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Here is an excerpt from the khs catalog Eleanor Jordan Collection Name: The Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky Interview Date: 2/3/1999 Synopsis: Jordan tells of her developing awareness of civil inequalities as a young woman and memories of segregation at Louisville amusement parks, retail stores, and movies. She also remembers people involved in the civil rights activity related to schools and housing. She attributes her developing black consciousness and pride to her mother and to some school teachers who introduced her to American History and Black History.

Betsy Brinson, Civil Rights in KY project director for KY Oral HIstory Commission, interviewed Audrey Grevious of Lexington at her home in Fayette County, April 13, 1999. A powerful storyteller and great educator, Grevious is generous in her oral history interview though she tries to downplay the fact that she played a major role in the local civil rights movement here in central Kentucky. From KHS catalog "Audrey Grevious speaks of her early education in Black schools which led her to become a teacher. She also became an activist, and, as President of the Lexington NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) together with Julia Lewis, President of Lexington CORE (Congress on Racial Equality) led a movement to challenge segregation in employment, and public accommodations. She notes the involvement of maids and non-profession people and the scarcity of ministers, with the exception of Rev. W.A. Jones, Historic Pleasant Green Baptist Church. When school integration came to Lexington, she tells how the Black students and teachers lost out."

How many of these posters by our KY grade school children attributed civil rights efforts to Kentucky women?

The beginning of this article is a great biography. The best part of this piece was being able to find out more about her positions on states rights and whether she believed in civil rights for blacks as well. Clay was a major supporter of states rights. In all that she did for women's rights ( a list is given at the end) Clay was not an advocate for the rights of African Americans. 

I found it unique that Laura Clay began to pursue womens equal rights after her parents seperated. Her mother took care of the White Hall estate for 45 years and then was all the sudden homeless because the property belonged to the father according to the laws that prevented women from owning land. This left Laura and her sisters to pursue the equality of women. She was also responsible for creating the Kentucky Equal Rights Organization with the help of Susan B. Anthony.

This site has a short but very informative biography of Laura Clay. Along with a biography it list all of her monumental accomplishment fighting for equal rights. The site is full of pictures of Laura Clay and is very well documented with numerous sources citing the information.

The Kentucky Historical Society has put together on this site the Oral History Project. They have recorded and transcribes stories from the Civil Rights Movement. They are all Kentuckians and is an excelling primary source regarding various topics that the interviewees discuss. I listen to Howard Bailey talk of what it was like to move from segregated color school to integrated school.

Powerful video about a woman who lived during the violence of segregation and how everyday activities we take for granted today took great courage then. For more information about this time period in Kentucky's history, see George C. Wright's ground-breaking book _Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and "Legal Lynchings."

This KET video will serve as the focus for the first of the UK AASRP Race Dialogues (www.uky.edu/AS/AASRP) held in the UK Student Center on Sept 16th 4:30-6 p.m.

The video on jennie and Alice Wilson is a powerful example of how standing up for what you believe in is the best thing a person can do. Jennie is a strong woman because of her childhood. Seeing her parents as slaves and as free people made an impression on her. This impression made her srong enough to raise foour children in Kentucky during segregation and send all four of them to college. Alice was strong enough to integrate into mayfield high school with 9 other children at the age of fourteen when no other black students would. After integrating she dealt with vocal abuse from white classmates, but never retaliated physically or vocally in a negative manner. Alice simply continued on with the importantt things in her life, the completion of school and the hopes of continuing onward to college.

Governor's School for the Arts article is insightful to her community action profile, a continuance of her roots as a school teacher in the civil rights era.

This is an article from the New York times describing the riots that occurred in Lousiville due to the desegregation of its local schools. These riots happened in 1975, more than 20 years after the famous Brown vs. Board of Education court case which ended segregation in schools.

This website is not organized in any specific fashion but does give insights on important women in KY history.

This website gives information on one of the churches in my group project. The church was built for the black catholics in Lexington due to segregation in the two other catholic churches. The website offers the history of the church, which also had a school, even though most of the students were not catholic. Despite the racial segregation between the catholic churches in Lexington, St. Peter Claver did not recieve a black preist until the year 2000.