Reckoning, Remembering, Restoring: A Symposium on the History of Racial Violence in Kentucky
Saturday, November 9th, 2024
Lyric Theater & Cultural Arts Center, 300 E. Third Street Lexington. KY 40508
Co-Sponsors: The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, Kentucky Humanities, LexHistory, and The Gaines Center for Humanities
This event will explore how digital humanities—through databases, newspapers, census data, legal cases, and archives—can shine a light on the widespread racial violence that contradicts the myth of Kentucky as a racially progressive state.
Inspired by Dr. George C. Wright’s pivotal work, Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865 – 1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule and “Legal Lynchings,” this symposium is a public, community-focused discussion on the extralegal and legislative efforts that violently enforced Jim Crow laws in Kentucky, often without holding the perpetrators accountable.
A diverse group of community members, local organizations, library professionals, and university academics will share ideas and research on past civil and human rights violations against African American Kentuckians. We will also explore attempts at restorative justice and how new technologies can help reimagine a more historically accurate and nuanced history of race in Kentucky.
ADMISSION IS FREE. REGISTER HERE!
PROGRAM
9 am - Doors open. Breakfast provided.
9:30 - 10:30 am: Keynote - Dr. George C. Wright, University of Kentucky (Introduction by Dr. Anastasia Curwood, UK)
"Revisiting Racial Violence in Kentucky"
10:30 - 10:45 am: Book Signing with Dr. Wright
10:45 - 11:45 am: Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky
Panelists: The DRVK Project team of Dr. Nikki Brown, Associate Professor of History and African American and Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Melanie Goan, Professor of History, College of Arts and Sciences; and Jennifer Hootman, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship and Data, UK Libraries; along with former student interns
11:45 - 12:30 pm: Lunch provided
12:30 - 1:30 pm: Civil Rights and Restorative Justice - Kentucky
"Civil Rights and Restorative Justice - Kentucky: A Legal Clinic Offering Modern Redress for Historical Violence"
Panelists: Professor D'Lorah Hughes, H. Wendell Cherry Associate Professor of Law and Director of Clinics and Externships, J. David Rosenberg College of Law; Dr. Austin Zinkle, Postdoctoral Scholar, The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies; Alyssa Wiggins, J.D., Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
1:30 - 2:30 pm: Take Back Cheapside (Moderated by Dr. Amanda Higgins, LexHistory)
2:30 - 3:30 pm: The Future of Reckoning with Racial Violence Roundtable Workshops
with Dr. John Giggie, History Department, University of Alabama; Sharyn Mitchell, African American Genealogy Group of Kentucky; Monument Workshop at UK; Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky; Civil Rights and Restorative Justice-Kentucky, Take Back Cheapside, Black Yarn, Woodford Remembrance Coalition
3:30 - 4:00 pm: Closing - Bishop J Shea Brown, Pastor
ADMISSION IS FREE. REGISTER HERE!
