Henry Allen Laine Collection

Henry Allen Laine, c.1870-1955 was the son of enslaved parents in Madison County, Kentucky.  Laine became an educator, agriculturalist, poet and author, and a significant figure in Madison County history. At a time when a college education was a rarity for anyone, he attended Berea College and became a teacher.  From 1889 to 1899, Laine attended Berea while also being “hired out” by his father to pay off the family farm.  At Berea, he worked his way to teaching certification in 1892 and 1895.  Serving briefly in Clark County, Kentucky, he would devote the rest of his career and life to his native county. According to Madison County: 200 Years in Retrospect, no African American leader had more impact on the county in the first half of the 20th century than Laine. Laine taught school for 21 years and contributed to the cultural life of the county’s Black population in numerous ways. In 1910, he founded the Madison Colored Teachers Association and led it for 20 years. Laine became the county’s first black agricultural extension agent in 1915, organizing farmer and homemaker clubs around the county. Given the title “County Demonstrator for the Colored People,” his position was briefly funded by the fiscal court. Supported by the white Methodist lay leader and social reformer Belle Bennett and others, he organized a Chautauqua for the county’s black residents, bringing such nationally known speakers to Madison County as George Washington Carver and W.E.B. DuBois. Laine’s most lasting legacy, however, may be his poetry and writings.  His book of poem, “Foot Prints,” was so popular that it went through four printings, 1914, 1924, 1947 and 1988. In 2003, Laine was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame and Berea College honored Laine at its 2009 Founder’s Day Celebration. Laine and his wife, Florence Benton Laine, were the parents of eight daughters and one son.