Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/325

Rh emergency, Dr. Fitzbutler accepted and filled the position fearlessly in the Louisville circuit court room.

"The resolutions passed in this convention demanded equal school privileges for colored school children in Kentucky, and became the basis of the agitation in and out of the legislature, which resulted in greatly improving the educational facilities in this state. Subsequently, he was the chief opponent to a resolution advocating separate schools as the will of the colored people, and the best course for all. This convention was in Covington, Ky., about 1874. And he was a notable member of the State Educational Convention, which met in the State House, at Frankfort, in 1883, taking such a part in the work as to attract the attention of all classes of citizens throughout the state. Here, too, he was not ashamed to advocate the cause of his race, being appointed on permanent organization. He succeeded in getting an able colored man appointed as one of the secretaries, and another well-qualified colored man a member of an important committee. And through all incidental work Dr. Fitzbutler has been an active and reliable physician, receiving a revenue which he has never failed to use to the honor of the colored race, being himself the chief support of The Ohio Falls Express, which has been published regularly for nearly ten years, known and felt as one of the most fearless advocates of equal human rights. But his ambition has long been the establishment of a medical school, with doors open to colored medical students as well as white; and many now rejoice to see that design consummated. The legislature of Kentucky, at the session of 1888, granted a charter to Doctors H. Fitzbutler, W. A. Burney and R. Conrad to conduct, in Kentucky, the Louisville National Medical College, and that charter was signed by the governor, April 22, 1888. The school is now in operation, with some of the best talent to be found in the country as students."