Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Cress, Mary Jane "Kit" (Firth), 1920-2010 (Sc 3491), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3491. Alphabetical list of African Americans residing at the Shaker colony at South Union, Kentucky. Includes name and, where available, years referencing their residence, emancipation, departure or death. The list was compiled by Kit Cress as part of her research for the article “Black Shakers at South Union, Kentucky” in The Kentucky Review 12, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 79-95.

Weldon, William R., B. 1827? (Sc 3457), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3457. Letter, 17 March 1849, of William R. Weldon, Elizabeth, Arkansas, to his parents and brother in Ballard County, Kentucky (Fancy Farm post office). He writes of his wish to hear news from home (including “how the Blacks are getting along”) since his departure five months earlier, reports his attendance at a “genteel” wedding, and suggests that his parents consider joining him in Arkansas. To his brother, he writes of his embarrassment at having to strip the clothing off an attractive young lady after her dress accidentally caught fire. He further remarks that …

Hunt, Richard (Sc 3455), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3455. Letter, 15 March 1837, of Richard Hunt to his brother David B. Hunt in Brooklyn, New York. Employed by a merchant in Louisville, Kentucky, Richard writes of his economic prospects but laments leaving his friends and family behind, including a young lady. He encourages David’s entry into business and refers to their father, “Deacon Hunt,” and to Samuel, another brother. He also writes of his work at a “colored school” and the eagerness of the students despite a shortage of teachers. Referring to an earlier discussion with his brother about abolishing slavery, …

Retelling The Classics: The Harlem Renaissance, Biblical Stories, And Black Peoplehood, Mina Magalhaes

Celebration of Learning

Applying social identity theory to the process of creating peoplehood can illustrate the positive power that literature has in uplifting marginalized communities by showing their worth. James Weldon Johnson’s “The Creation” and Zora Neale Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain, both composed during the Harlem Renaissance, offer one way to create Black peoplehood by creating depictions of God’s love for His Black people through the repurposing of biblical stories. Through the implementation of social identity theory to Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain and Johnson’s “The Creation,” I argue that these two authors addressed the need among African Americans to …

Cox, Hal Z., 1883-1952 (Sc 3414), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3414. Poem, “Old Kentucky,” written by Hodgenville, Kentucky native Hal Z. Cox in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of Kentucky statehood. Includes a 2011 newspaper article about Cox.

Atwood, Rufus Ballard, 1897-1963 (Sc 3397), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3397. Curriculum vitae of Rufus B. Atwood, who became president of Kentucky State University, Frankfort, Kentucky in 1929. The document lists his educational credentials, achievements as KSU president, organizational affiliations, and published and unpublished work.

Moxley, Frank Otha, 1908-2004 (Mss 664), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 664. Personal and professional papers of Dr. Frank O. Moxley of Bowling Green, Kentucky, an educator, guidance counselor, coach, and prominent member of the city’s African American community. Includes projects and narratives related to Bowling Green’s African American heritage.

Pearson, Carolyn (Sc 3377), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3377. “Shadow of a Rope,” a paper by WKU student Carolyn Pearson about the arrest and trial for rape of an African American man, Sam Jennings, and his 1932 execution, the last public hanging in Breckinridge County and the second-last in Kentucky. Pearson interviewed citizens connected with the case and included five photographs of Jennings on the scaffold.

African Americans In Madison County, Kentucky, Reinette F. Jones

Library Presentations

Reinette Jones, Special Collections Librarian at the University of Kentucky Libraries, speak about notable Madison County African Americans.

Gotta’ Go! African American Migration And Community Outside Kentucky, Reinette F. Jones

Library Presentations

Reinette Jones from the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center shares what she has learned about the fascinating and hidden story of the "out-migration" of African Americans from Kentucky while developing the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (NKAA).

Sanders, William Willard "Whitey," 1930-2021 (Mss 659), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 659. Correspondence, articles and miscellaneous material documenting the career of newspaper editorial cartoonist Bill “Whitey” Sanders. Includes letters from readers, public figures and fellow cartoonists, video of programs and appearances, and material related to Sanders’ books and his participation in professional organizations.

Please, Remember Me: African Americans From Scott County, Ky, Reinette F. Jones

Library Presentations

Reinette Jones, who created the Notable Kentucky African Americans (NKAA) Database, explains how to use this award-winning library tool while introducing us to some lesser-known Scott Countians. They include Sgt. Harrison Bradford, who led the San Pedro Springs Mutiny (TX) in 1867, in the fight for fair treatment of African American soldiers, and Lillian Nareen White, the first African American woman to play basketball at UK.

Mitchell, Samuel Williamson, 1833-1902 (Sc 3324), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3324. Letter, 24 December, 1856?, of Samuel W. Mitchell, Danville, Kentucky (where he graduated from Centre College in 1857 and from the theological seminary in 1860) to H. B. Craig, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Mitchell tells of his profitable resale to area Presbyterians of books purchased from an agent, and of meeting a “very fine” young lady. Describing Christmas in Danville, he notes the noisy firecrackers and the visibility of local African Americans, who uncharacteristically venture into the cold under the “impulse” of the liberty granted them during …

How Did Coalitions Form During The Civil Rights Era In Mississippi?, Kenyatta L. Mitchell

Posters-at-the-Capitol Presentations

Over the past century, African Americans took part in building organizations to bring about equal rights and social change. Many organizations formed before Jim Crow but reached prominence during the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s was built on long-term strategies for gaining the right to vote, education, housing, and freedom from discrimination. Through organized nonviolent protests, the Civil Rights Movement broke the pattern of segregation at a national level through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Black Trojans : The Free Black Community's Grassroots Abolition Campaign In Troy, New York Before 1861, Jennifer J. Thompson Burns

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores the evolution and trajectory of the abolition movement led by black men and women in Troy, New York, before 1861. At the grassroots level, black Trojan men and women claimed public spaces and founded societies and associations that simultaneously supported local black upliftment and laid the foundation from which a larger abolitionist network, within New York State and across state and national borders, was constructed. Through the operations of an “Aboveground Railroad” system that complimented the Underground Railroad system through Troy but focused on the movement of free people, as well as communications in abolition and black …

Davison, Learner Blackman, 1813-1898 (Sc 3301), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below") for Manuscripts Small Collection 3301. Letters of Reverend Learner Blackman Davison to his brother Dr. David Davison, Hawesville, Kentucky. The Methodist preacher writes cheerfully from Henderson and Hopkinsville of his travels as a circuit rider in Kentucky: his hosts along the way, including a family he found living “in the dirt”; his overworked horses; his popularity with African Americans, old women, and children; and the split of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He tells David of his intention to remain unmarried for a few more years, and to …

Weir Family Collection (Mss 651), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 651. Letters and papers of the Weir family of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and related members of the Rumsey and Miller families. Well-to-do merchants and farmers, the Weirs were leading supporters of the Union during the Civil War, providing advocacy, financial support, and military service. Includes full-text scans of a letter from the brother of steamboat pioneer James Rumsey defending his legacy as an innovator; James Weir's journal; James Weir's will; the annotated recollections of Edward Weir, Sr.; and two letters from former Weir slaves recolonized in Liberia (Click on "Additional files" below).

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 94, No. 12, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Heicelbech, Evan & Rebeckah Alvey. Molded – Dormitories
• DeLetter, Emily & Nicole Ziege. 348 Minton Hall Residents Spend Weekend Relocating
• DeLetter, Emily. WKU to Continue Saudi Scholarship Between Countries
• DeLetter, Emily. ROTC Celebrates 100 Years at WKU, Honors Veterans
• Non-Binary: Proposal Disregards Science, Harms Non-binary Rights
• Allen, Ellie. Editorial Cartoon re: Gender Does Not Equal Sex
• Hanks, Michelle. Teaching Diversity
• Sisler, Julie. Review: Hair and the Call to Freedom & Expression – Theatre & Dance
• Holland, Kelley. In Formation – Marching Band
• Bryant, Maxis. Fresh …

Ligon, Lucy Ann (Parker) Robbins, 1833-1891 - Letters To (Sc 3278), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3278. Letters to Lucy Ann Robbins Ligon, the daughter of Fulton County, Kentucky judge Josiah Parker and his wife Lucy A. Parker, written while she lived in Crittenden County, Arkansas with her late husband’s brother, and in Hickman, Kentucky after her remarriage. Lucy’s parents relay news of her siblings and of pre-Civil War Hickman, and at the outbreak of war dramatically describe the division of loyalties, the townspeople’s fear and uncertainty as invasion threatens from the North, the enlistment of local men, two destructive fires, economic conditions, …

Trafton, Paula Burt (Fa 1214), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project FA 1214. National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Taylor Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Completed by Paula Burt Trafton, the application includes history, classification, maps, photographs, and other documentation regarding the church.

Ballew, William A., 1842-1915 (Sc 3277), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3277. Letter, 12 November 1864, from William A. Ballew to Thomas Hopkins, Clinton County, Kentucky. Writing from Spring Hill, Tennessee, where he is serving with the 12th Kentucky Infantry, Ballew notes his regiment’s support of presidential candidate George B. McClellan (“little mack”). Although they were not yet enfranchised, he cites a mock election held by African Americans in Nashville as evidence for President Abraham Lincoln’s likely reelection. He notes the good health of his fellow soldiers, including Hopkins’ two sons, Lewis and Shelby.

[Review Of] Karolyn Smardz Frost And Veta Smith Tucker, Eds., A Fluid Frontier: Slavery, Resistance, And The Underground Railroad In The Detroit River Borderland. Detroit, Mi: Wayne State University Press, 2016. Pp. 286. $34.99 (Paper)., Vanessa Holden

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Warren, Kaye (Fa 1150), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1150. Student folk studies project titled “From Slavery to Freedom for the Negro Race in Logan County [Kentucky]” which includes survey sheets with a brief description of African American life in Logan County, Kentucky. Sheets may include interviews, written records, photographs, informant’s name, age, and address.

Both Sides Of The Barbed Wire: Lives Of German Prisoners Of War And African Americans In Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, 1944-1946, Claire Delucca

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Located outside of Alexandria, Louisiana, Camp Claiborne was temporarily home to more than 500,000 U.S. servicemen and women during its short existence. Thousands of German prisoners of war also were held for more than two years in a section of the camp. Racial problems stemming from the policies of Jim Crow South and the blatant inequality eventually led to an African American mutiny within the camp. The events from 1944 to 1946 at Camp Claiborne provide insight into the mindsets of white Southerners and the generation of African Americans who would influence the major civil rights victories in the following …

Spalding, Delphina, B. 1845? (Sc 3218), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3218. Affidavit, 3 October 1887, of Delphina Spalding in support of a charge against Ned Spalding, Marion County, Kentucky for “unlawfully killing, disfiguring, injuring and maiming” a hog belonging to Delphina’s husband Dick Spalding.

Old Union Church Of Christ - Sumner County, Tennessee (Sc 3216), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3216. Minute book of Old Union Church of Christ, Sumner County, Tennessee, also known as the Congregation Electa Cyrea. Includes an introductory narrative on the formation of the church, meeting minutes, members lists (white and African American), and lists of contributions and expenditures.

Helm, Margie May, 1894-1991 (Mss 636), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 636. Correspondence and papers of Margie Helm, Auburn, Kentucky native and longtime Western Kentucky University head librarian, relating principally to her work for the Presbyterian Church. Also includes materials documenting her service on the Inter-Racial Commission of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Railey, Rowland Greenup, 1868-1932 (Sc 3196), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3196. Notice, 10 July 1906, to David Pipkins from R. G. Railey, tax collector for Monroe County, Kentucky sheriff W. D. White, demanding remittance of unpaid taxes for 1904. The envelope bearing the name “Railey and Jackson’s Collecting Agency, Tompkinsville, Ky.” has been marked returned as unclaimed.

Smith, Beulah Ethel (Morgan), 1894-1987 (Mss 631), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 631. Correspondence and papers of Beulah (Morgan) Smith, Bowling Green, Kentucky, documenting her family, genealogy, and activities in clubs and the community, especially her leadership of the Bowling Green-Warren County Tuberculosis Association, her involvement with the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Society Southern Dames of America, and the Kentucky Mothers Association of the American Mothers Committee, Inc., which selected her as Kentucky Mother of the Year in 1963. Includes a proposal to locate a tuberculosis sanatorium in Warren County (Click on "Additional Files" below for scan).

Gillan, Robert Lee, 1916-2009 (Sc 3183), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3183. Letter, 7 August 2006, of Robert Lee Gillan, Thorntown, Indiana, to Martha Harrison. He refers to his interest in genealogy and relates anecdotes about “Aunt Nancy,” an African American woman and caregiver to local families in Barren County, Kentucky. He includes particulars of some of her household advice, folk medicinal treatments and beliefs. He notes that she is buried in Lyons (Lyon) Cemetery.