Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project – Schools and Education
Series Number: OH254
Interviewee: Kindrick, Bradie S.
Interviewer: Bates, Mary
Date interviewed: July 15, 1979
Processed by: O’Daniel, Hannah
Date processed: March 6, 2014
Description: 1 sound disc (19 minutes)
Abstract: Bradie S. Kindrick began the interview by describing Pleasant Hill Elementary School, in Almo, Kentucky. She mentions attending Douglas High School in Murray, Kentucky for two years and West Kentucky Industrial College from 1923 to 1925. She chronicles her thirty-four years of teaching experiences in Graves County and Ballard County. She recounted her further education at West Kentucky State College, and Murray State College and being one of the first African Americans to graduate from Murray State with a Bachelor of Science degree. She discussed the process of school consolidation and integration in Graves County and provided her views on racial integration in schools. She observed that job opportunities for African Americans have expanded in Graves County and that racial relations have improved. She details the education and occupations of her grandchildren and her daughter.
Biographical / Historical note: Bradie S. Kindrick was born in Almo, Calloway County, Kentucky about 1906. Her mother died when she was six years old. She attended Pleasant Hill School in Almo, Kentucky, beginning first grade at the age of six. She graduated from eighth grade at Pleasant Hill and attended Douglas High School in Murray, Kentucky for two years. In 1923, she began at West Kentucky Industrial College and graduated from high school in 1925. After obtaining her teachers certificate through a six week summer session at West Kentucky State College, she began teaching in Graves County. She also taught for one year in Ballard County. She graduated from the normal school of West Kentucky Industrial College in 1930. When African Americans were allowed to attend Murray State College, she enrolled. She graduated in 1958, making her the first of two African American women to graduate from Murray State with a Bachelor of Science degree. In all, she taught for thirty-seven years before retiring, with four of those years in an integrated school in Graves County.
General information: No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Kindrick, Bradie S., 1906-
Segregation in education – Kentucky.
Education – Kentucky – Graves County – History.
African Americans – Kentucky – History.
Kentucky – Race relations.
African Americans – Kentucky – Calloway County.
Pleasant Hill School (Almo, Ky.)
Douglas High School (Murray, Ky.)
West Kentucky Industrial College (Paducah, Ky.)
