Ethel Kuykendall

Clemie Ethel (Ransom) Kuykendall (June 9, 1905-September 29, 1981) was the daughter of Rial and Minnie Ransom. She had two brothers, Archie and Winfield, and grew up in Indianapolis at 843 Camp St., a home which was later purchased in 1919 by Madam C.J. Walker as an investment property. Ethel attended Booker T. Washington School #17 and Crispus Attucks High School and went on to earn a B.S. and an M.S. from Butler University in Botany. Upon her graduation from Butler, she accepted a teaching job in Greensboro, North Carolina, but came back to Indianapolis after a year and took a job at Crispus Attucks in 1931, where she taught for forty years until her retirement in 1971. At the end of her time at Attucks, she directed the Learning Teaching Laboratory, which served students at risk of dropping out of high school by using more visual and audio methods of instruction, small groups, and individualized tutorial learning. Ethel was a founding charter member of the Alpha Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. She served as Basileus from 1944-46 and 1953-54. In 1956, she was named “Soror Through the Years”. Ethel was also involved in a variety of community organizations and served on the board of the YWCA and the Health and Welfare Council of Indianapolis and Marion County. She attended Bethel AME Church. Ethel was married to Rufus C. Kuykendall, a local attorney, politician, and judge from 1939 until his death in 1977.