Lyman T. Johnson successfully challenged a state law that prohibited students of different races to be educated together in the same classroom. The university had been getting around the 'Day Law' by sending professors to the Kentucky State University campus in Frankfort to instruct African-American students. That all changed with Johnson in 1949.
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Lyman T. Johnson was born in Columbia, Tennessee in 1906, and was the first African American graduate student to attend the University of Kentucky. He describes the issues and events surrounding the integration of UK in 1949. He states that in the 1940s he and some other young educators who were growing into middle age became involved in civil rights, and they were concerned about integrating the University of Kentucky or the University of Louisville. Johnson explains that they searched for a talented high school student who would be interested, but had difficulty finding someone who was willing to take the risk. By 1948, some members of the committee began to push Johnson to take on the case himself, and Johnson explains why he reluctantly agreed to apply to the University of Kentucky and then sue the university when he was
denied admission. Johnson describes the humiliation of segregation, and explains the impossibility of creating a "separate but equal"
institution in Kentucky where so little money was allotted for education. He recalls teaching at Kentucky State University, Kentucky's only institution of higher learning for African American students, and states that Kentucky State only received the left-over "crumbs" of funding. Johnson explains that he believes that we need to look for the imperfections in our government and find ways of solving them. He states that he only wants equality, so that each person can obtain all that he or she is able. Johnson talks about the Day Law which enforced separate
schools for the races in Kentucky. Yet, he explains that the state constitution mandated separate schools for whites and blacks. He discusses the role Berea College played in the drafting of the Day Law,
since they allowed underprivileged people of all races to attend their school. Johnson states that the decision in his lawsuit against the University of Kentucky overturned the Day Law, and he recalls that he was treated very nicely while attending classes on UK's campus during the summer of 1949.
Click the link below to access the full interview:
https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7c599z1479
From UK Now: January 31, 2024
University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto sent the message below to the campus community this week.
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Campus Community,
This year, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of one of our most significant stories.
In the 1940s, Lyman T. Johnson and other young educators were determined to integrate the University of Kentucky. They searched for a talented, Black high school student interested in challenging UK, but they had trouble finding someone willing to take the risk.
By 1948, Johnson's fellow advocates urged him to take on the case himself. He agreed and applied as a graduate student for the university's 1948 summer session.
Johnson was rejected. So, he sued.
In 1949, a judge ruled in favor of Johnson, integrating UK and effectively overturning the Kentucky Day Law. That summer semester, Johnson and 29 other Black students enrolled at UK.
Although he didn't graduate from the University of Kentucky, Johnson still took with him a piece of our legacy — one he etched into our foundation himself — that was on the right side of history...
In the fall of 1949, standing as a force in front of the University of Louisville's Board of Trustees, Johnson declared, “We are fresh from victory at Lexington. You can read the handwriting on the wall and open these doors now, or you can be made to do it, with humiliation.” They integrated in 1950.
This is in contrast to the history in many states south of us that successfully opposed and resisted university desegregation for more than another decade. Kentucky was not perfect. But Lyman T. Johnson courageously and resolutely showed us we could be more perfect.
Johnson knew the power of education. He was a lifelong and fierce advocate for desegregation, changing the trajectory and prosperity of Kentucky...paving the way for future generations.
Johnson is part of our story.
Eli Capilouto
President
