A FIRST FOR KENTUCKY & THE NATION
AMY JONES
1-17-08

The stories behind these pictures motivate History professor Dr. Gerald Smith and PhD student Shannon Geurrant as they work on the Kentucky African American Encyclopedia project….

SOT-Dr. Gerald Smith  "This is the first of its kind. No one has ever done anything like this before."

SOT-Shannon Geurrant "You're finding that African Americans played a large role in Kentucky’s rich cultural history."

…a history university leaders and alumni call extremely important…

SOT-Dr. George Carlton Wright "It is the collection, the preserving, the writing, the disseminating of knowledge about Afro-American Kentucky.

SOT-Dr Kumble Subbaswamy "In giving voice to the missing of Kentucky's history, the encyclopedia frees us from an incomplete and ignorant understanding of our past."

SOT-Dr. Lee T. Todd, Jr. "What we will have with the African American Encyclopedia will be the first in the nation, and that's how we move forward."

…and moving forward while learning lessons from the past is what the students involved in the project hope society will take from the book when it’s complete.."
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SOT- Geurrant "I believe it can enrich everyone's lives…"

SOT- Christopher Chance "You don't really know where you are going unless you know where you have been. If things didn’t turn out how you liked in the past, you make sure that doesn’t happen again."

SOT-Geurrant "… Not that it is going to heal all the ills of the world, but it will definitely help."

…from the University of Kentucky, I'm Amy Jones.