How are you?

As we begin to emerge from a year like no other, that question seems both poignant and important — particularly since May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

Every one of us has likely felt the impact of the pandemic through some combination of factors, including loss, isolation, anxiety, stress, illness, joblessness… the list goes on and on.

During the pandemic and the economic hardships that have followed, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder. That’s up from about 1 in 10 pre-pandemic.

I found a couple of pieces of artwork submitted to our Coronavirus Capsule last year that really captured the loss and anxiety we were feeling then, and perhaps are still feeling.

Sam Minrath, a U of L student looking to become an art therapist, was able to capture those hands of compassion of essential workers caring for the ill.

Another artist, Meyzeek Middle School Visual Art Teacher Patricia Watson, had a nightmare about someone dying alone. Her work represents that patient’s fear as she recalls her life.

Mental Health Awareness Month started in 1949 to raise awareness and educate the public about mental illness, and to reduce any stigma that may surround it.

The pandemic has taught us we are all susceptible.

In this week’s Virtual Frazier Magazine, I talk with Mental Health Louisville Director Amanda Villaveces about questions we should be asking ourselves and others for a crucial mental health check.

You’ll also meet a family who has designed a mental health awareness flag that is now being sold in our store at the Frazier History Museum.

So as we all start to see each other again and ask, “How are you?”, this time, after the past year, the question takes on a whole new meaning.

And the answer may, as well.

Bridging the Divide

Amanda Villaveces on Mental Health Lou

As we said, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the pandemic has left many of us in a fragile state.

I sat down with the founding Director of Mental Health Lou, Amanda Villaveces, to talk about warning signs and how we can best check on ourselves, family members, and friends.

Amanda is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

Mental Health Lou is a local mental health awareness hub that highlights resources, events, and wellness tools.

As we begin this important discussion, we want to make sure you have these suicide hotline numbers at your disposal from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: call 800-273-8255 or text TALK to 741741.

And remember what Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers) said about mental health.

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.”

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

The Pete Foundation’s Mental Health Flag

The Pete Foundation was formed in Louisville, Kentucky in December of 2016, following the loss of Peter Jones to suicide. Although Pete was a smart, funny, charming, and kind person, he suffered silently from depression and anxiety. Immediately, his family knew that more needed to be done to address the issue of adolescent mental health. The mission of the Foundation is to rally communities to champion youth mental health and wellness through normalizing the topic, promoting education, and providing tools for health emotional development.

In pursuit of that mission, The Pete Foundation collaborated with over 100 mental health agencies/care-providers, artists, graphic designers, and community members to create a symbol that would convey support for all efforts in mental health. After a year of development, the Mental Health Flag was unveiled in May of 2020. May is recognized as National Mental Health Awareness Month.

This flag represents a shared identity and commitment to supporting all mental health initiatives and all those effected by mental illness. It consists of concentric curved shapes in shades of green from dark to light and a final color of yellow. Green is known as the official mental health awareness color. Yellow represents hope, happiness, and renewal.

The flag’s different shades of color from dark green to yellow represent both a personal journey from a dark place to a place of hope and happiness, as well as our collective efforts to bring the topic of mental health out of the darkness and into the light. The curved shape for each color represents an embracing of those suffering mental illness and an acceptance of our mental health as a community focus. More information can be found at our website.

The flag is currently sold in a standard size of 3’ by 5’, and in as a smaller garden size. Proceeds from sales are used to support non-profit mental health efforts in the community in which the flags are sold. The Frazier History Museum is selling the garden size flags in the gift shop.

Molly Jones
Advisory Board Member, The Pete Foundation
Guest Contributor

This Week in the Museum

History Mystery: What’s With the Fountain at Grinstead and Lexington?

The city of Louisville has had its fair share of fountains. But there’s one in particular I’d like to learn more about.

Do you know anything about the fountain located at the southwest corner of Grinstead Drive and Lexington Road? If so, email me at msullivan@fraziermuseum.org.

Correction: the fountain was dedicated in 1988, not 1998.

Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience

Curator's Corner: Dr. Karen Cotton McDaniel's Nannie Helen Burroughs Speech

Cheri Bryant Hamilton delivering an address during the dedication of the historic marker honoring Nannie Helen Burroughs at the corner of Eighth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

During last week’s dedication to the historic marker honoring Nannie Helen Burroughs, former Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton read an incredible speech about Nannie’s life and legacy, written by Karen Cotton McDaniel, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Kentucky State University. Titled “Specializing in the Wholly Impossible: Nannie Helen Burroughs,” the speech shed incredible light on the life of this historic figure. Dr. McDaniel has given us permission to share a somewhat-expanded version of it with our readers. I want to extend a personal note of thanks to Dr. McDaniel for all the work she’s done to uncover the stories of Nannie Helen Burroughs and other Black women activists — people whose stories we may have never fully known without such dedicated research. I hope you enjoy reading Nannie’s story as much as I enjoyed hearing it at the marker dedication. — Amanda Briede, Curator

“Specializing in the Wholly Impossible: Nannie Helen Burroughs”

Many of the narratives of Nannie Helen Burroughs’ life fail to recognize her relationships and contributions in Kentucky, which was her home when she first appeared on the national stage. Although Burroughs was in Kentucky for approximately 10 years, her influence on the black women in the state lasted for many generations to come. Today I would like to briefly speak on some of the details of her life during the years she spent in Kentucky and how those years directly impacted her national success. [1]

Nannie Helen Burroughs was born on May 2, 1879 to John and Jennie (Poindexter) Burroughs of Culpeper, Virginia. [2] After her father’s death, in 1883 Burroughs and her mother, Jennie Burroughs, a domestic worker, relocated to Washington, D.C., where they lived with Burroughs’ aunt Cordelia Mercer. D.C.’s black school system provided an excellent education and in fact offered opportunities that exceeded those provided for white students, who did not have a high school department. [3]

While in high school Burroughs expressed her interest in creative writing and organized the Harriet Beecher Stowe Literary Society. [4] Because she had been promised a position as Assistant to the Domestic Science Teacher upon graduation, Burroughs had purposely focused her studies on domestic science and business fields. She successfully completed her coursework and graduated with honors from the Colored High School on M Street in 1896. [5] However, upon graduation, she was not given the promised position and was cast aside, despite receiving public accolades from her teachers for her superior performance as a student. One excuse given for denying her the promised position was that she was too young, but others speculated that employment as an assistant teacher in the District’s “colored” schools was restricted to students with fair skin. [6] It was at that point that Burroughs vowed to establish a school that would be open to all kinds of females. Burroughs said, “It came to me like a flash of light … and I knew I was to do that thing when the time came. But I couldn’t do it yet; so I just put the idea away in the back of my head and left it there.” [7]

She supplemented her high school education with “constant and intensive study in the fields of literature, economics, and social science… and law.” [8] Burroughs took additional courses in business education from Washington, D.C.’s Strayer Business College. She and her mother relocated to Philadelphia where over the next two years Burroughs held a variety of short-term positions including working as an associate editor for a Baptist newspaper, the Christian Banner and working as a custodian and a clerk. In 1898 she was hired by Reverend Lewis G. Jordan of the National Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board as a stenographer, secretary, and bookkeeper. [9]

In 1900 the Foreign Mission Board relocated its office to Louisville, and she began making a life for herself instead of “just making a living.”[10] Nannie Burroughs situated herself in the black community and quickly established a remarkably close relationship with Rev. Charles and Mary Parrish shortly after her arrival. Burroughs apparently wrote few personal letters to friends but her “professional correspondence” reveals some personal ties. After leaving Kentucky, Burroughs maintained contact with fellow feminist Mary Cook Parrish and other KACW women through official correspondence from the Training School and the work that she continued with the Woman’s Convention. Although no personal correspondence files remain to provide insight in Burroughs private life, her correspondence acknowledges the personal alliances with Parrish and her family. Burroughs routinely sent greetings to Parrish’s mother or inquired about her or Reverend Parrish in these communications. She also expressed sincere regrets when Parrish’s husband died, reminiscing that he was like a father to her when she first moved to Louisville. The fondness for the family also included her adoration of their son Charles Jr. In correspondence Burroughs revealed that she looked upon them as family who had taken her in as “a mere girl into your home” where she spent considerable time. [11]

In September Burroughs traveled to Richmond, Virginia to deliver a speech before the National Baptist Convention. This was her first speech before this group and given the hierarchical structure of the organization, one must question how she came to be on the program. She was not a high-ranking minister’s wife; she was not a missionary leader; she had not made any noteworthy contributions to the denomination; and she had not established any kind of reputation with the assembled group. Perhaps she was serving as the proxy for Mary Cook Parrish, who often spoke during the conventions on women’s issues. Mrs. Parrish was noticeably absent from the convention that year because she had just given birth to a son.[12] Or maybe, both Rev. Charles Parrish and Burroughs employer Rev. Lewis Jordan used their considerable clout to bring her to the podium. Nonetheless Nannie Helen Burroughs passionately delivered her, “How the Sisters are Hindered from Helping” speech before the assembly and out of her speech was born the Woman’s Convention, whose responsibility became mission work. [13] Her brief speech was consistent with Mary Cook Parrish’s 1889 Convention speech. Burroughs’ speech addressed women’s work for the denomination and raised the issue of limited female power within the Baptist Church just as Mary Cook Parrish and Mamie Lee Steward had voiced at other conventions. [14] Because of this speech, women were finally allowed to have their own convention, an idea that had originated in 1890 at the American National Baptist Convention. The speech also launched Burroughs’ national reputation as a speaker. At that historic moment, twenty-one-year-old Nannie Burroughs was selected as the corresponding secretary for the fledgling Woman’s Convention. Her dedication to the work of the organization was evident through the activities of her first year in office where she reported that she had “labored 365 days, traveled 22,125 miles, delivered 215 speeches, organized 12 societies, written 9,235 letters, and received 4,820 letters. [15] By 1907 the membership of the Women's Convention had grown to 1.5 million members — the largest organization for black women in the U.S. Burroughs continuously served as an officer of this body, being the corresponding secretary through 1947 and the president from 1948 until her death in 1961.

Also, during her first year in Louisville, she began studying business at the recently opened industrial school, Eckstein Norton University, in Cane Springs near Louisville. Sometime between 1900 and 1901, she established the Women's Industrial Club, which gained considerable attention. [16] The Women's Industrial Club served many functions for Louisville’s 50,000 black people. [17] One of the projects of the club was to provide low-cost lunches for office workers in the downtown area. Additionally, in the evenings, the club provided classes in domestic science and office skills. Burroughs strongly believed in self-help and taught the evening classes for the club. As the club’s funds increased, Burroughs hired others to teach the classes, which freed her to serve as the school’s director. The Louisville school offered courses in sewing, cooking, shorthand, bookkeeping, typing, handicrafts, and millinery to club members for ten cents per week. [18]

When describing the club work that Burroughs managed in Louisville, one writer said, “The leading spirit of this very helpful organization is Miss Nannie Helen Burroughs who has no peer among her sex as a director of large affairs and for thoroughness in in [sic] handling the minutest details of the many departments entrusted to her care.” [19] Commenting on Burroughs tireless efforts for her people through all the activities of the Industrial Club, the local newspaper stated, “Probably no woman’s club in Louisville, or, for that matter, elsewhere is doing as much practical, far-reaching good as the Association of Colored Women who have the Industrial Home at 726West Walnut.” They continued their praise for Burroughs labors and stated, “It is doubtful if many of the white women in this city know of the existence of this band of workers, of their aims and ambitions; but if they did the chorus of appreciation would be unanimous.”[20] In 1902, the Woman’s Convention decided to develop an industrial department which was exactly what Burroughs needed to lay the groundwork for the National Training School. Her positive results with the programs of the Women’s Industrial Club, which was actually a prototype of the proposed school, further strengthened her drive.

Thirteen black women’s clubs from across the state coalesced in 1903 to form the State Federation of Women’s Clubs of Kentucky, now known as the Kentucky Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (KACW). Burroughs and her Women’s Industrial Club were among this group. [21] As a charter member of the KACW, Burroughs often attended the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACW) meetings, speaking at the 1906 session[22] and of course as a featured speaker at the 1910 NACW conference, hosted by the KACW in Louisville. [23] However, her real work with the NACW did not begin until she had returned to D.C. when she was appointed head of the Young Women’s Work Department in 1912. Dedicated to the ideas of the club movement, she has the distinction of being a founding mother of not only the KACW but also the Washington, D.C., and Vicinity Federation of Women’s Clubs, where she served in several leadership positions including Regional President.

Nannie Burroughs enjoyed a national reputation among black women in both the religious and secular realms and often invited prominent black women to speak at Louisville functions. For instance, in June 1905 Mary Church Terrell delivered an address at Louisville’s Bethel A.M.E. Church under the sponsorship of the Baptist Woman’s Convention and Louisville’s Woman’s Improvement Club bringing her views on national “race” issues to Kentucky clubwomen face to face. Terrell also spoke to Louisville’s black community at Quinn Chapel that same week. In that same year Burroughs and other Kentucky women attended the First Baptist World Alliance in London, England’s Hyde Park in July. Burroughs addressed the assembly about “Women’s Part in the World’s Work.[24]

Finally, 13 years after she initially conceived the idea of a special school for black girls, the National Training School for Women and Girls officially opened in Lincoln Heights, DC on October 19, 1909 with an initial enrollment of seven girls, two from Texas, two from Ohio, one from Georgia, and two from South Africa. Through Burroughs’ fund-raising efforts, the school opened debt free with the motto of “We specialize in the wholly impossible.” The curriculum of the D.C. school largely mirrored her efforts in Louisville and offered women opportunities to study in the domestic sciences and office skills. Additionally, she developed courses in barbering, shoe repairing, printing, and gardening. Her goal was to assist women in becoming self-sufficient workers in society. The school benefited from the wisdom and support of her Kentucky mentor Mary Cook-Parrish, who served as chair of the Board of Trustees for many years. Burroughs, who had long envisioned a school providing quality vocational training combined with traditional Christian values, through her determination and hard work had begun living her dream.

Although her school was in D.C. Burroughs continued to live in Kentucky for several months following the school opening, perhaps to guarantee the income that her employment provided. She also continued serving the Eckstein Norton Institute in Cane Spring, Kentucky, by remaining on their “Ladies Board of Care” and serving as an honorary member of the faculty. [25] One banker in Louisville praised Burroughs, calling her “our female Booker T. Washington” and lamenting her return to D.C. [26]

Everywhere Burroughs spoke, people were impressed with the content of her speeches and the passion with which she delivered them. Equally impressive were her articles in magazines. Burroughs held strong views about many topics, as indicated by her articles on industrial education, racial pride, woman’s suffrage, lynching and other relevant topics of her time.

For many years, her annual reports for the Woman's Convention included strong arguments in support of woman suffrage. Because of their activist stance on suffrage, the young women of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority selected Nannie Helen Burroughs and Mary Church Terrell to be honorary members of their newly established sorority in 1913. Through their encouragement, less than two months after the sorority's founding, the twenty-two founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority marched under the Sorority banner in the Woman’s Suffrage Parade in Washington D.C. in 1913.[27]

In 1915 Burroughs again argued that black women needed the vote to advance their own interests as well as to support their race overall.

"The ballot, wisely used, will bring to her [the African American woman] the respect and protection that she needs. It is her weapon of moral defense. Under present conditions, when she appears in court in defense of her virtue, she is looked upon with amused contempt. She needs the ballot to reckon with men who place no value upon her virtue, and to mold healthy public sentiment in favor of her own protection.”[28]

Eckstein-Norton University, in Cane Springs, Kentucky awarded her an honorary A.M. degree in 1907. [29] For her dedicated work educating black women the president of Shaw University, an historically black university in Raleigh, North Carolina, awarded her an honorary LL.D. degree in 1944. [30]

In 1921 Burroughs founded the National Association of Wage Earners whose expressed purpose included seeking fair wages for working class women, establishing demands for better working conditions for women, and requesting legislative changes to protect women in the labor force.[31]

Burroughs served as president of the National Training School for Women and Girls, Inc. until her death in 1961. According to the “Memorial Edition” of The Worker, “Nannie Helen Burroughs passed away on May 20, 1961; she was 82-years old. Her Home Going Service was held on May 25 at the 19th Street Baptist Church. It was a three-hour service, attended by 800 people including ninety-five ministers, of whom nine spoke from the pulpit. The eulogy was given by her dear friend Reverend Dr. Earl Harrison of Shiloh Baptist Church.” [32] Her school was re-named the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in 1964. The original building named Trades Hall is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[33]

Educator, Activist, Writer, Orator, Suffragist, Race Woman — Nannie Helen Burroughs — Specializing in the Wholly Impossible!

[1] United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1910. Louisville Ward, Jefferson, Kentucky , Roll T624..486; p. 4A Enumeration District: 150; Image: 357. (Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census, on-line database). Some accounts of Burroughs suggest that she moved to Washington, D.C. when she officially opened the Training School in 1909 but according to these census records, she was still living in Louisville, KY as late as April 19, 1910.

[2] Some sources on Burroughs list her birthplace as Orange, Virginia but Burroughs personal papers and records at the Library of Congress list her birthplace as Culpeper a town located in Culpeper County, which is adjacent to Orange County.

[3] Traki L. Taylor. “Womanhood Glorified: Nannie Helen Burroughs and the National Training School for Women and Girls, Inc., 1909-1961” The Journal of African American History vol. 87 New Perspectives on African American History. (Autumn, 2002), p. 391.

[4] Sadie Iola Daniel. Women Builders. Washington, D.C.: The Associated Publishers, Inc., 1931, p.108.

[5] Opal V. Easter. Nannie Helen Burroughs. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995, p. 25.

[6] William Pickens. Nannie Burroughs and the School of the Three B’s. (New York: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1921), 15.

[7] Pickens, p. 14.

[8] Pickens, p. 14.

[9] Library of North American Biographies-Volume 7: Scholars and Educators (1990). The Philip Lief Group, Inc.

[10] Daniel, p. 109. The author reported that Burroughs had said prior to 1900 that her interests were not only in “making a living but in making a life.”

[11] S.E. Smith; Library of Congress Manuscripts Division. The Papers of Nannie Helen Burroughs, Box 23 Correspondence from Mary V. Parrish, 1915-1944.; Lawrence H. Williams, The Charles H. Parrishes: Pioneers in African American Religion and Education, 1880-1989. (Edwin Mellon Press, 2002).

[12] Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), 156.

[13] Lewis G. Jordan. Negro Baptist History U.S.A. 1750-1930. Nashville: National Baptist Convention, 1930), 246. The Women’s Convention was referred to as also the Baptist Women’s Missionary League and the Women’s Auxiliary Convention (p. 262) in this volume which was written by Burroughs supervisor and supporter of feminist activities, Reverend Jordan.

[14] L. A. Scruggs. Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character. (Raleigh, NC: Scruggs, 1893), 124.; Daniel, 111-112.

[15] NBC, Journal, 1901, 19-21. Quotation from Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, p. 158.

[16] Daniel, 110. Daniel indicates that Burroughs Industrial Club existed for nine years through the funding of Burroughs before a wealthy white woman began assisting her. Since Burroughs was in Louisville for only ten years total, she had to have begun the club during the first twelve months after moving to Louisville.

[17] “Eyes on Africa”, Indianapolis Freeman, v. 17 # 33, Sept. 3, 1904, p.1, col.1. This article was one of the earliest references to the Women’s Industrial Club however it does not state the actual date that the club was established. Burroughs was president of this club when the KACW was established in November 1903 making it in existence sometime before that date.

[18] Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green, eds. Notable American Women, the Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press, 1980.

[19] “Eyes on Africa”, Indianapolis Freeman, v. 17 # 33, Sept. 3, 1904, p.1, col.2.

[20] Pickens, p. 16-17. In the text Pickens credits the Louisville Courier Journal with these comments about Burroughs, however he does not give the specific date of the Courier article. The quotation further states that the Industrial Club was in its fifth year but gives no indication of when it began. This same quotation appears in Sadie Iola Daniel’s 1931 book Women Builders on pages 110-111, again without a citation.

[21] Elizabeth Lindsay Davis. Lifting as They Climb. (1933, rpr. New York: Macmillan, 1996),. 299.

[22] Charles Wesley, p. 64; Lindsay Davis Lifting as they Climb, p. 49. This NACW conference was actually the first conference where Burroughs’s name is in the national minutes. Her address is listed as D.C. in the minutes so sometime between the April 1910 US Census and the July meeting of the NACW, Burroughs moved back to the District of Columbia.

[23] NACW microfiche minutes (UK) reel 1, frame 00357. “Seventh Biennial Convention of the National Association of Colored Women, July eleventh to fifteenth, 1910 : Chestnut Street C.M.E. Church, Louisville, KY.”

[24] “Louisville, Ky.” Indianapolis Freeman, v. 18 # 34, August 26, 1905, p.3, col. 5.

[25] “Circular of Information for the Twenty-first Annual Session Eckstein Norton Institute Incorporated, Cane Spring, Kentucky: For the season 1910-11.” The Institute Press: Cane Spring, KY, 1910. Records. Simmons Bible College, Box 4 Folder 9 University of Louisville Archives.

[26] Pickens, p. 17.

[27] Giddings, Paula. In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement, (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1988), 43, 56-57, 62-64. Tamara L. Brown, Gregory S. Parks, Clarenda M. Phillips, eds. African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005. p. 349.

[28] Nannie Helen Burroughs’s “Black Women and Reform” (published in The Crisis, Aug. 1915)

[29] Frank Lincoln Mather, ed. Who’s Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent. Chicago: Mather, 1915.p. 52. Mather also indicates that she took a business course in 1902. If this information is true, the course would have been taken in Louisville which may mean that she had an additional business course beyond the one in D.C.

[30] Harrison, Dream and the Dreamer, p. 100.

Marcia G. Synnott. “Burroughs, Nannie Helen”, http://www.anb.org/articles/09/09-00132.html; American National Biography Online. Feb 2000. Access Date Wed. Sep. 6 17:31:05 EDT 2006. Copyright 2000 American Council of Learned Societies. Published by Oxford University. This article states that the LL.D. was conferred upon Burroughs in 1944. However, the essay by Olivia Pearl Stokes gives the date as 1949. Olivia Pearl Stokes,. “Burroughs, Nannie”, in Dorothy C. Salem , ed. African American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing, 1993.

[31] Opal V. Easter. Nannie Helen Burroughs. (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995), 102.

[32] “O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee, even as thou wilt,” The Worker, (Memorial edition), Oct.-Dec. 1961, p. 2.

[33]“Nannie Helen Burroughs” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/people/nannie-helen-burroughs.htm (accessed May 13, 2021)

Cool Kentucky: Darryl Isaacs’ University of Kentucky Commemorative Basketballs

Nothing says Kentucky like Bourbon, horses, and basketball. Kentucky is a cool state and attorney Darryl Isaacs, “The Hammer,” jumped at the opportunity to participate in the Frazier Museum’s Cool Kentucky exhibition by loaning two autographed University of Kentucky men’s basketballs. “I love Kentucky and basketball,” Isaacs said. “I was thrilled to find out that I could support the Frazier Museum and our community by participating in this exhibit.”

The autographed basketballs will remain on display in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition through the beginning of 2022. To learn more about Isaacs & Isaacs and its work in Kentucky, be sure to visit isaacsandisaacs.com.

Ready, Set, Go! Bourbon Experience

Interacting with guests here at the Frazier is one of my favorite parts of the job. Usually it’s just quick conversations or recommendations for people visiting town. But when I lead our Ready, Set, Go! Bourbon Experience, I get a whole hour to interact with our guests and discuss one of my favorite things in the world: Bourbon.

Our Ready, Set, Go! Bourbon Experience is a unique Bourbon class and tasting that’s fun for guests, whether you’re new to Bourbon or an aficionado. In it, we go through what makes Bourbon unique and the requirements the whiskey must meet to be legally defined as Bourbon, dispelling some of the old tall tales many of us have heard. For example, Bourbon doesn’t have a minimum age statement, nor does it have to be made in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

We also go through the production of Bourbon with a focus on the grains and aging process. Usually, I get asked a lot of great questions during this part, and I love it! I never would have thought so many people would have questions about the different levels of char on a barrel, but it’s a lot fun being able to answer their questions.

We end the experience with a guided tasting of three Bourbons — a perk that’s unique to the Frazier. We taste a wheated, a low-rye, and a high-rye Bourbon — each of which has come from a different distillery. This gives our guests a nice variety of what Bourbon has to offer from differing flavors to distilleries. During the tasting, we also show our guests how to better enjoy their Bourbon so they taste the delicious whiskey without getting burn from the alcohol. It’s an interesting process, but it really works and makes Bourbon even more fun.

I end most of our Ready, Set, Go! Bourbon Experiences by leading the guests to our bottle hall to show them some of the rare products we have on display.

If you’re interested in booking your tickets for the Ready, Set, Go! Bourbon Experience, then you can get them here. But you’ll definitely want to get them sooner rather than later, because we’ve been selling out almost every weekend!

Sam Newton
Assistant Manager of Visitor Services

Event Spaces: Jon Carloftis-designed Gardens

If you’ve visited the Frazier recently, you might have noticed our Gateway Garden, which is located directly inside the main entrance of the museum, is flourishing! What you might not know is that Kentucky native Jon Carloftis is the designer of both our Rooftop Garden and Gateway Garden.

Jon graduated from the University of Kentucky and moved to New York City in 1988. After spending many years designing gardens for the rich and famous, he purchased an historic 1851 home called Botherum back in Lexington. He was determined to restore the house to its original Southern charm and in only one year he did just that. Botherum was recently featured in the summer 2021 issue of Traditional Home, providing an in-depth look at both the interior and exterior of the house.

When it comes to tending gardens, I am far from a “green thumb,” so I asked Jon for a professional’s tip. He said that native plants are best for most locals trying to start up a garden as they are conditioned to all that Kentucky weather entails: cold, heat, moisture, etc. However, he recently found that some natives do not like the rich soil he has at Botherum (which is good for most other plants) so he says to make it suitable for the plant by adding lots of play sand from the garden center. It will help the plants to drain better and also keep slugs out of the garden — a double win!

The Rooftop Garden is our most popular spot for wedding ceremonies. Between the lush plants and the beautiful view of both the Ohio River and the Louisville skyline, it sure does make for a pretty backdrop. Our Gateway Garden is perfect for a cocktail hour, but many of our brides simply choose to use this area for pictures or a first look — and I can’t say I blame them. It sure is pretty with the market lights! Thanks to Jon, we have these two beautiful outdoor spaces to utilize for whatever your heart desires.

If you’re interested in booking an outdoor function with us, please reach out at events@fraziermuseum.org.

Tori Nale
Director of Facility Rentals

Notable Kentuckians: Eula Hall

Eula Hall in her Mud Creek clinic office, 2007. Credit: Kiran Bhatraju.

Pine County, Kentucky native Eula Hall (October 29, 1927 – May 8, 2021) was born on the dirt floor of a cabin with neither plumbing nor electricity. In 1973, with the help of two physicians, she opened the Mud Creek clinic in Grethel, a town in Floyd County, Kentucky. Founded on the premise that no one should be denied health care due to lack of money, the clinic offered primary healthcare services, mental health counseling, a pharmacy, food, and a clothing pantry for members of the community, regardless of their ability to pay.

After a fire destroyed the clinic in 1982, Hall rebuilt it with funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission among other sources. A creative fundraiser, she once set up a road block in the highway to solicit donations from motorists. In 2011, the clinic was renamed Eula Hall Health Center. During her life, she received a variety of awards, accolades, and honorary degrees, and was the subject of a book titled Mud Creek Medicine by Kiran Bhatraju.

Source: Ungar, Laura. “Appalachian health care ‘hero’ Eula Hall, a mother of the mountains, dies at 93.”Courier Journal. May 9, 2021.

Camps: The Museum, The Myth, The Legend

Flyer for The Museum, The Myth, The Legend

It’s hard to believe that camps are less than a month away, but things are coming together here at the Frazier History Museum. As we continue planning a summer filled with fun, I am excited to bring along a talented staff of educators, some seasoned and some still in school pursuing their passion for history.

One of the things that makes our camps such a special experience is the excitement we all feel walking in the doors each morning. Camp lessons are developed based on everyone’s own interests. That means that campers learn about a wide variety of topics each day, whether it is musical theater, comic books, archaeology, or fashion.

One of the topics that always gets an amazing range of subjects is mythology. That’s why The Museum, The Myth, The Legend (running the weeks of Monday, July 12 and Monday, July 26!) is going to be such a fun time. It’s been a few years since we’ve done this theme, and those years have come with a lot of fun developments — Baby Yoda, Black Panther, a Percy Jackson TV show… (and your favorite nerdy camp manager will probably find a way to incorporate Sutton Hoo after thoroughly enjoying The Dig).

Camps are filling up fast! Register today to reserve your spot. More information and our other themes can be found here.

Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth and Family Programs

Staff Pick

Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot

“For women of color, the expectation that we prioritize gender over race, that we treat the patriarchy as something that gives all men the same power, leaves many of us feeling isolated.” — Mikki Kendall, Hood Feminism

The traditional feminist movement has not always shown love to women of color. Oftentimes, its failure to see and incorporate intersectionality and the many different obstacles that women of color must overcome has created a divide between women fighting for gender equality. That’s why I love and recommend the 2020 book Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot — a great book to read after you’ve visited the Frazier’s What is a Vote Worth? Suffrage Then and Now exhibition.

The suffrage movement, and in many ways the feminist movement, have focused solely on addressing dismantling the toxic patriarchy while ignoring critical issues that Black and Brown women have been dealing with. In essence, it has been the white women’s movement. Patriarchy is a stain on this nation, but it’s not the only one. By shining a light on injustices and finding real solutions for women dealing with racism, classism, oppression due to disabilities, and other forms of oppression, Hood Feminism serves to empower all women to go farther together.

Some may find this odd, but being a woman is not my greatest vulnerability — that is, my gender identity does not always pose my greatest concern. Yes, I want equal pay, and yes, I am grateful for the many other rights for which women before me have fought. However, sometimes I just wake up feeling blessed that I’ve not been targeted in a hate crime, or that my daughter with a vision disability has been provided a great support system, one that will help her live a fulfilling life, instead of being written off.

Reading this compilation of essays from the very blunt but insightful Mikki Kendall will open your eyes to concepts you may have never entertained before. But I promise you’ll finish the last page with a fresh take on what freedom means for all women — and you’ll be ready to create real change.

To pick up a copy of Hood Feminism, you can visit or place an order with your local Carmichael’s Bookstore.

LaPrecious Brewer
Marketing Manager

History All Around Us

Bernheim’s Exhibition FEMMEnomenal Bluegrass Botanicals

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest and Gabriella Boros have curated a traveling exhibition that pays tribute to ten Kentucky women and their historic achievements. In keeping with the spirit of our exhibitions “Cool Kentucky” and “What is a Vote Worth? Suffrage Then and Now,” we’ve asked Bernheim’s Arts in Nature Curator Jenny Zeller to tell us more about it. — Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Artist in Residence Program and Kentucky Women’s Suffrage Centennial in 2020, Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest presents FEMMEnomenal Bluegrass Botanicals by Gabriella Boros. This exhibition celebrates the extraordinary achievements of ten Kentucky women through the invocation of ten native Kentucky plants. The work originated from a series of sketches, meticulously carved into woodblocks before being printed onto fabric banners and hung from trees around the Lake Nevin Loop at Bernheim. With the support of an Art Meets Activism grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, FEMMEnomenal Bluegrass Botanicals can also been seen through a traveling companion exhibition installed at various locations throughout the state in 2021.

The first stop on the exhibition tour can be seen in the windows of the Harmony Complex Building at 425 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd in downtown Louisville. From 1899 to 1991, this location housed the Louisville Business Women’s Club, which was founded at a time when women started entering the workplace, moving from rural areas to cities to find work and support themselves. The organization addressed the needs of independent working women, serving as a place where they could learn marketable skills, socialize with their peers, and expand their worldview while giving back to the community.

As part of our Actions Beyond our Borders strategy, Bernheim recognizes that its mission of connecting people with nature extends outside the geographic boundaries of its vast forest and continually seeks opportunities to bring the stories and lessons of nature to people throughout our region and far beyond. FEMMEnomenal’s inclusive representation of women provides an engaging learning experience that raises public awareness about feminism, race, and history and how that relates to the natural world in a compelling way.

FEMMEnomenal Bluegrass Botanicals will be on display at the Harmony Complex Building through August 31, 2021. Stay tuned to Bernheim’s social media and bernheim.org to learn where this powerful exhibition will travel next!

Jenny Zeller
Arts in Nature Curator, Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest
Guest Contributor

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