louisville Municipal College until it desegregated in 1951. Once the municipal school was closed, there was bitter uproar about what to do with faculty that had been terminated due to the school closing. The University Board of Trustees agreed to grant faculty severance pay and some received assistance in securing jobs at other universities. Sociologist Charles Parrish, Jr. became the only professor to join UofL’s faculty when Louisville Municipal College closed, making him the university’s first African American faculty member.

Charles H. Parrish was chosen by other LMC faculty to take the job at UofL so that other tenured faculty members would be able to sue and receive severance pay.

William J. Simmons

wikipedia.com

● 1951 Charles Parrish with students

uoflnews.com