Two Centuries of Black Louisville: Civil Rights at a Glance
March 18-May 8, 2015 | Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, Louisville, KY
Guest Curator: William Morrow, Independent Curator
(The exhibition of 31 archival photographs kicked off with a two day event, "Celebrating the Legacy of Black Louisville." The opening ceremony was dedicated by King Charles and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom. The exhibition was extended into 2016 and officially made into a permanent installation as part of the self guided tour of historical markers and exhibitions commemorating the civil rights movement in Louisville, KY. )
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Since the settlement of Louisville in 1778, African Americans have created their own history behind the wall of slavery and the veil of segregation, and have forged a remarkably vibrant community that has sustained them over generations and, at times, influenced the political and cultural history of our nation. This community, while not entirely beyond the reach of white Louisvillians, was certainly beyond their field of vision – and its conditions of life, its achievements, and even a fully rounded picture of its major figures are largely unknown, even to more recent generations of African Americans themselves.
This exhibition tells the human side of the story of black Louisville – through the eyes and faces of those who were and are black Louisville. The exhibition commemorates the book, Two Centuries of Black Louisville: A Photographic History, written in 2011 by Mervin Aubespin, Kenneth Clay, and J. Blaine Hudson.
Louisville, like much of the South and the nation as a whole, is profoundly ambivalent about its racial history because that history is so often shameful and painful. This exhibition illustrates there is more to the history, more to the story, than a litany of abuses and injustices visited upon black Louisvillians – that there are the lives of those men and women themselves, and how they laughed and wept and prayed, how they struggled for freedom and self-expression, sometimes just to make a living or to forget their pain, but always to build a better future for themselves and their children.
CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF BLACK LOUISVILLE is presented by Legacies Unlimited, Inc., in partnership with the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, University of Louisville Archives & Special Collections, and Guest Curator, William Morrow.
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Kentucky Center for African American Heritage
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