Community Memories:
A Glimpse of African American Life in Frankfort, Kentucky
Journal of Southern
History, Vol. 74sdasdasd, No. 2
"Community Memories: A Glimpse of African
American Life in Frankfort, Kentucky," Winona Floetcher and Sheila
Mason Burton, eds., pp. 541-42
Community
Memories: A Glimpse of African
American Life in Frankfort, Kentucky
furthers recent
scholarship of community and memory with a “brief glimpse
into the everyday
life of several Black individuals and
communities….”
Relying on remembered stories, photographs,
songs, and newspaper articles, the editors reveal a rich diversity of
neighborhoods within the black population of Frankfort
and Franklin
County.
Not a historical analysis, the book is nonetheless a great
resource for
researchers and serves as a memorial to the families who lived, loved,
and
worked there. Editors
Winona Floetcher
and Sheila Mason Burton conducted thirty-six personal interviews and
collected
over two-hundred photographs taken from fifty-two personal collections
to build
the collection. Community Memories uses a strong focus on
photography and
photographic commentary but also offers excerpts from large numbers of
oral
histories, developing what is essentially a memorial of the community.
The rich
collections
of photographs depict all aspects of life in the community. Included
are lists
of churches, schools, community leaders, and social meeting places. Images show weddings,
official club photos,
various candid shots, along with fraternal organizations and their
sister
groups. Representative
of the sense of
community Fletcher and Burton
reveal is an intimate photograph of a rural baptism, providing a
striking
contrast to urban photos. The
maps included
identify the primarily black neighborhoods in Frankfort,
Kentucky, such as
Craw, Pawpaw, Normal
Heights
and the communities of Greenhill, Hickman Hill, and Framdale in Frankfort
County.
Community Memories is a
valuable memoir and resource collection for both amateur and
professional
historians.
Reprinted courtesy The Journal of Southern History
