Hidden Figures and Black History in Kentucky | Elmer Lucille Allen
Hidden Figures and Black History in Kentucky
Throughout Black History Month, we are sharing insights from local community leaders about the importance of uplifting the hidden figures and stories throughout Black Kentucky History. We hope to understand their stories and shine light on Black people that have helped contribute to all of our lives in Kentucky. Click here to read more and donate to support (Un)Known Project.
Hannah Drake
Poet, Author, and Cultural Strategist, IDEAS xLab
Q&A with Elmer Lucille Allen
Elmer Lucille Allen (born in Louisville, Kentucky, 1931) is a accomplished ceramic artist and chemist who graduated from Nazareth College (now Spalding University) in 1953. She became the first African-American chemist at Brown-Forman in 1966.
What is the importance of discovering Hidden Figures in Kentucky?
It is important because most persons do not talk about what they have done or they think what they have done is not important. Hidden Figures in Kentucky must be identified so that they are recorded in the history books.
When you hear the word Unknown what feelings does that conjure up for you?
I think that it something that I have not seen or heard about.
How has the history of Black people in Kentucky shaped your experience as a resident here?
My experiences were shaped by the teachers who taught in the segregated school system, by volunteers at the Presbyterian Community Center and by the Plymouth Settlement House, by members of the Plymouth Congregational Church and by the neighborhood in which I grew up. I spent a lot of time in Smoketown with my grandparents but I lived in what is now “The Russell Neighborhood.” I lived at 1724 West Chestnut Street. Two known figures lived in the same block – Thomas Blue and Albert Meyzeek.
Do you think Kentucky has effectively dealt with its history regarding being a participant in the slave trade, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement?
I do not think that it is documentation to its fully extended. I am 88 years old and I know how it was when I grew up. I could not try on clothes in the department stores on 4th Street. There were four black theaters – Grand and the Lyric were between 6th and 7th Street on Walnut Street (now Muhammad Ali), Palace was between 12th and 13th Street on Walnut Street, and the Dixie was on Preston Street near Caldwell. Grocery stores were owned by Jewish people. Funeral homes were segregated. Hospitals were segregated. My son was born in 1960 at the Red Cross Hospital. Doctors, lawyers, dentists and photographers were persons of color. Schools were segregated. I attended Western (now Western/Perry), Madison (now closed), and the old Central High School that was between 8th and 9th on Chestnut Street. Colleges were segregated until 1950 when the Day Law was rescinded. Nazareth College (now Spalding U) accepted the first students of color. The first two graduates in 1951 were Patricia Lauderdale and Barbara Miller. I graduated in 1953 and I was one of two – Thelma Burnley and myself. I could not get a job when I graduated with a degree in Chemistry. My first job was as a clerk typist in Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. I attended Louisville Municipal College (a college of U of L for persons of color). It opened in 1931 and closed in 1951. I would have been a junior but I chose to go to Nazareth because of the tuition.
What is the importance of young people understanding the complete story of Kentucky History?
If you do not know your past you can not go forward. The African symbols Adrinka and Sankofa; “The importance of learning from the past” or "Go back to the past and bring forward that which is useful." As I said in the previous answer – We were segregated and all of the professionals that took care of us were Black.
Why do you think so many stories from Black History are hidden?
People do not want to talk about the past. When I look at young people today coming out of high school they assume that their elders do not know anything. The education that I received is better than the average JCPS student. At Central High School, I took Latin, French, mathematics thru trigonometry, science classes – physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, English. In junior high school, I took sewing, typing, art classes, etc.
When I finished high school, I was the second honor student, I wrote my speech but I stuttered and had to go to Ms. Kuykendall’s class every afternoon to learn how to say my speech. She taught me to learn one sentence at a time. Then go home and sit in front of a mirror and say it. I seldom stutter now and I owe it all to that one teacher who took time to work with me.
