A History of Blacks in Kentucky: In pursuit of equality, 1890-1980

Book excerpt: " Published by the Kentucky Historical Society & Distributed by the University Press of Kentucky This is the second part of a two-volume study which covers the entire spectrum of the black experience in Kentucky from earliest exploration and settlement to 1980. (Click here for information on the first volume, From Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891.) Mandated and partially funded by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1978, this pathbreaking work is the most comprehensive consideration of the subject ever undertaken. It fills a long-recognized void in Kentucky history. George C. Wright describes the struggle of blacks in the twentieth century to achieve the promise of political, social, and economic equality. From the rising tide of racism and violence at the turn of the century to the civil rights movement and school integration in later decades, Wright describes the accomplishments, frustrations, and defeats suffered by the race, concluding that even in 1980 only a few blacks had actually achieved the long-sought toal of equality.