With the generous support of the Kentucky Oral History Commission, this project conducted from fall 2014 to summer 2015 and directed by Randolph Hollingsworth set out the indexing of some of the earliest of the interviews of women from UK Nunn Center’s “Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project, 1900-1989” (see descriptions of these interviews on the next page). The interviews, digitized and indexed are now placed in the Oral History Metadata Synchonizer (OHMS) and viewable via the ExploreUK.
A major aim for this project is to provide easier access to a greater diversity of women’s voices and experiences in Kentucky, enriching the scholarly body of knowledge. One can research Kentucky women’s history through oral history interviews as a way to learn Kentucky history more fully – and, those who are interested in Kentucky history can better learn women’s history through the use of these materials. The women who contributed to the collection of “Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project, 1900-1989″ at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at University of Kentucky Libraries, come from all walks of life. Their ages and backgrounds are highly diverse, providing a sort of prototype for a good micro-history of Kentucky in the twentieth century. The interviewers for this whole collection are highly regarded educators and oral historians whose work in the 1970s and ‘80s even up to the present day. The oral historians, Ann Grundy, Edward Owens, Emily Parker, Gerald Smith, and George C. Wright are respected local community activists, scholars and authors. The resulting interviews are nuanced in ways that evoke strong passion for the role of place and community in history, and the questions based in a strong historiographical methodology worth raising up for others to learn from them.
Similar to other twentieth century local history collections, this series has a wide scope of perspectives and serves as a good sampling of the many different types of backgrounds and occupations of the interviewees. However, Lexington’s history has traditionally been written from the perspective of its men – or at least a male-dominated political history. This project will use selected interviews from this collection to provide access to a unique and valuable overview of twentieth century Lexington from a female perspective. Most all of the women in this collection were wage earners and a solid majority of the interview time is voiced by women professionals: educators, clerks, administrators and managers, librarians, nurses and dentists, social workers and politicians. Several women represent the entrepreneurs and technical workers that fuel a thriving local economy: beauticians, cooks, housekeepers, and even a “Dorm mother” at a residence hall at UK. A few well-to-do women are identified as homemakers and a couple of women explain their views on Lexington from their work as a pastor’s wife.
This collection of interviews is an important component of statewide documentation of the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky. Interviewees in this collection are typically older than those women whose interviews are archived at the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) and made accessible by the Online Media Database and the Kentucky Educational Television website. By providing greater access to these interviews from Lexingtonians, a more balanced narrative (not just highly publicized events in Louisville) could expand the scope of the evidence presented in published scholarly monographs such as the highly useful book Freedom on the Border: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky, edited by Catherine Fosl and Tracy K’Meyer (University Press of Kentucky, 2009).
Danielle Gabbard worked as the indexer and kindly posted some reflections on what she was learning as she listened to the interviews:
- Oral history interviews with Black women in Kentucky: http://www.kywcrh.org/archives/4095
- Oral history interviews with Black women in Kentucky – Part 2: http://www.kywcrh.org/archives/4105
Starting on September 2, 2014, and finishing on June 4, 2015, Danielle Gabbard indexed the digitized interviews of women in the Lexington-Fayette County area – a total of 3,830 interview minutes – when the grant funds were depleted. On a regular basis, Ms. Gabbard submitted invoices describing the indexing work she did, and she was paid $30/hour as was recommended by the Commission. As we had originally hoped, the interviews are indeed highly diverse, well conducted by seasoned interviewers, and can provide a good micro-history of Kentucky in the twentieth century. It is my intention to craft a journal article dedicated to the findings associated not only with the excellent indexing but also the contribution these women’s voices make to our better understanding of Kentucky women’s roles in this important era within and surrounding the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
Interviews Indexed and Interview Time (in minutes)
NOTE: Accession Numbers include Interview Date and Collection/Series Name, e.g., 1986OH239 KH 366 Grace Potter Carter = Interview Date 1986; Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project – see legend below for more abbreviations.
| 1987OH084 KH 415 Cordia Wilkerson Briggs | 92 |
| 198686OH215 KH344 Sadie Reid Brown | 38 |
| 1982OH154KH205 Wendell sisters: Clara Wendell Stitt and Laura Wendell Moore | 42 |
| 198787OH90 KH419 Edna Unson Carr | 47 |
| 1986OH239 KH 366 Grace Potter Carter | 118 |
| 1989OH256 KH 474 Mary Edna Berry | 44 |
| 1989OH254 KH 472 Katherine Hardin Rollins | 38 |
| 1986OH253 KH 380 Dorothy McCoy Copper | 80 |
| 1988OH164 KH 457 Elizabeth P. Thomas | 70 |
| 1990OH009 KH 477 Elenora L. Smith | 30 |
| 1978OH107 KH 069 Harriet B. Haskins | 20 |
| 1990OH019 KH 479 Annie B. Coleman | 20 |
| 1986OH244 KH 371 Grace Grevious Coleman | 80 |
| 2009OH097 EEL 003 Anna Coons | 11 |
| 1978OH094 KH 056 Virginia S. McDonald | 13 |
| 1978OH097 KH 059 Alvinia Newell | 10 |
| 1979OH064 KH 129 Ella Bosley | 22 |
| 1979OH065 KH 130 Abby L. Marlatt | 22 |
| 1979OH068 KH 133 Faustina Cruise | 13 |
| 1979OH071 KH 136 Estelle S. Tatman | 19 |
| 1979OH073 KH 138 Mary Muir | 9 |
| 1983OH167 BK 003 Annette C. Brown | 69 |
| 1984OH023 BK 004 Mary Brown Ashford | 74 |
| 1985OH194 BK 007 Thelma B. Johnson | 61 |
| 1990OH088 BK 022 Barbara Jackson Givens | 45 |
| 2008OH149 AAW 001 Mary Levi Smith | 49 |
| 1987OH011 BK 017 Lillian Butner | 60 |
| 1990OH086 BK 020 Mary E. Rawlings | 61 |
| 1990OH093 BK 027 Geneva Hunter Pope | 64 |
| 1990OH094 BK 028 Bertie Nokomas Wilkerson | 64 |
| 2011OH203 BK 032 Molly M. Bradley | 78 |
| 1990OH090 BK 024 Corinne Jefferson | 43 |
| 2009OH106 EEL 012 Helen Higgins | 38 |
| 1993OH397 KH 559 Eula Tatman | 44 |
| 1997OH030 KH 609 Sandra Richardson | 39 |
| 1986OH202 KH 332 Lillie H. Yates | 89 |
| 1986OH252 KH 379 Frances A. Smallwood | 30 |
| 1986OH223 KH 351 Bettye Simpson | 40 |
| 1986OH240 KH 367 Virginia Anderson | 80 |
| 1986OH251 KH 378 Verna B. Clark | 49 |
| 1987OH090 KH 421 Sophia D. Smith | 71 |
| 1998OH037 KH 630 Mrs. Sidney Bell Johnson | 79 |
| 1987OH096 KH 422 Susie E. White | 75 |
| 1988OH163 KH 456 Helen Smith | 83 |
| 1978OH078 KH 044 Evelyn Livisay | 24 |
| 1978OH081 KH 047 Madeline C. Jones | 24 |
| 1979OH074 KH 139 Mary Jones | 120 |
| 1986OH218 KH 347 Dorothy P. Pumphrey | 134 |
| 1986OH230 KH 358 Mattie Gray | 109 |
| 1986OH243 KH 370 Jennie Didlick | 106 |
| 1986OH248 KH 375 Florence A. Young | 57 |
| 1987OH078 KH 409 Ann Hunter | 66 |
| 1987OH079 KH 410 Ann B. Black | 62 |
| 1987OH080 KH 411 Edythe J. Hayes | 57 |
| 1998OH035 KH 628 Lilia Garrison | 45 |
| 1989OH009 KH 468 Virginia Shelby | 78 |
| 2009OH096 EEL 002 Dorothy Perkins | 48 |
| 1979OH072 KH 137 Mattie Jackson | 28 |
| 1986OH225 KH 353 Loretta Nickens | 50 |
| 1978OH068 KH 034 Marilyn Gaye | 47 |
| 1986OH236 KH 364 Mrs. Charles C. Jones | 120 |
| 1987OH089 KH 420 Ruby Benberry | 76 |
| 1987OH083 KH 414 Delores Vinegar-Oderinde | 112 |
| 2009OH098 EEL 004 Valinda Livingston | 85 |
| 1993OH388 KH 550 Lillian B. Gentry | 70 |
| 1993OH389 KH 551 Alice J. Alexander | 70 |
| 1986OH235 KH 363 Laura W. Moore | 48 |
| 1986OH227 KH 355 Wilhelmina Hunter | 75 |
| 1986OH231 KH 359 Elizabeth R. Harris | 60 |
| 2009OH108 EEL 014 Lillian Buntin | 56 |
| 2009OH100 EEL 006 Rosetta Beatty | 97 |
| 1979OH070 KH 135 Roberta Laine | 29 |
| 1986OH232 KH 360 Patricia R. Laine | 71 |
KH = Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project
EEL = East End Lexington Oral History Project
BK = Blacks in Kentucky Oral History Project
AAW = Experiences of African American Women Oral History Project
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