Glasgow’s first African American mayor to be honored on public square

GLASGOW, Ky. – Glasgow has long been known for its strong community leaders, and the tradition of honoring those leaders continues.

Glasgow mayor Henry Royse shared that Luska Joseph Twyman was the first African American elected as mayor of Glasgow, Kentucky. While a major part of his journey was his time as mayor, he also served in the United States Army during World War II. He received his doctorate and was principal at Ralph Bunche School.

Royse says, “Well, I was in the sixth grade and, you know, I, I knew who NBC was and channel five was and channel four and channel two, and they were all here piled up out there to Ralph Bunche School to interview mayor Twyman for this monumental groundbreaking.”

Twyman wasn’t the only inspiration – his wife was a teacher and inspired students the same way her husband did.

Sandie Claywell, who was Mrs. Twyman’s student, says, “He was of good character, which made him, you know, somebody you wanted to look up to. Going back and looking at elder annuals of, of the school before integration and, he was extremely involved in all aspects of, of trying to uplift everybody.”

His consistent character in the school and outside of the school served as inspiration.

Royse says, “We knew that, that something big was happening and we weren’t going backward. And I thought, ‘well, as good as this community’s been to me, the least I can do is try to give it back.’ And so I felt like that I could because, you know, there is something there is some value in having seen it done right.”

Claywell says, “To have an African-American mayor in a small southern town is a great thing. And, and it, that, you know, that we still had trouble moving further south, so, you know, it was, it was a great thing.”

Glasgow will be honoring Twyman with a sign to go on the building that’s named after him in the downtown square.