Winchester celebrates Black history

On Saturday, our com­mu­ni­ty kicked off Black History Month with a pub­lic cer­e­mo­ny rec­og­niz­ing the Clark County African American pio­neers being hon­ored this month with new street ban­ners. Many of the liv­ing hon­orees and fam­i­ly mem­bers were present for the cer­e­mo­ny. The ban­ners will be installed up and down Main Street soon. Watch for them. 

There was prayer, food, and a joy­ous cel­e­bra­tion enjoyed by peo­ple of all races, ages, and gen­ders. Truly a com­mu­ni­ty event. Jon Paul Martin of Whiskey and Wiles Photography (in addi­tion to host­ing the event) gra­cious­ly grant­ed us per­mis­sion to pub­lish some of the many pho­tos he took dur­ing the pro­gram. Below is a sampling. 

The Untold Yet Unforgotten Stories of Black History

On Monday, Feb. 3, anoth­er event will take place down­town to keep the momen­tum going. Dr. Vanessa Holden and Mr. Shea Brown will present a pro­gram called, “The Untold Yet Unforgotten Stories of Black History: Exploring Fayette County Property Records.” 

This event is being spon­sored by All Voices Reading Room and host­ed by Whiskey and Wiles Photography.

The pro­gram is free and open to the pub­lic. It will be pre­sent­ed at the beau­ti­ful­ly ren­o­vat­ed Whiskey and Wiles build­ing at 66 South Main St. in down­town Winchester and will run from 6:30 to 8 PM. Refreshments will be served. 

Shea Brown is a grad­u­ate of Lincoln County High School, in Stanford, KY and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Legal Studies from Sullivan University and a Diploma in Biblical Studies from the George W. Dupee Bible Institute of the Historic Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church in Lexington. 

He is a Special Projects Deputy in the Land Records Department and is the Supervising Director of the Digital Access Project (DAP) with the Fayette County Clerk’s Office Clerk’s Office.

He has served as Pastor of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, Lancaster, Kentucky for over six­teen years and he cur­rent­ly serves as the Dean of Religious Education for the Baptist Unified Christian Leadership Conference and South District Missionary Baptist Association. 

Vanessa Holden is cur­rent­ly an Associate Professor of History and African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky. She is also the direc­tor of the Central Kentucky Slavery Initiative. Dr. Holden is the author of Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner’s Community (University of Illinois Press), win­ner of the 2021 James H. Broussard First Book Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. Surviving Southampton was also short­list­ed for the MAAH Stone Book Award.

Dr. Holden is engaged in a num­ber of dig­i­tal human­i­ties projects. She is the co-orga­niz­er of the Queering Slavery Working Group (#QSWG) with Jessica M. Johnson (Johns Hopkins). Dr. Holden cur­rent­ly serves as a lead fac­ul­ty mem­ber for the Freedom on the Move Project, an open-source crowd­sourced data­base of adver­tise­ments for self-eman­ci­pat­ed peo­ple (often called run­away ads). She is also an advi­so­ry board mem­ber for the Chronicle of African Americans in the Horse Industry, a dig­i­tal human­i­ties project focused on col­lect­ing, pre­serv­ing, and mak­ing acces­si­ble his­to­ries of African American involve­ment in America’s many horse industries.

Biographical infor­ma­tion about Shea Brown was obtained from the web­site of the Rotary Club of Lexington. Information about Vanessa Holden comes from her per­son­al web­site.