On MLK Day in Ky, ask yourself what you know about Oliver Lewis? Or Garrett Morgan? | Opinion
We are both educators who happen to work at Berea College, a radical institution that discriminates: if you have money you cannot attend the school. Founded in 1855, Berea College became the first interracial and coeducational school in the U.S. South.
As teachers, we like to use days like today, Martin Luther King Jr Day, to reflect, to ask questions, and to turn inward to answer those questions.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, “The Negro will only be free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive manhood his own emancipation proclamation.”
We both think about this quote with regard to history. Histories are the stories that make up the inner depths of our own beings. Knowing the stories of our history gives us freedom, the freedom to critically think and make informed decisions that don’t recycle the mistakes of the past. And while Dr. King references Black people more broadly speaking, would this sentiment be any less true for Kentuckians?
So, we ask again: What do you know about Oliver Lewis?
If you live in Lexington, you may know his name, since it is on a major street near the Distillery District. Did you know he won the first Kentucky Derby? Did you know that he was Black?
Did you know that Arnold Schultz taught Bill Monroe how to play the fiddle? Arnold Schultz was the son of a slave from Ohio County, Kentucky.
And what about Garrett Morgan? If you live in a small rural town with one traffic light, thank Garrett Morgan for that light; he invented it. Morgan was born in Bourbon County; Paris, Kentucky, to be specific.
There are many robust stories about our Kentucky heritage that we need to have woven into the tapestry of our own “inner depths.” The stories of these Black Kentuckians (and others not told or known) are the stories of Kentucky, much in the same way that Carter G. Woodson (father of Black History Month and graduate of Berea College in Berea, Kentucky) stated that Black history is “American” history.
How do we begin to embrace these local histories and stories of Black Kentuckians, past and present?
The answers to these questions are found in books. The University Press of Kentucky has several titles that focus on the contributions of Black Kentuckians. Consider checking out the An Introduction to Black Studies, The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia, Slavery and Freedom in the Bluegrass State: Revisiting My Old Kentucky Home, and The Gospel of Freedom: Black Evangelicals and the Underground Railroad. Each of these titles will help you to broaden your personal lens around local and nation Black history.
Remember that you have an ally in this work in your local county museums and libraries. Those are the treasure mines that will support your emancipation through understanding.
Teachers can of course, assist in that work.
Consider the resources available to you to support your own personal learning around Black history in Kentucky. Historyofrace.com is a website curated by the Thomas D. Clark Foundation, and contains resources for teachers, including lesson plans around discovering Black history through both a Kentucky and national lens.
Kentuckians are well equipped to learn and embrace their local histories, and no one is better equipped to support young people in this endeavor than the great educators of the Commonwealth.
And so, as we celebrate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and as we move toward Black History Month, we ask you to consider how you can work to learn a bit more about local Black history and, in the spirit of Dr. King, work toward your own personal emancipation.
Nicholas D. Hartlep chairs the Education Studies Department at Berea College where he holds the Robert Charles Billings Endowed Chair in Education.
Chaka Cummings is the Executive Director of The Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky at Berea College. He is a 2002 graduate of Berea College.