Winchester is a stop on new KY Black history and heritage trail

Our fair city is a fea­tured stop along a new tourism trail estab­lished by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, show­cas­ing our state’s Black his­to­ry and heritage.

According to an arti­cle by Liam Niemeyer pub­lished by Kentucky Lantern, “The Kentucky African American Heritage Trail high­lights 57 sites, rang­ing from Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah to the National Underground Railroad Museum in Maysville to the Lynch Colored School in Harlan County.”

Gov. Andy Beshear unveiled a map of the trail in Louisville this week, along with state tourism offi­cials, his­to­ri­ans, and DeVone Holt, pres­i­dent and CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center, where the cer­e­mo­ny was held.

From the Kentucky Lantern story:

“Speakers at the Ali Center cred­it­ed Kimberly Clay, the Kentucky Department of Tourism’s direc­tor of cul­tur­al her­itage, for putting togeth­er the trail. 

“Yvonne Giles, a his­to­ri­an from Lexington known for pre­serv­ing African American his­to­ry in Kentucky’s sec­ond largest city, said the trail is an ‘edu­ca­tion’ avail­able to all Kentuckians.”

At a time when the teach­ing and preser­va­tion of Black his­to­ry in America face threats in our schools and uni­ver­si­ties, this is an impor­tant step in Kentucky to help pre­serve and pass along the sig­nif­i­cance of these his­tor­i­cal sites to future gen­er­a­tions of citizens. 

Winchester has two stops on the state trail. One of them fea­tures our own African American Heritage Trail, which I have pre­vi­ous­ly writ­ten about. (On the trail of African American his­to­ry — WinCity Voices). Also fea­tured is Oliver Street School, the only sec­ondary school for African Americans in Winchester and Clark County. 

I hope this new trail and our part of it will encour­age more folks to get out and learn about African American his­to­ry, includ­ing right here in Winchester and Clark County. 

It hurts me to the core that so many peo­ple in gov­ern­ment and else­where want to “white­wash” our his­to­ry by remov­ing or gloss­ing over the bru­tal truth about the treat­ment of Blacks, Native Peoples, Chinese and Japanese immi­grants, and many oth­er groups. Not to men­tion the cur­rent admin­is­tra­tion’s attempts to deport and harass mil­lions of immi­grants from Central and South America and oth­er places. 

Our history—the good, the bad, and the ugly—is what it is, and no amount of cen­sor­ing it will change the effects it has had and con­tin­ues to have today. I hope that the cur­rent mood is a pass­ing thing, a flash in the pan, and that san­i­ty will soon return. 

But for that to hap­pen, more of us will need to stand up to the present lead­ers who dis­re­spect us by lying to us about our his­to­ry. We all know what they say about those who for­get his­to­ry, don’t we? 

Information about the new Kentucky African American Heritage Trail can be found here.