| In the early 1900s, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky mandated the establishment of the first two state-supported, stand-alone Normal schools for white students, one in Richmond and one in Bowling Green. The result was an important educational opportunity previously not available to the state's white citizenry, who were originally required to live in the service region of the respective Normal school. The Normal schools provide a unique opportunity to explore what brought the region's students to the school, what their educational and extracurricular experiences were like while at the Normal, and what happened to the students after they left, all within the context of conditions in the state during that era. Specifically, in this case study, the history of the Normal school in the eastern region, Eastern Kentucky State Normal School (EKSNS), is explored from 1910 to 1924 using Christine Ogren's history of the Normal school movement on a national level as a central backdrop to determine how EKSNS students and their Normal school experiences compared to those of their counterparts across the country.;Normal schools and the teachers they produced were viewed during the Normal era and later as a part of the history of education often best to be disregarded, as though they are an embarrassment to higher education. Thus, the goal of this study is to develop a history of the students who attended Eastern Kentucky State Normal School from 1910 to 1924, showing that they played a revolutionary role in the establishment of higher education in the commonwealth. Triangulation, through the study of enrollment data, student publications, board of regents' minutes, and oral histories and memoirs, brings to light the realities of life at the Normal school for the student body. Examination of other realities, such as an exploration of the high cost of attending a "free" institution, the consequences of lack of adequate transportation systems in the state, and the poor common schools and low pay that awaited the Normal school students, establishes the conditions Normal school students encountered to receive an education and work in the teaching profession. |
