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The March on Frankfort: a 'pivotal moment' and milestone for Kentucky Civil Rights

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UK Special Collections - Calvert McCann photographs

WUKY's Saving Stories commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the March for Civil Rights in Frankfort. On March 5, 1964 thousands came to Kentucky's Capitol to hear from Martin Luther King, baseball great Jackie Robinson, folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, and rally support for a public accommodations bill. In this segment we hear distinctly different perspectives from two Kentuckians and their respective experiences that historic day.

On a cold blustery day in March of 1964 an estimated 10,000 people came to the State Capitol in Frankfort to demonstrate for a public accommodations bill which had been filed in the Kentucky General Assembly.

Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries shares interviews from Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Famer Georgia Davis Powers, the first person of color and first woman elected to the state senate:

https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1148

and Kentucky Governor Ned Breathitt (1963-1967.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Breathitt

Listeners will get to hear two very different perspectives on the rally that was led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior, Louisville publisher and activist Frank Stanley Junior, former MLB great Jackie Robinson and others.

Hear the entire interview with Georgia Davis Powers at the link below:

https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt78gt5ff561

Hear the entire interview with Governor Ned Breathitt below:

https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7gf18sc01n

Alan Lytle has more than 25 years of experience as a Kentucky broadcaster. Over that span he has earned multiple awards for anchoring, writing and producing news & features for WUKY. He took home the Kentucky Broadcasters Association's Best Radio Anchor award in 2021.