Integration
Kentucky
was unlike the deeper south when it came to
African-American voting rights and integration.
Although there was some resistance, and the
governor received a lot of mail warning him
not to integrate, the law was upheld. Even with
its opposition, Integration remained relatively
peaceful in Kentucky.
The peaceful integration
of schools in the 1950s and early 1960s would
not endure through the rest of the decade. Some
schools in the suburbs regressed back into segregation.
In 1975 the courts ordered children to be bused
to certain schools in order to keep a racial
balance. A riot broke out after the ruling and
busses and black-owned businesses were damaged.
In 1964, Martin
Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, and Reverend
Ralph Abernathy went to Louisville for a rally
in attempt to pass a statewide public accommodations
bill. In 1964 and 1966 anti-discrimination bills
were passed in Kentucky. Sit-ins, stand-ins,
and boycotts were successful in Lexington, Frankfurt,
and Louisville. The Civil Rights movement seemed
peaceful in Kentucky when compared to states
who witnessed multiple beating and killings,
but there were some lesser known incidents that
took place in Kentucky as well. After the murder
of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, a rally
in the black Parkland district of Louisville
turned into a riot. Many businesses were looted
and destroyed, two African-American teenagers
were killed, and over 500 people were arrested.
That summer Kentucky also witnessed the burning
of African-American churches and businesses,
as well as a shooting that killed two people
at a white supremacy meeting in Berea.
Out Migration Again
During the mid-20th
century Kentucky experienced another bout of
out migration. Between 1940 and 1950 nearly
250,000 people left the Appalachian Counties,
and another 340,000 left between 1950 and 1960.
The cause of this surge in out migration was
attributed to dire poverty. President Johnson
tried to alleviate the situation by enacting
anti-poverty programs. He visited the Appalachians
on his Poverty Tour, and in 1965 the Appalachian
Regional Development Act was passed. This act
helped to build an infrastructure for the residents
of the Appalachians.
Immigration Overview
Kentucky did not
draw large numbers of non-skilled European workers
because there were already plenty of native
non-skilled workers in the state. It wasn't
until the 1980s and 1990s that Kentucky attracted
immigrants to work in the tobacco fields. Historically,
the state has never drawn many immigrants, and
is one of the few states where the majority
of the foreign born are Caucasian. In 1990,
less than one percent of the population was
foreign born, and of that one percent, most
lived in Lexington-Fayette, and Louisville.
Kentucky will never compare to places like California
when it comes to immigration, but the state's
farmers and food processing plants are beginning
to recruit immigrants, which promises to help
diversify the population.
Bibliography
Gimple, James G. Separate
Destinations: Migration, Immigration and the
Politics of Places. Anne Arbor:
The University
of Michigan Press, 1999.
Kleber, John E. The
Encylcopedia of Louisville. Lexington:
The University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
Lowell H. Harrison and Klotter, James C. A
New History of Kentucky. Lexington:
The University Press of Kentucky,
2001.
