Good Monday morning,

As one of our 40,000 Frazier Weekly subscribers, you are among the first to know about an important recognition our team has received from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).

On May 19–22 in Denver Colorado, the Frazier will accept a prestigious award in recognition of our work in DEAI (Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion). The Frazier is, in fact, one of only two museums in the entire country to receive the award. The Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco is the other institution being awarded in the category Recognition for the Advancement of DEAI.

While it’s true we will be proud to display the trophy, the award is not why we do the work. The root of what we do is to engage our audience, to ignite the human spirit through story. The recognition is simply the fruit: it is fleeting, and it means nothing to a visitor who does not see themselves inside our walls.

As examples of the Frazier’s efforts, the AAM cites the Bridging the Divide panel discussion series, the exhibitions West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation and The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall, and the walking tour and oral history project The Journey: Unsung Stories of the Underground Railroad.

But it’s important that you know our efforts aren’t fueled by advocacy or politics: the Frazier is Where the World Meets Kentucky, and Kentucky is a place with diverse people, geography, and stories. History belongs to everyone, and we want people to see themselves in the stories we tell. In Kentucky, we say “welcome, y’all!”

In today’s issue of Frazier Weekly, our Rachel Platt writes about the passing of Denny Crum, author Frank X Walker is the feature of both an upcoming program and a Frazier Summer Book Club selection, and get revved up—Corvettes are taking over the museum next Saturday!

I hope you enjoy.

This Week in the Museum

Frazier to Host an Evening with Former Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X Walker

Load in Nine Times: United States Colored Troops: An Evening with Former Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X Walker graphic. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

We are so excited to announce a program the evening of June 19 with former Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X Walker, Load in Nine Times: United States Colored Troops. You’ll learn more about what that means if you join us. We’re announcing more than just a program, though: several of Walker’s new poems will become part of our Commonwealth exhibition; their unveiling will happen that same evening.

Walker has a new collection of fifty poems centered on African Americans in Kentucky during the Civil War, works inspired by photos and archival documents from that time period. The project began with Reckoning, Inc.

We feel so fortunate to be displaying eighteen of those works in The Commonwealth, where Walker will debut them on June 19 as part of the city’s Juneteenth Jubilee Celebration.

Our thanks to the Juneteenth Commission, the city’s Office of Equity, and the Gheens Foundation for supporting this program.

Walker will talk about the inspiration for the poems then perform many of them on the nineteenth. Poet Hannah Drake will introduce him, then historian Robert Bell will talk about the impact of Walker’s work and join him for one of the performances.

The program from 6 to 7 p.m. is free, but registration is required, so we urge you to sign up now.

After the program, guests will be able to visit our Commonwealth exhibition to view Walker’s work.

Walker will also be selling some of his books, including the expanded edition of Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, which is sold in the Frazier’s Museum Shop. That book will be the June selection for the Frazier’s Summer Book Club, which is open to members.

We hope to see you June 19.

Bullitt County Students Utilize The Journey Resources for Special Project

When we created The Journey: Unsung Stories of the Underground Railroad, a project that shares the incredible story of Lucie and Thornton Blackburn, we hoped educators would find it a useful tool for teaching about nineteenth-century Kentucky and local connections to the Underground Railroad. The Blackburns escaped their enslavers in Louisville in the 1830s and, after a harrowing journey, went on to help many others and create their own successful taxicab business in Toronto, Canada.

Earlier this school year, we were thrilled when Laureen Laumeyer, a teacher with the gifted and talented program in Bullitt County, called to ask if we would be part of a unique project that includes their story. Even better, Laureen is no stranger to the Frazier Museum education department: she’s brought many groups to visit with us over the years and is an invaluable part of the Frazier Teacher Advisory Board.

After learning about the Blackburns at school, the students came to visit with us in late March for a special program pulled together specifically to align with their project. They enjoyed an introduction, worked through a themed investigation guide in the museum galleries, viewed a live performance titled The Runaway, and took a tour with Frazier education staff of the first four sites from The Journey in downtown Louisville—including the Blackburns’ historic marker on Main Street, the Belvedere, the Belle of Louisville wharf, and the On the Banks of Freedom public art.

After the experience, students created story boards back at school to share the Blackburns’ story in their own way. We were blown away by the results!

We are also excited to announce that the Frazier Museum’s very own Brian West is in the process of writing a live performance on Thornton Blackburn which will premiere June 2023. Watch out for more details coming soon!

If you have questions about The Journey or utilizing the resources with students, please email education@fraziermuseum.org.

Don’t Forget Saturday’s Corvettes at the Frazier Program

The Model T outside the Frazier will be taking a backseat this Saturday to several Corvettes that will be parked in front of the museum. Talk about eye candy!

Fingers crossed the Mobil 1 will be among those coming from the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green as we partner for Kentucky Horsepower: Corvettes at the Frazier.

A beautiful red Corvette sits in our Great Hall as part of our Cool Kentucky exhibition because we are Where the World Meets Kentucky, and all corvettes made since 1981 are made in our state. We wanted our exhibition to greet visitors with a few of our most impressive icons.

Did you know there was even legislation making the Corvette Kentucky’s sports car?

Join us this Saturday to celebrate this brand of Kentucky horsepower with a special talk at 11 a.m. on the history of the Corvette, then your chance to design your own sports car with experts from the National Corvette Museum at 1 p.m.

It’s all free with the price of admission, plus you’ll have a chance to win a family membership to the Frazier and to the National Corvette Museum. You can buy your admission tickets now.

We open at 10 a.m., but Frazier members will start the day a little earlier at 9:30 a.m. for Coffee with Casey. Our director of exhibit ideation Casey Harden will talk about Corvettes and their connection to pop culture. Will Prince’s song “Little Red Corvette” make the cut?

Bring the family and any car enthusiasts on Saturday. We have room for you!

And if you want to learn about how meaningful the Corvette is to the Commonwealth, here’s a Frazier+ video to explain.

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

Former Players, Coaches Honored Denny Crum at Frazier Program

This is the picture I will remember from that night back in December at the Frazier: former players and at least one assistant coach to U of L head coach Denny Crum paying tribute to him.

It was, after all, a signature of Coach Crum to have a rolled-up program in hand as he paced back and forth on the hardwood.

We had planned our December 8 program honoring the legendary Hall of Fame coach far in advance—but as the date approached, we realized our time with him was running out. Coach Crum couldn’t make it that night, but he and his wife Susan watched from home on a special feed. One by one, his former players and assistant coach Wade Houston came up to the camera and shared their love for the man who was their coach, mentor, and beloved friend.

U of L had a camera here that night, as well. You’ll see many of those players’ comments in this video the university shared after Crum’s passing last Tuesday.

We were part of something special that night with an outpouring of love. We see that same outpouring in the days since his passing—how much Denny Crum meant to Louisville and the people who live here. A man who came from California and decided to stay, make Louisville his forever home, and a grateful community so glad he did.

If you would like to watch our program from December 8, click here.

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

Don Twenties Attire for June 22 Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier

Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier graphic. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

Hey dapper dolls and daddies, get dolled up in your favorite flapper or zoot suit and join us for the Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier! On June 22 Michter’s Distillery is taking over the Frazier Museum for all sorts of Roaring Twenties fun, including a dance contest, delicious food from Bristol Catering, and a cocktail, plus tastings from our swell friends at Michter’s. Don’t miss it—this party is sure to be the bee’s knees!

Please join us for a night at the Frazier History Museum you’ll always remember.

Live a little, come have a taste!

Bellarmine’s Dr. Andrew Stone Porter on Beekeeping 101

In honor of World Bee Day, which is May 20, we asked Dr. Andrew Stone Porter of Bellarmine University to reflect on learning how to beekeep while serving in the Peace Corps. Interested in learning which plants and gardening choices can support the local environment? Tickets for our Lewis and Clark lunch series Biodiversity in your Backyard are on sale now. Discover ways that you can support native plants, trees, birds, butterflies, bees, and more. We encourage you to support a healthy ecosystem starting right in your own backyard! Frazier Members receive a discount on tickets. To learn more about the benefits and exclusives that come with membership, visit our membership web page.—Amanda Egan, Membership & Database Administrator

Looking at me in my current professorial role, you would never suspect that once, I rode backwards on the rear end of a motorcycle, in the dark, down two miles of Paraguayan dirt road with a hive of forty thousand livid Africanized honeybees bouncing on my lap.

I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South America from 2008 to 2010, and my primary task was to accompany farmers who were interested in learning beekeeping. I had just learned myself, actually—my previous experience had been growing vegetables, but the training program in Bolivia (my first Peace Corps assignment before the US Embassy closed in 2008) emphasized beekeeping, and my site, Sopachuy, was a beekeeping-focused project.

At my second site in Acuña de Figueroa, Paraguay, I befriended a young beekeeper named Hugo who had the meanest hive of bees I ever met. The moment you dared pry off the top of that box, your veil and suit were immediately pelted with hundreds of relentless workers willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend their home. South America is home to a hybrid species known as “Africanized honeybees”—or “killer bees.” And Hugo’s bees were just that. One day his bees began to attack not just us beekeepers, but passersby on the street and farm animals as well. On that day, Hugo reluctantly concluded that these bees must go someplace more remote. A beekeeper nearby with plenty of wooded land on his property offered to host them. And so, Hugo lit a smoky fire near the hive to calm the bees down. Then he and I waited until nightfall for the bees to re-enter their hive. We laid a bed sheet on the ground, carefully lowered the double-deep box onto the sheet and tied the sheet in a bow like some Christmas present from hell. He backed his motorcycle up to the hive, and I lifted it up and gently eased backwards up onto the motorcycle. Hugo stretched his legs out wide to keep the motorcycle balanced as he teetered along at five miles per hour down that road, up and down hills through the sweltering campo. On my lap, inches from my face, tens of thousands of assassins whispered earnest death threats. But somehow, Hugo and I made it safely to our destination and deposited the bees in their new, more spacious environment.

These days, I have returned to my hometown and to my alma mater, Bellarmine University, where I teach theology and religious studies and am co-faculty coordinator for the Bellarmine Beekeeping Club, established in 2021. We have two hives of bees who are somewhat milder than Hugo’s, and we hope to pull in our first honey harvest this summer. Our bees are located on the Bellarmine farm across Newburg Road from the main campus. Nearby, students and faculty are working to establish a native pollinator garden, bluebird houses, and homes for bees native to Kentucky; the Environmental Studies Department has established a way station for monarch butterflies; and we are striving to make a small contribution to the flourishing of the natural world.

I see the beehive as a living symbol of the fragile and precious interdependence of our ecosystem, of the precarious balance between the needs and desires of our species and our responsibilities to the more-than-human life that graces this planet alongside us. The bees are witness to the immense power of cooperative labor, symbiotic relationality, and collective imagination. They show us that life is best lived in community. And they remind us that authentic communities do whatever it takes to protect one another with a fierce and fearless love.

I invite you to learn a little bit more about bees, and ways that you can support them and all our local biodiversity needs. My colleague, Dr. Kate Bulinski, associate professor of environmental studies and Farm Biodiversity Steward in the Bellarmine Department of Environmental Studies, will be at the Frazier on Friday, June 9, facilitating a lunch and learn. No need to worry about bringing your lunch, the cost of your ticket includes your lunch and the lecture.

AAM to Award Frazier in Denver, Frank X Walker to Debut Civil War Poems, Remembering Denny Crum, and More

Beer Fest 4-Pack Sale, Kentucky’s 231st Birthday Party, Gov. Isaac Shelby’s 1810s Silver Pitcher, and More

Brohm Family Program, Slide Guitar Pioneer Sylvester Weaver, 1923 Foxtrot “Louisville Lou (That Vampin’ Lady),” and More