The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Filson used to ban Black people, now it teaches about it
Black men are capable of more than serving and entertaining. We can do more than sing songs, rap, dance jigs and bounce, shoot, catch and throw balls. On March 5, two such men, stellar thinkers and authors Attorney Mawuli Mel Davis (founding partner of Davis, Bozeman, and Johnson Law in Atlanta) and Dr. Derrick White (Professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky) will join me to discuss “Carter G. Woodson and the Killing of Black History.”
Even though many people offer rather innocuous breakfasts, marches and networking events across the commonwealth and country during Black History Month, few are truly educational. Sadly, it is a safe bet to say many people, across lines of race, don’t even know who Carter G. Woodson was. Even fewer can have an informed conversation about him and his work. Hint: He has something to do with Black History Month.
Kentucky is not a very smart state. Honest education on race is necessary
Knowledge on Woodson isn’t the only place we’re falling short in the commonwealth. Kentucky is not a very smart state. It currently ranks 46th in percentage of citizens with bachelor’s degrees and 43rd overall in education in America. That’s not good. Despite these embarrassments, it is also on the ever-expanding list of states where substantive education about America’s troubling past and present reality of racial hegemony are under attack by retrograde social and political forces. Frankly, we need more honest education and intelligent engagements of race to combat that hostility, not less. The Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute’s new Baldwin-King
Project, named in honor of James Baldwin and Martin Luther King, Jr., was constructed to serve such a purpose.
The Envirome Institute will expand conversations on race and Black history
The Envirome Institute is one of Louisville’s best kept secrets. It is the brainchild of local visionary Christina Lee Brown and is led by groundbreaking environmental cardiologist Dr. Aruni Bhatnagar and experimental psychologist Dr. Ted Smith.
Those moderately familiar with the Institute think Envirome limits its work to traditional environmental, nutritional and medical issues. In reality, its approach has grown to be much more dynamic. It now includes the common areas but also incorporates economic, spiritual, cultural, psychological and intellectual health concerns.
With that expanded focus in mind, Envirome’s Baldwin-King Project is designed to sit at the tip of the spear in studying the impacts of racism on the health, minds, spirits, communities and possibilities of Black people. It is an educational initiative committed to offering direct and open resistance to the those who are attempting to kill history and truth with lies and oppressive ideologies.
We are intentionally holding our session on Woodson, history and contemporary attacks on it at the Filson Historical Society. Like many white organizations, the Filson did not allow Black people and other minorities for much of its history. Encouragingly, its current leaders, Richard Clay and Patrick Lewis, don’t run or hide from the evil that once infested their own halls. They talk and teach about it. They work to make sure it isn’t repeated and partner with initiatives like Baldwin-King to build a better world by understanding the past. We are happy to lock arms with them!
Telling the truth should not be a revolutionary or courageous act. It should be the norm. Sadly, it’s not in today’s
America. Despite the fear, shallowness and silence of many, Envirome’s Baldwin-King Project is committed to building a coalition of the courageous to help edify the curious. We are happy to already have a list of strong partners in this mission, including: The Black Man Lab: Atlanta, Louisville Urban League, Roots 101 African American Museum, Simmons College of Kentucky and the
University of Louisville’s Pan-African Studies Department. More will come as we grow. As Savannah State University founder Richard R. Wright said when he was a child in 1867 Atlanta, “Tell them we are rising!”
We have no idea what the appetite for the knowledge the Baldwin-King Project is committed to offering is in Louisville or Kentucky. What we’re centering on is much more serious than bourbon, basketball or thoroughbreds. We don’t know who or how many people will show up, but whether there are 500, 50 or 5 present, we will push forward and share with whomever attends. We hope you’re in that lot.
Dr. Ricky L. Jones is the BaldwinKing Scholar-in-Residence at the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and Professor of Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville. His column appears bi-weekly in the Courier-Journal. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and X.
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