Christopher Beckham cites Frank Masters' statement that ordination of Black Baptist clergy in Kentucky began in the 1820s.
Christopher Beckham, "The paradox of religious segregation: White and Black Baptists in western Kentucky, 1855–1900," The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 97, no. 3 (Summer 1999): 313, accessed February 26, 2022
With this licensing occurring at Paducah while the white pastor was still in charge, one wonders how it was performed and to whom the licentiates preached. In any event, the setting apart of African American clergy had been a delicate matter for white Kentucky Baptists. Ordination of "free men of color" and been practiced only since the 1820s (Frank Masters, Baptists in Kentucky, 344). Apparently, the licensing, as well as ordination, of slaves occurred, as the example of the first African American pastor of Second Baptist, Colored, shows.