In the final decades of the nineteenth century libraries were a very miniscule part of the initial drive toward education for Kentucky's former slaves. Thirty-one years after public education became available, Thomas Fountain Blue began training Negro librarians at the Louisville Free Public Library Western Colored Branch. Another 30 years would pass before Negro librarians would be recognized by the Kentucky Negro Education Association in 1935. Unfortunately, by 1935 Blue's training program had ended and there were no institutions in Kentucky offering library training to Negroes.