2013 Spring Newsletter

Kentucky Commission On Human Rights ALL DOORS ARE OPEN IN KENTUCKY Newsletter The late Dr. Blaine Hudson inducted U L President Ramsey speaks S th about Hudson. At his right is as 55 Great Black Kentuckian Executive Director Johnson. P Gov. Beshear said: The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights inducted on “African Americans R February 6 the late Dr. Blaine Hudson as its 55th Great Black have made significant Kentuckian. He was University of Louisville Arts and Sciences contributions to I dean. our state and to our N Unveiling Hudson’s Gallery nation, and Black of Great Black Kentuckians History Month allows G poster are University of us to reflect on those accomplishments. We know and honor Louisville President James many of these notable citizens, but also pay respect to the Ramsey, State Rep. Reginald many others who have been forgotten by history...” Meeks, Hudson’s daughter University of Louisville President James Ramsey spoke about 2 Maya Hudson Kelly, and his Hudson’s contributions to Kentucky. widow Bonnie Hines Hudson. 0 At left are KY Human Rights Commissioners Duane Bonifer 1 The induction and and Dr. Doris Clark Sarr, unveiling of Hudson’s Bonnie Hines Hudson, Maya 3 Gallery of Great Black Kentuckians poster took place in the Hudson Kelly, KY Human state capitol rotunda in Frankfort at the 2013 Kentucky Black Rights Commissioner Timothy History Month Celebration. About 200 people attended the Thomas and Executive event, which is sponsored by the Kentucky Black Legislative Director Johnson. Caucus. Also speaking Gov. Steve Beshear and several dignitaries participated, during the induction including Senate President Robert Stivers, House Speaker portion of the event Greg Stumbo and Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. were Kentucky Human Rights Commission Executive Director John J. In the photo are Wendell Johnson and Human Rights Commissioners Timothy Thomas Thomas, member of the of Madisonville, Dr. Doris Clark Sarr of Murray, and Duane Kentucky Council on Hudson’s widow Bonnie Hines Hudson also spoke. Postsecondary Education Committee on Equal About Blaine Hudson Opportunities, Priscilla Dr. J. Blaine Hudson (1949-2013), who died in January of Johnson, a former chair of this year was a well-known and consummate administrator, the Kentucky Commission on scholar, teacher and activist. He impacted countless people Human Rights, Bonnie Hines with his intelligence, compassion, courage and commitment. Hudson, Maya Hudson Kelly, Born in 1949 in Louisville, Hudson began what would Eleanor Jordan, Kentucky Commission on Women executive director, and Kentucky become his lifelong fight for social change when as a junior State Senator Gerald Neal. high school-aged youngster he was refused admittance to a The Black Caucus is composed of Sen. Neal and Reps. Jesse downtown movie theatre. As a student at the University of Crenshaw of Lexington, Jim Glenn of Owensboro, Derrick Louisville, he demonstrated in 1969 at the Arts and Sciences Graham of Frankfort, Reginald Meeks of Louisville, Darryl Dean’s Office (where he would later serve as dean until the Owens of Louisville and Arnold Simpson of Covington. time of his death), demanding improvement in education Members of the caucus joined Neal in speaking on the opportunities for African American students. significance of Black History Month. He was a lifelong Louisville resident. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s degrees of Education from the University of Louisville (UL). He earned Commission on Civil Rights. had commenced beyond his control. his Doctorate of Education from the He was active in local and regional racial Those in bondage increasingly University of Kentucky. and social justice organizations and streamed into the camps of the Union From 1974 to 1992, while teaching coordinated and taught in the Saturday Army, reclaiming and asserting self- part-time, he held staff positions at UL, Academy, a community education determination. The result, abolitionist including University Staff Grievance program focusing on African world Fredrick Douglass predicted, was that Officer. He joined the faculty of the history and culture. He led the effort the war for the Union became a war Department of Pan-African Studies to create a Freedom Park on the UL against slavery. The actions of both full-time in 1992. He served as chair of campus in an effort to counterbalance Lincoln and the slaves made clear that that department (1998- 2003) and as the Confederate statue that has stood the Civil War was in deed, as well as in an associate dean in the College of Arts nearby the main campus since 1895. He theory, a struggle between the forces and Sciences (1999-2004). In 2004, he died on January 5, 2013. of slavery and emancipation. The full- was appointed acting dean of Arts and scale dismantlement of the “peculiar Sciences, and, after a national search, institution” of human bondage had was appointed dean in 2005. He served begun. as dean of the College of Arts and African American In 1963, a century later, America once Sciences at the University of Louisville History Month of again stood at the crossroads. Nine from 2005 until his death. years earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court His teaching and research focused on February had outlawed racial segregation the histories and cultures of persons by the Association for the Study of African in public schools, but the nation of African ancestry throughout the American Life and History had not yet committed itself to world, inter-cultural education, equality of citizenship. Segregation When Carter G. Woodson established and innumerable other forms of diversity, and the history and social Negro History week in 1926, he realized psychology of race. He contributed discrimination made second‐class the importance of providing a theme citizenship the extra‐constitutional to the establishment of international to focus the attention of the public. programs in seven countries. He status of non‐whites. Another American The intention has never been to dictate president caught in the gale of racial was author of Fugitive Slaves and the or limit the exploration of the black Underground Railroad in the Kentucky change, John F. Kennedy, temporized experience, but to bring to the public’s over the legal and moral issue of his Borderland (2002), and Encyclopedia attention important developments that of the Underground Railroad (2006) time. Like Lincoln before him, national merit emphasis. The 2013 Black History concerns, and the growing momentum and coauthor of Two Centuries of Black Theme is “At the Crossroads of Freedom Louisville: A Photographic History (2011). of black mass mobilization efforts, and Equality: The Emancipation overrode his personal ambivalence During his career, he chronicled Proclamation and the March on toward demands for black civil rights. the history of African Americans Washington.” On August 28, 1963, hundreds of in Louisville, served on boards and The year 2013 marks two important thousands of Americans, blacks and commissions across the state and anniversaries in the history of African whites, Jews and gentiles, Protestants worked to solve the problem of gun Americans and the United States. On and Catholics, marched to the memorial violence in Louisville. He conducted January 1, 1863, the Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln, the author of the research for 10 historical markers Proclamation set the United States on the Emancipation Proclamation, in and served as a historical consultant the path of ending slavery. A wartime the continuing pursuit of equality of for the Farmington and Locust Grove measure issued by President Abraham citizenship and self-determination. historic homes, the Muhammad Ali Lincoln, the proclamation freed It was on this occasion that Martin Center, and the Kentucky Center for relatively few slaves, but it fueled the Luther King, Jr. delivered his celebrated African American Heritage. He served fire of the enslaved to strike for their “I Have a Dream” speech. Just as the on the Board of Directors of the freedom. In many respects, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had Muhammad Ali Center and as chair of declaration simply acknowledged the recognized the coming end of slavery, both the Kentucky African American epidemic of black self-emancipation the March on Washington for Jobs and Heritage Commission and the Kentucky – spread by black freedom crusaders Freedom announced that the days of State Advisory Committee to the U.S. like Harriet Tubman – that already legal segregation in the United States Kentucky Commission on Human Rights John J. Johnson, Executive Director 332 W Broadway, Suite 700, Louisville, Kentucky 40202 . Phone: 502.595.4024 . Toll-free: 800.292.5566 . TDD: 502.595.4084 . Fax: 502.595.4801 . E-mail: [email protected] VISIT US ONLINE AT kchr.ky.gov Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Newsletter Victoria Stephens, Editor 2 were numbered. submit these resolutions in honor of other states and Washington D.C. The Association for the Study of African him,” he said. have laws prohibiting discrimination American Life and History was formed by based on these classes. Louisville, Resolution Supporting Efforts to the late Carter Woodson of Kentucky, the Lexington, Covington and Vicco, Ky., Increase Voter Participation in Kentucky father of African American History Month. have local laws that prohibit this type Eligible voters should be afforded of discrimination. A Kentucky survey fair opportunities to vote regardless found 83 percent of those polled agreed of personal circumstances that may the two classes should be protected prevent attendance at the polls on from discrimination. Protection from Commission Election Day. Working class persons, discrimination in one’s pursuit of passes social minorities, older persons and persons employment, housing and accessing with disabilities are frequently unable, the goods and services of public justice resolutions, due to mitigating circumstances, to accommodations are fundamental vote on election days. The commission freedoms that should include every calls to action for encourages legislators and the public Kentuckian.

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