Desegregation of UK

Historical marker location:

Lexington, Kentucky

( (in front of Lyman T. Johnson Hall))

In 1948 Lyman T. Johnson filed suit for admission to UK. In March 1949 Federal Judge H. Church Ford ruled in Johnson's favor, and that summer nearly 30 black students entered UK graduate and professional programs. Undergraduate classes desegregated in 1954. Class of 1999.

(Reverse) Lyman T. Johnson (1906-1997) - Educator and civil rights leader Lyman T. Johnson led the fight for the desegregation of UK. A Tennessee native, he was an educator in the Louisville Public Schools for forty years and served as president of the Louisville NAACP. UK awarded Johnson an honorary degree in 1979. Class of 1999.

African American Civil Rights Louisville University of Kentucky