Historical Marker #1657 notes the location and significance of the Zion Baptist Church in Louisville. A small number of African Americans left the York Street Baptist Church to begin their own congregation in 1877. For a year they rented the old…

Historical Marker #1419 in Shelby County commemorates Whitney M. Young, Jr., one of the primary personalities of the Civil Rights Movement. Young was born in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky (Shelby County), in 1921. His father was an educator, and later…

Historical Marker #2134 in Louisville notes Murray Atkins Walls’ achievements as an educator and civil rights activist. Walls was born on December 22, 1899, in Indianapolis. She was the daughter of a physician, Calvin R. Atkins. While in…

Historical Marker #2339 in Louisville notes the location of the house where the famous boxer and humanitarian Muhammad Ali grew up. Muhammad Ali, originally named Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born in Louisville in 1942. Ali grew up at 3302…

Historical Marker #2036 in Owensboro notes the accomplishments of Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Moneta J. Sleet, Jr. Sleet was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1926. His love of photography began at an early age when his parents gave him…

Historical Marker #2147 in Millersburg (Bourbon County) notes the legislative service of Mae Street Kidd. Kidd was born during what many historians refer to as the "nadir of race relations" in the United States. She was born in…

Historical Marker #2019 in Glasgow honors Luska Joseph Twyman, the first African American elected to a full term as mayor of a Kentucky city. Twyman was born in Barren County in 1913. He was educated in the county's black public schools and…

Historical Marker #1930 in Shelby County notes the location of the Lincoln Institute, which was founded to educate African American students. In the wake of the Supreme Court Decision of the 1904 Kentucky Day Law, which legally segregated public and…

Historical Marker # 1961 notes the importance of the Lexington Colored Fair Association, which highlighted the achievements of African Americans to society in the years following emancipation. Most often relegated to second class status by…

Historical Marker #1662 notes the Louisville location of the Knights of Pythias Temple. Although many fraternal organizations predated the Civil War, most African Americans were not allowed to form separate chapters of these benevolent societies…

Historical Marker #1998 in Louisville notes the pioneering civil rights efforts of I. Willis Cole, noted publisher of "The Louisville Leader," an African American newspaper. The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass once said,…

Historical Marker #2254 in Louisville notes the location of the home of Anne and Carl Braden, who were active in the Civil Rights Movement. Anne and Carl Braden are probably best known for their efforts to bring fair housing to Louisville in the…

Historical Marker #1663 in Louisville notes the achievements of African American educator and leader James Bond. Bond was born into slavery in 1863 on the Anderson County farm of Preston Bond. Preston Bond is listed in the 1860 census as a…

Historical Maker #2191 at Murray State University notes the 1955 desegregation of that educational institution. Much of the evidence that prompted the United States Supreme Court in the landmark "Brown v. the Board of Education" decision…

Historical Marker #2254 in Louisville notes the location of the Wade home, which was bombed in the summer of 1954 after an African American family attempted to live in an all-white neighborhood. By the early 1950s, Louisville had integrated much…

Historical Marker #1964 in Louisville notes the political career of Charles W. Anderson, Jr., the first African American elected to a Southern state legislature in the twentieth century. During the Reconstruction era, a number of African…

Historical Marker #2008 notes contributions made to the University of Louisville by Charles H. Parrish, Jr., the institution's first African American professor. Parrish's father was born into slavery in Fayette County, Kentucky, in 1859.…

Historical Marker # 2355 in Louisville notes the important role that non-violent demonstrations played in bringing an end to legal racial segregation in that city. In 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of "Plessy…

Historical Marker #1845 in Louisville notes the historical significance of Calvary Baptist Church to the city's African American community. Purchased for $1 and deeded to Henry Smith, a free man of color, in 1833, the plot of ground became a…

Marker #1970 in Anderson County notes the achievements of Anna Mac Clarke as a pioneer in military leadership and in ending segregation on military bases. Anna Mack Mitchel was born on June 20, 1919, in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Her mother, Nora…

Historical Marker #1960 in Russellville notes the accomplishments of civil rights activist and author Alice Allison Dunnigan. A love of learning and a desire for self-improvement are important motivating factors in successful peoples' lives.…