UPK authors Gerald L. Smith, Karen Cotton
McDaniel, and John A. Hardin have been named the recipients of a 2016 Kentucky History Award
given by the Kentucky Historical Society for
their book, “The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia.”
The encyclopedia has also received the 2016 Living Legacy Award
presented by the Kentucky Black Legislative Caucus, the Kentucky State
Historical Records Advisory Board’s 2015 Kentucky Archives Month
Certificate for Merit for Writing/Publication, and has been
named a Thomas D. Clark
Medallion Book. The Kentucky History Awards recognize
outstanding achievements by historians, public history professionals,
volunteers, business and civic leaders, communities, and historical
organizations throughout the Commonwealth. The awards were presented on Friday,
November 11 at the KHS Annual Meeting and Kentucky History Celebration at the
Old State Capitol in downtown Frankfort.
Editors Smith, McDaniel, and Hardin have
assembled a first-of-its-kind reference volume to create a foundational guide
to the black experience in the Commonwealth. Capturing history from the
earliest frontier years to the present, it chronicles the individuals, events,
places, organizations, movements, and institutions that have shaped the state.
Across the remarkable accounts painstakingly detailed by more than 150
contributing authors, what is perhaps most impressive, is the breadth and scope
of the history that is revealed. As the over 1000 entries make clear, African
American Kentuckians have played pivotal roles in every facet of our state’s
community as athletes, builders, coal miners, doctors, entrepreneurs, educators,
lawyers, nurses, organizers, religious leaders, and more. It reaches beyond the
traditional narrative of Kentucky’s past to capture hidden and forgotten
stories that deserve their place in Kentucky and American history. Even still, “The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia”
makes clear that despite the rich history that has been documented, so much
more remains to be told.
“The Kentucky African
American Encyclopedia” is the fifth University Press of Kentucky
publication in six years to win a KHS award, joining 2014 winner “Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South” by
T.R.C. Hutton, 2013 winner “The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America’s Premier
Sporting Event” by James C. Nicholson, 2012 winner “A History of Education in Kentucky” by William E.
Ellis, and 2011 winner “Lessons in Likeness: Portrait Painters in Kentucky and the Ohio River
Valley, 1802-1920” by Estill Curtis Pennington.
Gerald L. Smith is
Martin Luther King Center Scholar-Residence and the holder of the Theodore A.
Hallam Professorship (2015–2017) in the department of history at the University of Kentucky. He is the
author, editor, or coeditor of three books and other publications on history.
He is also the pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.
Karen Cotton McDaniel is
professor emeritus at Kentucky State University,
where she was a tenured full professor and director of libraries. She has more
than twenty publications on black Kentuckians, including book chapters,
articles, and encyclopedic essays. She has also taught at Eastern Kentucky University and Berea College.
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