Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1964 March on Frankfort
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s lasting legacy in the Bluegrass State
In 1964, Kentuckians were fed up. It was time for citizens of the Commonwealth to be treated fairly. The winds of civil rights reform were blowing across the nation, and citizens of the Bluegrass State were ready for a change.
Frank Stanley, Jr., editor of the Louisville Defender newspaper, organized the March on Frankfort. Stanley recruited baseball legend Jackie Robinson, folk singers Peter, Paul, and Mary, and activist Martin Luther King, Jr. to attend the March, which was held on March 5, 1964.
The following day, the Courier-Journal reported that "The marchers and singers — from the coal mines of Appalachia, the bluegrass of Lexington, the factories of Louisville, the cotton fields of the Purchase — came to press for passage of a stiff and workable public accommodations bill."
Dr. King's speech noted that the crowd had gathered to "challenge the immorality of the social system that permits segregation." His repeated refrain in his stirring speech was that "Now is the time" for change. The March is credited as a catalyst for the passage of the 1966 Kentucky Civil Rights Act, which Dr. King called "the strongest and most comprehensive civil rights bill passed by a Southern state."
For this impact on our Commonwealth, as well as Dr. King's legacy which still resonates throughout our nation fifty years later, we say Thank You, Dr. King!
Bear Bryant and the Kentucky Wildcats
Remembering a legend of college football.
On September 11, 1913, Paul William Bryant was born in Munro Bottom, Arkansas, the eleventh of twelve children born to Wilson Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant. From a young age, he was undertaking legendary things, like the time when, at age 13, he agreed to wrestle a bear at a carnival. The nickname "Bear" stuck.
Kentucky Coach Bear Bryant with Team Captains Vito Parilli and Doug Mosely, 1953. Image via KDL
By 1930, Bear was a high school football player whose team won the Arkansas state championship, but he didn't quite make it to graduation. In fact, when the Bear was offered a football scholarship to the University of Alabama, he had to finish up his degree at a Tuscaloosa-area high school while undertaking fall practice with the Tide.
January 1, 1951 -- Bear Bryant's Wildcats win the Sugar Bowl
Now, here in Kentucky, we know Bear Bryant as the Coach who toughened up the Wildcat football team for eight seasons and reinvented the way we recruited our players. He took the 'Cats to their first Bowl game in 1947 and on to their first SEC Conference title in 1950.
Sugar Bowl Champion Kentucky Wildcats. Image via Big Blue Fans.
The 1950 Wildcats went on to upset the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl, with a final score of 13-7. That Sugar Bowl game is considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history, as the Wildcats ended Oklahoma's run for an undefeated season.
Now, as we all know, Coach Bryant stayed in Lexington through 1953. The stories are murky about why he left us to coach the A & M Aggies. Some say it's over a fight with Coach Rupp over a Cadillac, a watch, or maybe a cigarette lighter. Others say that the rivalry between the two legendary Kentucky coaches has been over-dramatized. In 1966, Bryant himself told Sports Illustrated: "The trouble was we were too much alike, and he wanted basketball No. 1 and I wanted football No. 1...In an environment like that one or the other has to go."
When you have the two best coaches ever to coach their respective sports, the stakes are high.
I hear that, after his 8 seasons at Kentucky were over, he tried his hand at coaching Down South and took to wearing a snazzy hat. I'll leave the stories of those years to our friends in Alabama who can tell them way better than I ever could.
Here's to Coach Bryant and the 1951 Sugar Bowl. Go Big Blue!
Nothing Compares to the Old Dawahares.
Remembering the quintessential Kentucky department store.
Last week, my beau and I were browsing around the men's suits section of a local mall-based chain store. Later that week, we went in one of those UK and U of L-themed fan stores. Both times, I left with the same sigh of resignation:
"None of this can compare to the old Dawahares."
As any long-time Kentuckian can tell you, Dawahares was the Kentucky-based department store. Founded in 1907 in the tiny Eastern Kentucky coal camp town of Neon by Syrian immigrant S.F. Dawahare, the company expanded to over 30 stores in its heyday, and was in business for over 105 years. Unfortunately, the family-owned retailer filed for bankruptcy and was forced to close its remaining outlets in order to liquidate assets.
Over the century that Dawahares was in business, the small, mid-price outlets simply were Kentucky's hometown stores. Dawahares was known for outfitting the entire family. The extensive selection of men's suits and sports jackets were the place to shop for holidays and celebrations, with a selection to please everyone from UK coaches to countless grandpas to young men purchasing their first suits. The store felt like family for many of us in small town Kentucky -- we often went in to say hello to the salespeople as much as to actually shop. And, as our friend Allison (the PinkLouLou!), reminds us, the folks at Dawahares often went out of their way to help friends and neighbors.
And then, there was the UK gear. Oh my goodness, the UK gear.
Dawahares had a special knack for stocking Kentucky Wildcats apparel that was over-the-top, yet not-quite tacky. They always had the most delightful UK sweaters that worked equally well for the grandmas who attended basketball games and their granddaughters, who wore the blue-and-white sequins and appliques with just a hint of irony.
I thought it would be fun to pick out a few pieces of UK gear that have a Dawahares vibe -- things that I think they'd carry if they were still in business today.
I can't get enough of this '47 Brand cardigan sweater. Like my very favorite pieces from Dawahares, this would work equally well for you, your mom, or your grandma. It would be so fun to style it with leggings and wellies, or as an alternative to a coat.
And how about this Dooney & Bourke UK-print Shopper Tote? This would be so much fun for game day!
The golf shirts, cowgirl boots, house shoes and, of course, sweaters, in the galleries below keep the Dawahares vibe alive. Something tells me I'll be buying more than a few of these!
Do you have fond memories of Dawahares?
Kentucky Trivia for a Snow Day
Fun Kentucky trivia to occupy your kids on a snow day!
Happy Thursday, y'all! We've got beautiful, crisp skies here in Louisville and it's a lovely January day!
Since we're all looking for some things to do while staying inside, here's a Kentucky trivia game to keep your kids occupied. Visit the Kentucky Tourism Kids' Page to download Kentucky-themed coloring sheets and word searches. Click here to download a copy of the HerKentucky Trivia Game and Answers.
10 Kentucky Trivia Questions
- "Kentucky" comes from an Iroquois word that means what?
- Kentucky was originally a part of what state?
- What is Kentucky’s official state beverage?
- What Kentucky county hosts an annual ham festival?
- Every Kentucky citizen is required by law to take a shower at least how often?
- In Kentucky, it is illegal to remarry the same person more than how many times?
- True or false: Dwarf, Monkey’s Eyebrow, Rabbit Hash, and Mousie are all real place names in Kentucky.
- What Kentucky city is built inside a meteor crater?
- True or false: A horse named Vagrant won the first Kentucky Derby.
- The first cheeseburger was served in what Kentucky city?
Answers
1. Meadowland
2. Virginia
3. Milk
4. Trigg County
5. Once a year
6. Three
7. True
8. Middlesboro
9. False. Aristides won the first Derby; Vagrant won the second.
10. Louisville
Here's to staying warm and learning a little bit about the Commonwealth!
Happy Repeal Day!
Celebrate the 81st Anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition with a Kentucky bourbon cocktail!
In the second decade of the Twentieth Century, America experienced a wave of anti-alcohol sentiment. The temperance movement, led at its most radical edges by Garrard County, KY native Carrie Nation, posited the abolition of sales of alcoholic beverages as the key to the nation's health and moral soundness. The ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment and the subsequent passing of the Volstead Act outlawed the sale and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages in the United States, beginning in 1920.
Ultimately, neither the public safety nor the nation's economy profited from the Prohibition experiment. The production and procurement of alcoholic beverages was driven underground, resulting in a surge of organized crime activities. Prohibition grew increasingly less popular and by the onset of the Great Depression, it was evident that the legalization of alcoholic beverages would result in increased tax revenue for the nation.
When the aristocratic lawyer and sitting Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised sweeping change for the nation, including economic stimulus through the reform of bootlegging operations. Roosevelt handily defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover in the 1932 Presidential election. By February 1933, the Twenty-First Amendment, which would repeal the Eighteenth Amendment, was introduced in Congress, and in March of that year, President Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen-Harrison Act, which allowed the sale of low-alcohol spirits. The 21st Amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933 (widely celebrated as Repeal Day).
Here in Kentucky, Prohibition's impact was particularly harsh. As bourbon historian Rick Bell brilliantly relays during the Evan Williams Speakeasy Tour, the Volstead Act brought dark days to Kentucky. Kentucky's famous bourbon industry was hit hard by Prohibition. The shuttered distilleries (which, by 1929, could produce small amounts of whiskey for medicinal purposes) led to scores of unemployed workers, many of whom had no additional job skills. A young whiskey salesman for the Stitzler-Weller distillery, Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle, found himself bereft of income or skills. In But Always Fine Bourbon: Pappy Van Winkle and the Story of Old Fitzgerald, Sally Van Winkle (Pappy's granddaughter), remembers the words of her own father, Julian Jr.:
I doubt there are too many around today who could imagine what it was like when Prohibition came. It meant that one of the nation's biggest industries was shut down tight. I was just a boy but I could remember all those men who had been in business for decades sitting in front of their rolled-top desks with their green eyeshades. They just rolled down their desktops, walked out, and locked the door on January 1, 1920.
Fortunately, eighty-one years later, Kentucky bourbon whiskey is stronger than ever. New labels are being introduced at a rapid pace and bourbon tourism is a major source of revenue for the Bluegrass State.
There are many ways you can celebrate Repeal Day today. If you'll be in Louisville tonight, check out the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience's Repeal Day Celebration (Period dress is encouraged, but not required!) from 5-9 p.m.
Maker's Mark has repealed shipping fees all day, so you'll get a break on ordering some of your holiday goodies, or perhaps a treat for yourself.
Or, you can pour yourself a bourbon cocktail (I'll have an old-fashioned, please!) and celebrate 81 years of freedom to (legally) imbibe!
Daniel Boone's Expedition
A history of Daniel Boone's Expedition.
If you were once a Kentucky school kid, then you remember at least one anecdote about Daniel Boone from grade school. It probably has to do with carving "D. Boon Kilt a Bar" on a tree. (His father, Squire Boone, is believed to have said of his own children's education, "Let the girls do the spelling and Dan will do the shooting.") As much as it pains this editrix to say, I suppose spelling isn't the most important skill one needs for the trailblazing life of a frontiersman.
What is important to the Commonwealth of Kentucky is that, on March 10, 1775, the soldier and explorer Daniel Boone, working for Judge Richard Henderson of the Transylvania Company, undertook an expedition that would lead to the settling of Kentucky. Exploring the new Transylvania Colony, Boone foraged a trail known as the Wilderness Road into central Kentucky. There he founded Boone's Station (later Boonesborough) as the capital city of Transylvania County, in an area near the modern-day town of Athens in Madison County. He later said of first spotting the area:
We viewed Kentucke situated on the fertile banks of the great Ohio, rising from obscurity to shine with splendor, equal to any other of stars of the American hemisphere.
from Life & Times of Col. Daniel Boone by Cecil B. Hartley
Boone's adventures have become the stuff of legend. The kidnapping of his daughter Jemima, along with two other young women, was the basis for Last of the Mohicans. Boone himself was robbed, kidnapped, and attacked many times along the way.
The Abduction of Daniel Boone's Daughter by the Indians by Charles Wimar
In his later days, Boone was a statesman and businessman, and emerged as a symbol of frontier life and the establishment of Kentucky.Two hundred thirty-nine years later, we still remember Daniel Boone as the trailblazer who faced unknown circumstances, violence, and physical hardship to found our beautiful Commonwealth.
