Kentucky African American History

Horses are running again at Keeneland and in this episode of WUKY’s Saving Stories we hear from one of the first, and one of the most successful, African American horse trainers in the modern era. In this 1986 Nunn Center interview, Oscar Dishman Jr. reflects on his rise from exercise boy / groom, his decision to become a horse trainer in 1960, and the challenges he had to overcome on his way to the top of his field. Training the winning horses for the 1973 Michigan Mile, Ohio Derby, Hawthorne Stakes, and the Widener Handicap (1977-1978) are among the highlights of his career for which he was awarded the Black Achievement Award in Lexington.

The University of Kentucky is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of its campus. In our latest edition of Saving Stories, Dr. Doug Boyd with the UK Libraries Nunn Center for Oral History shares audio from a series of interviews with Lyman T. Johnson; the first African-American student to set foot on the UK campus.

The University of Kentucky is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of its campus. In our latest edition of Saving Stories, Dr. Doug Boyd with the UK Libraries Nunn Center for Oral History shares audio from a series of interviews with Lyman T. Johnson; the first African-American student to set foot on the UK campus. Johnson successfully challenged a state law that prohibited students of different races to be educated together in the same classroom. The university had been getting around the 'Day Law' by sending professors to the Kentucky State University campus in Frankfort to instruct African-American students. That all changed with Johnson in 1949.

This week on Saving Stories Dr. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries highlights an interview with Jim Green, the first African-American student-athlete to graduate from UK. In the conversation Green talks about his decision to enroll at the state’s flagship university in the late 1960’s, what it was like competing in the racially-charged Southeastern conference, his role in desegregating the track program, and how he’d like to be remembered by future generations.

Throughout its rich history the Grand Theatre in downtown Frankfort has been a showplace for arts and entertainment in the Capital city since opening to the public in 1911. But it wasn't always so grand for African American patrons. The latest phase in an oral history project promises a deep dive into their experiences when the venue was subject to Jim Crow segregation. WUKY's Alan Lytle has the story.

Recently, the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation has prioritized telling a more inclusive and complete story of African Americans who lived and worked at Ashland the Henry Clay Estate. An event this Saturday builds on that effort. Black History at Ashland will feature a number of prominent local and national voices, artists and experts. This week WUKY's Alan Lytle spoke with Shea Brown, long-time Fayette County Deputy Clerk whose office has been working on a project to make available online, some 60,000 pages of Fayette County’s historical property records containing information about enslaved people from the late 1700s through 1865; some of whom lived and worked at Ashland. Brown has a high profile role in Saturday's Black History at Ashland event.

Amid a national debate on how Black history should be taught, comes a new book on the African American Experience in Kentucky. Slavery and Freedom in the Bluegrass State: Revisiting My Old Kentucky Home is a collection of powerful essays that uncover the long-forgotten stories of pain, protest, and perseverance of African Americans in Kentucky. WUKY's Alan Lytle recently sat down with the editor of the project. Gerald L. Smith is professor of history at the University of Kentucky and pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church in Lexington.

People in Lexington know all about Derby winning jockey Isaac Murphy; or do they? In Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey, historian Katherine C. Mooney finds that the superstar athlete was both an American hero, employed by the country’s elite to ride their prized horses, and a Black man living in a racist country, who for every success he achieved could never be truly seen beyond his skin color. She recently spoke with WUKY's Alan Lytle.

The history of racial violence in Kentucky and how it connects to racial injustices today… that’s the basis of a talk at the University of Kentucky on Thursday. It’s sponsored by a relatively new program that highlights UK’s growing body of research into Black history.

After having to celebrate virtually last year, the Black History Celebration presented by the Kentucky Black Legislative Caucus returned to the Rotunda at the Kentucky State Capitol. WUKY’s Karyn Czar reports from Frankfort.