Hidden Figures and Black History in Kentucky | Dr. Kaila Story

Untitled [Sweet Evening Breeze]. Provided by Dr. Story.

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 Dr. Kaila Story

1.     What is the importance of discovering Hidden Figures in Kentucky. 

Anyone and everyone benefits from discovering hidden figures throughout history. It is important regionally, nationally and especially personally. Particularly if you’re a person who belongs to an underrepresented group. For many Black people, people of color, queer folk, trans and non binary sibs, historical representation is paramount. To discover a hidden figure and/or many hidden figures that directly reflect your embodiment, and learning about how their journey was and is directly connected to your present one engenders many marginalized folks to formulate a positive sense of self as well as affirm their place within history. Allowing their new reflections of self and community to create a deeper investment in our cities and states. 

2.     When you hear the word Unknown what feelings does that conjure up for you?

I immediately think about this picture I posted to the gram (Instagram) in 2013 of a Black couple. They were beautiful and their smiles contained so much joy and possibility. I found the picture on Tumblr and it reminded me of the love that I was currently experiencing with my then girlfriend, now wife and how the couple was me and missy and how they were us. How my experience with Black love was a feeling that had been felt by many, but had only been captured by a few. The copy on the picture just said: “(Photo Courtesy of The Photobook Series - African American Couples II The Great Migration 1920-1940s). No names of the couple. No state or city where they lived. It just said "couple". Looking at it initially and now makes me think of the word “unknown”. Which makes me think why were they unknown? And why had no one sought to know who they were?

Halloween Party with men dressed as women 1932. Provided by Dr. Story.

3.     How has the history of Black people in Kentucky shaped your experience as a resident here?

It really has shaped my experience living here. I also think it’s not just me either. For example, when I first learned of "Sweet Evening Breeze," the originator of the Lexington drag scene in the 1940s & 50s and a person who took the time to bake cakes for the hungry and give poor families shoes. I first learned about “Sweets,” because a group of civically engaged folks were attempting to create an LGBTQ+ youth homelessness shelter in the Russel neighborhood, and my co-host and comrade suggested that the shelter be named after the hidden Kentucky figure "Sweet Evening Breeze". This assertion by Jaison and amplified by others within the collective deeply contradicts with the stereotypes about our state. It contradicts the assertion about our state is filled with nothing more than racists.  That most folks only care about horses here, and that no one who lives here or has lived here has ever had any progressive thought.

4.     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 don’t. I also don’t think America has dealt with this either. Although Black historians, theorists, artists and the like have created many works and much art with the aims of recovery and resistance when it comes to the representation of Black history as American history. Many folks, namely white racists, have just been too invested in silencing this past. Not only within our state, but also within our nation. Our country has always had a problem with candor and honesty when it comes to telling the truth about our racist and unequal beginnings.This reality, however, shouldn’t discourage folks like us from keeping with the praxis of recovery and resistance when it comes it our pasts, current lives, or our futures. We must keep going, despite. 

5.     What is the importance of young people understanding the complete story of Kentucky History?

The complete story being told is necessary for young people because it enacts the radical imagination. If young people in Kentucky begin to recognize their place within our history it will allow them to dream beyond their circumstances. If they knew that throughout our history we were present, fought against inequity, and voiced our dissent of injustice everywhere and anywhere, it would allow them to see different and various possibilities for their lives. It would allow them to become more invested with becoming  the stewards of their own ships; their own stories. 

6.     Why do you think so many stories from Black History are hidden?

White Supremacy. White supremacist institutions, policies and rhetoric have always been deeply invested in obscuring and erasing the truth. It has silenced and snuffed out so many within our communities, and it won’t stop until it continues to erode clear paths to our true history. This, to me, is the only reason why so many stories from Black history are hidden. White Supremacy has done this on purpose. So we wouldn't know what our purpose would be. It hasn't slowed down, changed course or even shown remorse for this unfortunate reality either.