Library Homepage: Simmons College KY History: Home

The library director maintains a bibliography of Simmons College Ky History books available in our library.

You can also search the library catalog for books (both print books and ebooks) or if you visit the library, you can browse the shelves adjacent topics. Look for these call numbers to find books related to African-American history, the Black church, and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

BR563.N4 African-American Religion
BT82, BT83 Liberation Theology (including Black liberation theology)
E185 African-American History
HT851-1445 Slavery
LC2699-2913 Education of African-Americans (including Black educational institutions).

Essential Reading on Simmons History

A beacon of hope : the African American Baptist church and the origins of Black higher learning institutions in Kentucky by Gilliam, Erin Wiggins This dissertation focuses on the African American Baptist church as a vital architect of black higher education in Kentucky. In keeping with the historiography of black education, its research focuses on the often-forgotten component of religion and its impact on the development of post-secondary education
Life and History of the Rev. Elijah P. Marrs by Elijah P. Marrs Autobiography of Rev. Elijah P. Marrs, the first president of Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute, later renamed Simmons College of Kentucky.
ISBN: 9781404782686
Publication Date: 1885-01-01
Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1879-1930 by Lawrence H. Williams
Call Number: LC2852.L687
ISBN: 0889466688
Publication Date: 1986-01-01
This account of Simmons University and the history of the Black Baptists in Kentucky is written from the perspective of the oppressed and their striving for a better community.

Websites for Simmons College KY Research

Simmons College KY Digital Archive
A small but growing digital archive of Simmonolas (yearbooks), academic catalogs, photographs, and publications related to Simmons and Black Louisvillians.
African American History Project (AAHP)
The African American History Project (AAHP) is an archive of 300+ oral history interviews conducted with African Americans around Alachua County and the American South. The collection centers on integration, education, and life in the Jim Crow South, and is the largest public African American history collection in the state of Florida.
Notable Kentucky African Americans Database
There are more notable African Americans with Kentucky roots and ties than any one person knows about. Very little has been written about many of them and it is a challenge to find what was written in the past. For some, their stories have only been told by word of mouth. The Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (NKAA) has been developed as a finding aid to bring together a brief description of pertinent names, places, and events, and to list the sources where additional information may be found.