COVINGTON, Ky. — If you’ve ever walked through Covington, or almost any city for that matter, you’ve likely seen a number of historical sites and buildings. But did you know that a handful of the sites in Covington are a part of the Covington Black History Walk?
“Along with a really strong German population, the Black community were the backbone of a lot of the development in Northern Kentucky,” said Kareem A. Simpson, a board member with the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission (NKCAC.)
Simpson’s family has been in Northern Kentucky for over a century.
“My great-grandmother and my grandfather lived here back in the 1930s,” Simpson said as he pointed down Greenup Street.
That's why he jumped at the opportunity to help the NKCAC create the walk back in 2020.
WATCH: How the Covington Black History Walk highlights the Northern Kentucky Black community
“The Black community was a vital and still is a vital part of what makes this region great,” Simpson said.
Simpson took me on a shortened version of the walk near 9th and Greenup Street, an area that has several different stops along the walk. Some of the stops include the Lincoln Grant School, a former segregated school for Black children, and Randolph Park, named after Dr. James Randolph, the first Black doctor in Northern Kentucky.
9th Street Baptist Church is also a stop on the walk, right across the street from Randolph Park.
“The church itself was organized in 1869,” said Rev. Richard Fowler.
Fowler told me the east side of Covington became a vibrant Black neighborhood, with bars, stores, schools and doctors' offices. The church became a place for community and support, Fowler said.
“Sunday, when we worship, that was a key point in bringing us together and giving us the unity that we could experience,” Fowler said. “Not only in our worship but for whatever the hardships of life would be.”
If you want to enjoy the Covington Black History Walk, MeetNKY adapted it into an interactive experience through the Adventure Lab app, allowing you to do a self-guided walk and read or listen about each stop.
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The walk has 10 stops total and takes around an hour and a half to walk, according to the Adventure Lab app.
