Catherine Fosl - Freedom on the Border: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky

Freedom on the Border

Kentucky Remembered
An Oral History Series

James C. Klotter
Terry L. Birdwhistell
and
Doug Boyd,
General Editors

Barry Bingham
Barry Bingham

Bert Combs the Politician
George W. Robinson

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edited by L. Elisabeth Beattie

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edited by L. Elisabeth Beattie

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John van Willigen and Susan C. Eastwood

Food and Everyday Life on Kentucky Family Farms, 19201950
John van Willigen and Anne van Willigen

This Is Home Now: Kentuckys Holocaust Survivors Speak
Arwen Donahue and Rebecca Gayle Howell

An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky

Catherine Fosl
and
Tracy E. KMeyer

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY

The narratives in this book express the memories and opinions of the narrators alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the authors or the University Press of Kentucky.

Copyright 2009 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Freedom on the border : an oral history of the civil rights movement in Kentucky / [compiled and edited by] Catherine Fosl and Tracy E. KMeyer.

p. cm. (Kentucky remembered, an oral history series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8131-2549-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. African AmericansCivil rightsKentuckyHistory20th century. 2. Civil rights movementsKentuckyHistory20th century. 3. KentuckyRace relationsHistory20th century. 4. African AmericansKentuckyPolitics and government20th century. 5. KentuckyPolitics and government20th century. 6. African American civil rights workersKentuckyInterviews. 7. Civil rights workersKentuckyInterviews. 8. African American civil rights workersKentuckyBiography. 9. Civil rights workersKentuckyBiography. I. Fosl, Catherine. II. KMeyer, Tracy Elaine.

E185.93.K3F74 2009

This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Member of the Association of
American University Presses

To the memory of my Kentucky grandmother,
Carolyn Anna Mae Bohn Sullivan
C.F.

To Colin and Norah
T.E.K.

In the field of oral history, Kentucky is a national leader. Over the past several decades, tens of thousands of its citizens have been interviewed. The Kentucky Remembered series brings into print the most important of those collections, with each volume focusing on a particular subject.

Oral history is, of course, only one type of source material. Yet by the very nature of recollection, hidden aspects of history are often disclosed. Oral sources provide a vital thread in the rich fabric that is Kentuckys history.

This work is the seventh volume in the series. For all too long, the African American experience in Kentucky stood mired in a second-class historical status. Over time that has gradually changed. But much remains to be done to fill in the gaps in the pages of that story, especially in regard to the years of the civil rights era. Catherine Fosl and Tracy E. KMeyer have now allowed us to hear, once again, the voices of the people who stood up for their rights in an epic struggle. Theirs is a story of accommodation and anger, of heartbreak and heroism, of commitment and courage, of sorrow and success.

The Kentucky story of race relations has often been passed over in national historical analyses. Yet here in this middle ground between North and Deep South, significant events transpired and crucial battles occurred. This study of the civil rights movement in a southern border state provides important new insights into the march toward desegregation, its leadership, and the personal sacrifices and stories of those on the front lines as well as those in support. Freedom on the Border helps us understand the processand the costsof change, and highlights again the human element in history.

James C. Klotter
Terry L. Birdwhistell
Doug Boyd

This map shows Kentuckys 120 counties. The shaded counties are the ones that activists discuss in this book, reflecting all of the states quadrants but with greater concentrations in urban and central Kentucky. (Map courtesy of Kentucky State Data Center)