About this archive

Manchester, Kentucky sits in the hills of Clay County, where African American families have built lives, raised children, worshiped, worked, and buried their dead for generations. This site is a small effort to keep that record — the headlines and the photographs and the memories that, taken together, tell us who we were and who we still are.

Our roots run through the surnames Cash, Caldwell, Fullwood, Gilbert, Goins, Hipsher, Henson, Livingston, Love, Lyttle, McKissic, Moore, Pennington, Philpot, Thompson, Walker, and Word — families whose lives shaped Black Manchester and Clay County.

The Newspaper Archives hold scanned clippings of obituaries, weddings, school notices, court news, and community events. They can be searched by family surname, by year, or by keyword.

The Photo Gallery gathers portraits, family groups, and everyday scenes — the faces of Black Manchester past.

The Surnames & Stories section is built by you. If you have a family memory worth keeping — a grandmother's recipe, a great-uncle's tale, a story your daddy told around the wood stove — share it there. Every submission is read by hand before it appears on the site.

If you have newspaper clippings or photographs you'd like to contribute, or you spot a mistake we should fix, please reach out through the Submit a Story page.