John Michael Lucey News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The Colored Industrial Institute in Pine Bluff was one of the first Catholic-supported schools for Black children in Arkansas. The school was established by the Rev. John Michael Lucey, an Irish Catholic former Confederate soldier who became a priest after the Civil War and later took an interest in civil rights for Black Americans, speaking out against Jim Crow legislation and the practice of lynching.

In 1874, Rev. John M. Lucey, a racially-progressive white Confederate veteran, moved from Fort Smith to his first parish assignment as pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Pine Bluff. He soon founded the Annunciation Academy at St. Joseph Catholic Church and became the driving force behind establishing a vocational school for Black Americans in 1889.

Think of lynching, and images of mobs and nooses, Old West-style vigilantes and displays of white supremacy may come to mind.

Think of lynching, and images of mobs and nooses, Old West-style vigilantes and displays of white supremacy may come to mind.