Segregation--Kentucky--Louisville
1678
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.
2604
The first of two interviews with Mr. Bluitt in which he discusses growing up in rural TX, segregation and racial violence, early musical life, touring musician, music in the family, conversion experience, life in the church, directing the Bourgard School of Arts, establishing the youth choir, life in Russell.
These and other interviews were conducted by the Louisville Story Program and collaboratively edited with the participants authors between 2020 and 2023. The culmination of this collaborative work is the documentary book, “If You Write Me A Letter, Send It Here: Voices of Russell in a Time of Change.” This anthology of nonfiction documents the rich layers of history and cultural heritage in the Russell area of west Louisville, a neighborhood whose history is centrally important to the Black experience in Louisville.
1684
Civil rights activist Ruth Bryant (1923-2013) speaks about her childhood and family history growing up in Detroit; her move to Louisville and observations about housing available to Black Louisvillians; how she became interested in and active in the open housing movement; her work with Committee on Community Development oversaw all federal funding that came into Louisville and how it was dispersed; and her involvement with other organizations such as the West End Community Council, Head Start, Citizens' Advisory Committee under the Urban Renewal Program, Black Unity League of Kentucky, and Women United for Social Action. She also talks about her arrest at open housing demonstrations and her memories of the 1968 Parkland Uprising. She mentions but does not speak at length about being one of the "Black Six," a group of Black Louisvillians accused of inciting rebellion during the 1968 Parkland Uprising and charged with conspiracy to destroy property and to blow up West End chemical plants.
930
Henry Ebbs is a 75-year-old Black man, and was a resident of the Parkland area during the 1940s and 1950s. He discusses his life in Louisville as well as the Parkland area during the 1940s. As an early resident of the neighborhood he discusses the mixed racial area and peaceful atmosphere. Recreational activities centered around the churches and related religious groups. Left the area for better living conveniences. Enjoyed Chickasaw Park and other amenities. Discusses the racial segregation of the city during the time and inequality some members of his family received.
1707
Ira Grupper was born in New York City in 1944. Before moving to Louisville in 1969, Ira was involved in rent strikes in New York and he took part in the civil rights movement all over the South with the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). In this interview, Ira talks about his personal friendship with Carl and Anne Braden, whom he worked alongside as part of the SCEF (Southern Conference Education Fund). Other topics include Ira's work as a commissioner and eventual Vice-Chairman of the Louisville and Jefferson County Human Relations Commission. He talks about being a staunch advocate for workers rights and an improvement in labor conditions. He also discusses his involvement with the busing situation during the 1970s and his role as an outreach spokesman who went to white communities to attempt to persuade them to support desegregation in the local schools.
2612
Higgins discusses living in Russell during protests of 2020, David McAtee, Breonna Taylor, promoting discussions about race and inequity, growing up in Russell, parents life and marriage, WWII, Old Walnut Street era, notable perons on Old Walnut St., racial inequity in employment during segregation, redlining, life and career as a Black, female engineer, Catholocism in west Louisville, decline of Russell, halfway houses, outside investors purchasing houses in west Louisville, housing problems in west Louisville, housing inequity, revitalization of Russell.
These and other interviews were conducted by the Louisville Story Program and collaboratively edited with the participants authors between 2020 and 2023. The culmination of this collaborative work is the documentary book, “If You Write Me A Letter, Send It Here: Voices of Russell in a Time of Change.” This anthology of nonfiction documents the rich layers of history and cultural heritage in the Russell area of west Louisville, a neighborhood whose history is centrally important to the Black experience in Louisville.
2395
Morrison discussed growing up in Old Louisville, attending segregated primary school, being the first Black student in a Louisville Catholic School, and her activism at the University of Louisville.
2591
Neal Robertson is a Pleasure Ridge Park resident who grew up in the California neighborhood. Robertson grew up in a home his grandmother owned and he discussed how ownership gave him a different mindset from his friends who were renters. He left Louisville to play basketball and compared the racial segregation in the city to other places he lived.
1741
Ben Shobe was born in 1920 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He grew up in a rural mountain town called Middlesboro. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from Kentucky State College (now Kentucky State University), a historically Black school in Frankfort. During his time at Kentucky State, he witnessed the Ku Klux Klan marching through downtown Frankfort and then proceed to burn crosses in view of the campus. After graduating, Shobe attended law school at the University of Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with his law degree in 1946 and returned to Louisville, Kentucky to practice as a trial attorney. He initially joined the practice of his friend, Charles W. Anderson, Jr., who was the first Black legislator voted to serve in the South. He served as a trial lawyer for many years before being elected as the Judge of the Louisville police court in 1973.
In the interview, Shobe mentions some of the cases and issues he worked on during his career. Louisville was an incredibly segregated city during the start of his career and he immediately joined the NAACP and went to work helping to desegregate parts of the city. One such case was the desegregation of the Louisville city parks. He took the case to the U.S. Circuit Court in Cincinnati, Ohio and successful argued that the parks were in fact not "separate but equal" due to the disparity in resources available at the white parks, compared to those available at the single Black park in the city. He also recounts various interactions with members of the NAACP, such as Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkins, who came to the local Louisville chapter from time to time to go over legal advice and strategy for the segregation cases. Shobe was also involved in various levels on the issues of desegregation at the University of Louisville, the Louisville Bar Association, and the Jefferson County Medical Society.
