Africa

Adlene Howard Abstain (b. 1943 in Montgomery, Alabama, d. 2015, in Louisville, Kentucky) describes her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement through voter registration efforts, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Rides, fair housing efforts, work as a pastor at The Fountain of Life Word and Worship Center, and community organization in Louisville.

Adams recalls the history of the east downtown and Smoketown neighborhoods of Louisville, the predecessor organizations of the Presbyterian Community Center beginning in the 1910s, and the street corner newspaper sales business in Louisville beginning in the 1920s. Both men discuss their efforts to develop a recreation program in basketball, baseball and boxing at the Presbyterian Community Center beginning in the 1930s, the association of Muhammad Ali with the Center, and administrative changes at the Center during the early 1960s.

Alexander is a retired professor from Kentucky State University. He discusses his family history; his career and life in the Parkland area of Louisville; recounts what Parkland was like in 1952; and how he was received as one of the first blacks to move into the 2800 block of Virginia Avenue. He discusses the business, education, and retail landscape of Parkland and the deterioration of the neighborhood. At a time, thriving business and retail establishments along Virginia Avenue and Dumesnil Street. Parkland was a middle-class neighborhood during the 1950s.

Interview index available. Allen discusses general information about her life, including her educational and working career. She received degrees from University of Louisville and Spalding University. Her early childhood education was during segregation. Her working career included time at Brown Forman, where she was the first African American Chemist. Allen explains how her teachers shaped her adulthood. She discuses general information about her adult life, including her husband and children. She provides her and her children�s experiences in school and the discrimination they faced. Allen discuses what she believes the boundaries of the Parkland neighborhood include. She discusses the riot of 1968 (she notes people destroying the neighborhood) and compares it to the riots in Ferguson Missouri. Allen describes the Parkland neighborhood after the riot, and notes the persisting negative stereotypes of the West End. Allen describes past segregation in Louisville, including parks and funeral homes, and the discrimination of African American�s by businesses. She notes the progression of Louisville in general.

Wes Cunningham interviews Louisville native Elmer Lucille Allen at the University of Louisville. She discusses growing up attending African American schools and later working in mostly white environments. She worked at Brown Forman for 31 years. She didn’t begin working as an artist until she attended art classes at U of L in 1981. Allen also mentions her connections to the Louisville Art Workshop and years spent travelling with sculptor Ed Hamilton along with her photographer husband.

Bill Allison, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, acted as an appeals attorney for one of the Black Six defendants, Ruth Bryant. The Black Six were a group of five men and one woman who were prosecuted for inciting rebellion during the Parkland Uprising of 1968. Allison also represented the Black Panthers in Louisville and in Memphis, Tennessee. In this interview, Allison speaks about cases he was involved in involving government repression and retaliation against Civil Rights activists and how he became involved in that work through the Southern Conference Educational Fund, serving as SCEF's lawyer from 1969 to 1974.

Alston discusses his early life in Norfolk, Virginia and his primary and secondary education there; his college education at the North Carolina College for Negroes; his seminary training at Bishop Payne Divinity School; his ordination in the Episcopal Church; his ministry at Louisville's Church of Our Merciful Saviour, 11th and Walnut Street; work in race relations in Louisville; and general remarks on the role of the church in society.

A retired bishop of the AME Zion Church, the Rev. Felix Anderson discusses his childhood in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Boston, Mass.; his childhood and college education at Livingston College, an AME Zion school in Wilmington, from which he graduated in 1920; seminary training at Hood Theological School and Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; various pastorates and teaching experiences; coming to Louisville in 1948 as pastor of Broadway Temple AME Zion; entering local politics and his election to the Kentucky General Assembly, where he served from 1954 to 1960; and recollections of civil rights work in Alabama during the 1960s.

This interview covers Armstrong's experiences as a resident in Sheppard Square public housing. Prior to moving into Sheppard Square, Armstrong lived with her two children in two crowded rooms on Magnolia Street in Louisville. She applied three times for public housing but reports difficulty in getting approval because she was not married. Armstrong helped form Resident Council, a model for other public housing resident groups in Louisville. She recalls positive relationships with police and discusses how the community changed in the 1980s. She also comments on changes in the resident population and attitude. Armstrong expresses concern that people with little or no income will not be able to find housing.

Transcript available.