Civil rights demonstrations

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.

Mervin Aubespin (b. 1937 in Louisiana), a reporter for the Courier-Journal, talks about his path to the Civil Rights movement starting in Alabama and then in Louisville; Louisville during segregation; housing discrimination; and white flight. As an activist, Aubespin participated in marches, sit-ins, voter registration and organization for public accommodation, open housing, and to integrate Fontaine Ferry. Aubespin was originally hired by the Courier-Journal an artist, one of the first Black employees there. He covered the Parkland Uprising but did not get a byline or credit for his work. He then attended an intensive program at Columbia University to produce Black journalists and had a successful career as a reporter for the Courier-Journal, specializing in covering topics of interest to the Black community. Regarded as an expert on racism and the media, Aubespin is a past president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and was given the Ida B. Wells Award for his efforts to bring minorities into the field of journalism. Aubespin was also the founder of the Louisville Association of Black Communicators.

Bryant discusses her childhood in Detroit, Michigan, where her father was involved in fair housing work. The interview also includes recollections of her education at a private girls' school in Washington, D.C. and at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she received an AB in history; her move to Louisville with her husband, a physician; her work with the West End Community Council; and involvement with the Black Six conspiracy trial.

Eighty-years-old Hawkins, a native of Kuttawa, KY., discusses his childhood and youth in Louisville’s California neighborhood in the 1950s, his travel in freight cars as a youth, and how racism in the U. S. prompted his resignation from the Marines. He then describes his enlistment in the local Open Housing movement, his work as a VISTA (Volunteer In Service To America) community organizer in both Louisville and Philadelphia, and his involvement as President of the Black Unity League of Kentucky in the local Police brutality protests in May, 1968, the Police provocation that led to days of civil unrest in the Parkland neighborhood, and the bogus charges and litigation that followed against himself and five others as the “Black Six.” Mr. Hawkins frequently focuses less on legal actions and more on what happened to those involved, including his friend, Robert Kyyu Sims, both at the time and subsequently.

The interview began with Mrs. Holloway’s family history. She is descendant from Dr. J. C. Whitlock, a white professor of medicine in 19th century Louisville. Her more immediate family included her grandfather, the first licensed Black florist in Louisville, and mother, the first Black graduate of a music school in Indiana. She discussed her family’s history under segregation and lessons she learned from them about how to respond to segregation. She also told the story of her own education. The majority of the interview covered her participation in the 1961 sit-in demonstrations in downtown Louisville, the March on Frankfort, and the March on Washington. Much of the interview also concerns specific biographical information on people Holloway knew in her youth.

Holmes described his childhood through high school years living in various rental properties in the area of Louisville around Brook and Kentucky streets. The purpose of the interview was to record his memories of living in an area that was disrupted by the construction of interstate 65. He described the homes, residents, and businesses before construction. The second part of the interview concerned the integration of Male High School. Holmes (white) was part of the third class at Male to include African Americans. He describes the white perspective on integration and on the participation of his black classmates in sit-in demonstrations downtown. Holmes then went on to describe how he has worked with an interracial group of alumni to address the tensions and concerns about what happened to Black students in the newly integrated schools.

Irvin discusses her childhood in Hopkinsville, Kentucky; her primary and secondary education there; her move to Louisville in 1950, a city she found to be "friendly to Blacks, but very segregated"; involvement in open housing demonstrations in Louisville's south end, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and work in Democratic politics as a precinct co -captain, captain, and committee woman.

This interview was conducted shortly after Mr. Johnson had been elected to Jefferson County School Board from the First District and is a continuation of the series done by Ms. Monsour on Mr. Johnson's long civil rights career in Louisville. The discussion centers on riots and civil rights demonstrations in Louisville.

Ms. Kidd discusses her life, including her childhood growing up in Bourbon County. Kidd attended the Lincoln Institute in Simpsonville, Kentucky, and then began working for Mammoth Life Insurance Company, a Louisville-based Black-owned life insurance company. She discusses her career with Mammoth Life, which was interrupted by service in the Red Cross during World War II. She discusses her experiences with the Red Cross, both during her training and during her service overseas. She discusses differences in white attitudes, in particular. She describes her work in public relations and sales after the war, as well as her political career. She was elected to the Kentucky Assembly in 1967 and began serving in 1968. She discusses her attempts to pass legislation to give tax breaks to companies that would provide training to Kentucky residents, and her successful efforts to pass a low-cost housing bill.