The Yard
Emma Rose Pleasant Booker
Courageous, Independent, Intelligent, Woman
Used Her Family's Value of Education to Mold a Century of Learners
During the period of slavery in the US, laws were created to prohibit enslaved African Americans from educating themselves and others. So, following the ending of slavery, educational institutions were established by educated African Americans, who made it their mission to ensure that their community would learn to read and write. Emma Rose Pleasant was one of those missionaries of education.
Emma Rose was born on January 24, 1909, into a large, prominent family in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. She has been described as courageous, independent, intelligent, and a well-mannered role model who held fast to her family’s value of education.
Her early elementary education, until grade 8, was received in the segregated school system of Lawrenceburg. Before Emma Rose’s birth, Kentucky had passed a segregation law in 1904, the Day Law, named after Breathitt County Representative Carl Day, which prohibited African-American students from attending the same school as their White peers. Kentucky was the last state in the geographical South to introduce racially segregated schools. However, Black parents who did desire their children to continue their studies would often enroll them in high schools in larger towns that offered higher education opportunities to bright African-American students. Therefore, when Emma Rose’s parents, Ed and Genevia, were presented with an educational opportunity in the 1920s to send Emma Rose, along with her 3 siblings, to live with their grandmother, Rosa Belle Hayden Medley (1862-1940), who had recently migrated to Buffalo, NY, they did not hesitate. Their grandmother’s home provided a stable base for the siblings to obtain new life experiences in a high school with a diverse population.
Naomi Pleasant Barkley (1931-2022), also a native of Lawrenceburg and a graduate of Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, IN, said the following about her decision to attend college, “Cousin Emma Rose was very proper, and I wanted to be like her and attend Kentucky State [sic]” FB: March 8, 2019. At Kentucky State College (KSC), now known as Kentucky State University, Naomi would join the Beta Zeta (BZ) Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), and graduate with honors from KSC in 1951.
When most Black women during the 1930s had not completed a high school or a university degree, Emma Rose Pleasant was part of the 2% exception, graduating from Kentucky State Industrial College (KSIC), now known as Kentucky State University, in the capital city of Frankfort. She completed two degrees from KSIC: the first degree was obtained on June 1, 1931, at KSIC’s Junior College, and the second degree was obtained on August 15, 1935, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English.
As a student at KSIC, Emma Rose, who was popular and known as the ‘flirting kind’ on campus, participated in various collegiate activities. She was the 1933/34 vice-president of the Delphic Club, a club organized in 1926 to promote the development of young women with the motto of “gentle manner and resolute in deed.” Emma Rose was also a Kentucky State Girls’ Basketball Team member. During April 22-26, 1935, she attended the “Vocational Guidance Week” presented by the BZ Chapter of AKA on campus.
Upon graduating from Kentucky State Industrial College, Emma Rose would take up her first teaching position at the Tuscaloosa County Training School with the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education. The Training School was a system of schools established for African-American students in 1915 as a direct result of the Alabama Constitution legally adopting segregation in 1901. The institution of segregation was designed to disenfranchise African Americans and maintain the Jim Crow system of the South. Hence, County Training Schools were significant in the secondary education of African-American students in southern states, especially in rural areas.
After completing her teaching position in Tuscaloosa, Emma Rose returned to Kentucky to join the Rosenwald School for African American Students faculty in 1948, the only school for Black students in Harlan, Kentucky (Appalachia). Members of the Black community of Harlan, including prominent African-American community member Henry Creech, raised $500 to construct a building in 1918. Harlan City Schools also donated $1,000 towards the Rosenwald School Construction and land purchase, and the Julius Rosenwald Fund covered the remaining cost. A new two-room school building opened in 1920. The construction of the segregation-era school resulted from the majority White city board members in 1893 declining to financially support the construction of a school for African-American students in Harlan.
Emma Rose was a strong advocate of giving back through education, evidenced by her track record. While at Rosenwald, she made lasting impressions on her former students, Jerry Brown and Danna Wood Webb.
Jerry Brown, Rosenwald Class of 1954, Kentucky State University Class of 1958, and a member of the Psi Psi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi, felt well prepared for KSU because he had “teachers at Rosenwald who cared about Black students, and they were brilliant in their field.” In 1960, Jerry enlisted in the United States Air Force. While at the enlistment office, a White recruitment officer expressed to him that his credentials as a graduate of KSU would make him an excellent candidate for an officer. When Jerry arrived to take the exam, he passed with the highest overall mark, with only 8 out of the 28 men passing the exam. He was congratulated by the examiners. However, the older White sergeants, who had the final say, based on his physical exam, stated that Jerry required dental work and a tooth filling and could not, unfortunately, recommend him for the officer position. Fortunately, Jerry was not disheartened, as he was well prepared for the hard ‘no.’
Jerry’s experience at KSU and Rosenwald prepared him to achieve. He would go on to have a successful career with NASA HQs. In 1990, NASA nominated him and was awarded the prestigious Points of Light Award, personally presented to him by President George H. W. and Barbara Bush, honoring individuals who demonstrated the transformative power of service. He credits Emma Rose for being an excellent teacher and preparing him for life.
Danna Wood Webb, daughter of former Rosenwald principal W.M. Wood, has fond memories, as well, of Emma Rose. She recalls her talent as a piano teacher and a choir director, but most importantly, Emma Rose was a mentor. At thirteen, Danna was offered the opportunity to attend high school in Minnesota, where her aunt resided. She recalls feeling conflicted about her decision, however, following a heart-to-heart with Emma Rose, she realized it would be in her overall best interest to leave Appalachia and expand her world, a similar path that Emma Rose had traveled. In Minnesota, Danna was the only African-American student in the class but also demonstrated her confidence and ability to excel academically. Following high school, she obtained a bachelor’s degree from Knoxville College (HBCU), where she was a member of the Gamma Eta chapter of AKA, and later obtained postgraduate degrees from Columbia University. Danna went on to have a career in academia and a successful law practice.
Emma Rose valued education and learning. In the early 1950s, she enrolled in classes at the recently desegregated University of Kentucky in Lexington. Still, she withdrew due to the hostilities of White students toward African American students on campus. Being a determined and strong-willed woman, Emma Rose resumed her matriculation at Indiana University-Bloomington in 1952. She completed her master’s degree, making her the first person in her family to obtain a post-graduate degree. Transcripts also indicated that she continued her post-graduate education at Michigan State University while working as a Lansing School District teacher.
Forward-thinking in the way she lived her life, Emma Rose's creed for living, according to a personal quote from the monthly student publication at KSIC, The Kentucky Thorobred (1931), was 'let no one man worry your mind'. Instead of being consumed by the norms and expectations for women of her time, she enjoyed life to the fullest: learning, establishing a successful career in education, and being an active member in her church and sorority. On April 1, 1965, Emma Rose was initiated into the Delta Tau Omega Chapter of AKA in Lansing, Michigan.
Emma Rose Pleasant (Booker) epitomizes a phenomenal woman with courage and purpose. During her lifetime, she embodied the essence of an Alpha Kappa Alpha Woman: high scholastic and ethical standards, community service through education in underserved communities in the ‘Jim Crow South and Kentucky Appalachia, and as a role model for the young women of her time. Her legacy, however, will be her gift to encourage and inspire her students to look beyond their circumstances and become the authors of their own narratives.
Special Thanks to Mr. Jerry Brown, Soror Danna Woods Webb, Ms. Sharon McGee of Kentucky State University Archives, and the ladies of Delta Tau Omega: Sorors Nettavia Curry (Chapter President), Mary Jane McGuire (Past Chapter President 1974- 75), Jeanette Peterson, & Gloria Bond.
Emma Rose was born on January 24, 1909, into a large, prominent family in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. She has been described as courageous, independent, intelligent, and a well-mannered role model who held fast to her family’s value of education.
Her early elementary education, until grade 8, was received in the segregated school system of Lawrenceburg. Before Emma Rose’s birth, Kentucky had passed a segregation law in 1904, the Day Law, named after Breathitt County Representative Carl Day, which prohibited African-American students from attending the same school as their White peers. Kentucky was the last state in the geographical South to introduce racially segregated schools. However, Black parents who did desire their children to continue their studies would often enroll them in high schools in larger towns that offered higher education opportunities to bright African-American students. Therefore, when Emma Rose’s parents, Ed and Genevia, were presented with an educational opportunity in the 1920s to send Emma Rose, along with her 3 siblings, to live with their grandmother, Rosa Belle Hayden Medley (1862-1940), who had recently migrated to Buffalo, NY, they did not hesitate. Their grandmother’s home provided a stable base for the siblings to obtain new life experiences in a high school with a diverse population.
Naomi Pleasant Barkley (1931-2022), also a native of Lawrenceburg and a graduate of Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, IN, said the following about her decision to attend college, “Cousin Emma Rose was very proper, and I wanted to be like her and attend Kentucky State [sic]” FB: March 8, 2019. At Kentucky State College (KSC), now known as Kentucky State University, Naomi would join the Beta Zeta (BZ) Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), and graduate with honors from KSC in 1951.
When most Black women during the 1930s had not completed a high school or a university degree, Emma Rose Pleasant was part of the 2% exception, graduating from Kentucky State Industrial College (KSIC), now known as Kentucky State University, in the capital city of Frankfort. She completed two degrees from KSIC: the first degree was obtained on June 1, 1931, at KSIC’s Junior College, and the second degree was obtained on August 15, 1935, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English.
As a student at KSIC, Emma Rose, who was popular and known as the ‘flirting kind’ on campus, participated in various collegiate activities. She was the 1933/34 vice-president of the Delphic Club, a club organized in 1926 to promote the development of young women with the motto of “gentle manner and resolute in deed.” Emma Rose was also a Kentucky State Girls’ Basketball Team member. During April 22-26, 1935, she attended the “Vocational Guidance Week” presented by the BZ Chapter of AKA on campus.
Upon graduating from Kentucky State Industrial College, Emma Rose would take up her first teaching position at the Tuscaloosa County Training School with the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education. The Training School was a system of schools established for African-American students in 1915 as a direct result of the Alabama Constitution legally adopting segregation in 1901. The institution of segregation was designed to disenfranchise African Americans and maintain the Jim Crow system of the South. Hence, County Training Schools were significant in the secondary education of African-American students in southern states, especially in rural areas.
After completing her teaching position in Tuscaloosa, Emma Rose returned to Kentucky to join the Rosenwald School for African American Students faculty in 1948, the only school for Black students in Harlan, Kentucky (Appalachia). Members of the Black community of Harlan, including prominent African-American community member Henry Creech, raised $500 to construct a building in 1918. Harlan City Schools also donated $1,000 towards the Rosenwald School Construction and land purchase, and the Julius Rosenwald Fund covered the remaining cost. A new two-room school building opened in 1920. The construction of the segregation-era school resulted from the majority White city board members in 1893 declining to financially support the construction of a school for African-American students in Harlan.
Emma Rose was a strong advocate of giving back through education, evidenced by her track record. While at Rosenwald, she made lasting impressions on her former students, Jerry Brown and Danna Wood Webb.
Jerry Brown, Rosenwald Class of 1954, Kentucky State University Class of 1958, and a member of the Psi Psi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi, felt well prepared for KSU because he had “teachers at Rosenwald who cared about Black students, and they were brilliant in their field.” In 1960, Jerry enlisted in the United States Air Force. While at the enlistment office, a White recruitment officer expressed to him that his credentials as a graduate of KSU would make him an excellent candidate for an officer. When Jerry arrived to take the exam, he passed with the highest overall mark, with only 8 out of the 28 men passing the exam. He was congratulated by the examiners. However, the older White sergeants, who had the final say, based on his physical exam, stated that Jerry required dental work and a tooth filling and could not, unfortunately, recommend him for the officer position. Fortunately, Jerry was not disheartened, as he was well prepared for the hard ‘no.’
Jerry’s experience at KSU and Rosenwald prepared him to achieve. He would go on to have a successful career with NASA HQs. In 1990, NASA nominated him and was awarded the prestigious Points of Light Award, personally presented to him by President George H. W. and Barbara Bush, honoring individuals who demonstrated the transformative power of service. He credits Emma Rose for being an excellent teacher and preparing him for life.
Danna Wood Webb, daughter of former Rosenwald principal W.M. Wood, has fond memories, as well, of Emma Rose. She recalls her talent as a piano teacher and a choir director, but most importantly, Emma Rose was a mentor. At thirteen, Danna was offered the opportunity to attend high school in Minnesota, where her aunt resided. She recalls feeling conflicted about her decision, however, following a heart-to-heart with Emma Rose, she realized it would be in her overall best interest to leave Appalachia and expand her world, a similar path that Emma Rose had traveled. In Minnesota, Danna was the only African-American student in the class but also demonstrated her confidence and ability to excel academically. Following high school, she obtained a bachelor’s degree from Knoxville College (HBCU), where she was a member of the Gamma Eta chapter of AKA, and later obtained postgraduate degrees from Columbia University. Danna went on to have a career in academia and a successful law practice.
Emma Rose valued education and learning. In the early 1950s, she enrolled in classes at the recently desegregated University of Kentucky in Lexington. Still, she withdrew due to the hostilities of White students toward African American students on campus. Being a determined and strong-willed woman, Emma Rose resumed her matriculation at Indiana University-Bloomington in 1952. She completed her master’s degree, making her the first person in her family to obtain a post-graduate degree. Transcripts also indicated that she continued her post-graduate education at Michigan State University while working as a Lansing School District teacher.
Forward-thinking in the way she lived her life, Emma Rose's creed for living, according to a personal quote from the monthly student publication at KSIC, The Kentucky Thorobred (1931), was 'let no one man worry your mind'. Instead of being consumed by the norms and expectations for women of her time, she enjoyed life to the fullest: learning, establishing a successful career in education, and being an active member in her church and sorority. On April 1, 1965, Emma Rose was initiated into the Delta Tau Omega Chapter of AKA in Lansing, Michigan.
Emma Rose Pleasant (Booker) epitomizes a phenomenal woman with courage and purpose. During her lifetime, she embodied the essence of an Alpha Kappa Alpha Woman: high scholastic and ethical standards, community service through education in underserved communities in the ‘Jim Crow South and Kentucky Appalachia, and as a role model for the young women of her time. Her legacy, however, will be her gift to encourage and inspire her students to look beyond their circumstances and become the authors of their own narratives.
Special Thanks to Mr. Jerry Brown, Soror Danna Woods Webb, Ms. Sharon McGee of Kentucky State University Archives, and the ladies of Delta Tau Omega: Sorors Nettavia Curry (Chapter President), Mary Jane McGuire (Past Chapter President 1974- 75), Jeanette Peterson, & Gloria Bond.
1935 KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY
EMMA ROSE PLEASANT BOOKER
About the Author
Dr. Alicia Howard is a graduate of Kentucky State University and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Alicia is the great-niece of Emma Rose Pleasant Booker.