Kentucky State University (KSU) began as an idea on October 15, 1885. The Commonwealth needed more normal schools to train African American teachers for employment in its Black elementary schools. On May 18, 1886, legislators authorized the school's creation, and the University was chartered as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, the second state-supported institution of higher learning in Kentucky.

KSU became a land-grant college in 1890, and the school produced its first graduating class of five students in the spring of that year.

Today, KSU is a public institution with an enrollment of approximately 2,100 students and 160 full-time faculty members. The University's diverse mix of faculty, staff, and students has made Kentucky State the most diverse public institution in the Commonwealth, and among the most diverse nationwide.