ROBERT HENRY CLAY MITCHELL BLYTHE
(May 10, 1895 – November 12, 1968) 

Born and died in Berea, Madison County, KY.  First wife, Rose A. Jackson of Madisonville, KY (teacher); 2nd wife:  Lenamae Coleman of Williamstown, KY, teacher).  All were KY State alumni.  

From the first bell ring in 1927 until the door slammed shut in 1963, Professor Robert Blythe was the first and only principal of the Middletown Consolidated School.  Mr. Blythe’s parents were born into slavery. Records show them as students at Berea College. He, however, was precluded from an education at Berea College due to restrictions imposed by the Day Law.  After retirement he began to share his family history.  One such document was a manumission paper describing and freeing his maternal grandfather, Mitchel White.   He related stories of his paternal grandfather, John D. Harris, a Confederate officer who was one of the committee who drove John G. Fee from Berea.  It was perhaps this history that fostered his zeal for education and love of history.  

Affectionately and respectfully called “Professor,” Mr. Blythe acquired the title when he taught Agriculture at Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute, now Kentucky State University. His collegiate studies at KNII were interrupted by WWI where he saw action in Europe as an Army corporal.  After the war he returned to his studies and began teaching Agriculture at the KNII. There he became friends with Henry Allen Laine, “Footprints” author and first Black County Extension Agent.  Laine’s daughter, Helen Laine was one of the first teachers he hired for the new Middletown Consolidated (Rosenwald) School. 

At the school’s dedication in 1927, The Citizen reported that Superintendent Blythe “gave a very gracious and well-worded welcome. ‘We welcome you to the hospitality of our people, to the simplicity of our homes and to the beauty of our locality.”’   

When he assumed the role of superintendent or principal of the new school, he brought with him innovative ideas, culture, and stability.  Under his leadership, Middletown, which consolidated the one room schools of Berea, Farristown, and Middletown, became an educational center and beacon for community activities.    At Middletown, Blythe introduced a Shop Program where manual trade skills were taught. Fairs and farm day programs with attendance in the hundreds; academic contests; plays and operettas; all attracted citizens of both the Black and White communities.  

Upon the closing of Madison County’s Black elementary schools, its African American teachers were not given the option of continuing to teach in the formerly all-white schools.  Their choices were either to get further training to qualify as a school librarian or to retire.  This applied no matter how long or what qualifications the Black teacher had.  Professor Blythe chose to retire. 

In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Blythe owned a farm with his sister, Nancy Deatherage, also a Middletown teacher.  He was often seen wearing a white shirt while “slopping the pigs”.  He was a quiet, unassuming man with a quirky sense of humor.  With a straight face, he would tell of his fear of snakes, of jumping off a fence, seeing a snake and jumping backwards in mid-air back over the fence. 

In gathering information for Middletown’s upcoming reunion in July, many stories of Professor Blythe emerged.  One former student remembered his classroom discipline where corporal punishment was sometimes administered over an infraction of the rules.  Another student remembers him getting the stick out, hitting the desk several times while the student jumped around, hollering, as if he had been really struck.  Several recalled the lunch time baseball games which sometimes extended until well past recess.  The school clock had an alarm which signaled lunch and recess breaks was often manipulated by students to extend the breaks.  One student admits to routinely turning back the clock, prolonging the noon recess until well into the afternoon.  Mr. Blythe would come out and stop the game by ringing his hand bell.  These same students would distract him to reset the clock to sound the end of the school day. He never let on that he was aware of their attempted deception.  

Robert Henry Clay Mitchell Blythe was an inspiring leader and citizen of the Berea Community.