Together Lexington to donate local African-American history signage to city

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)– Together Lexington is donating its upcoming local African-American Heritage signage to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. The Council today voted unanimously to accept the donation.

Together Lexington has invested $75,000 to create interpretive signage to tell the story of the African-American experience in the community. The concept for this downtown experience was sparked by discussions facilitated through Together Lexington’s Courageous Conversations, a series of community forums held in 2017 that tackled issues such as race.

Twelve signs, which will be located mainly downtown, will help residents and visitors discover Lexington’s African-American history through a self-guided tour. The people and places that will be featured played a significant role in the advancement of equality. Stories stretch from slavery, through Jim Crow, to the Black Freedom Struggle.

The first of the signs will be unveiled around the Roots & Heritage Festival, and a website also is being created through the help of VisitLEX, which is also a Together Lexington partner.

The stories featured along this self-guided tour were collectively identified and researched by a steering committee of Lexington community members, who met several times for one year. The members were:

• Terry Birdwhistell
• Councilman James Brown
• Linda Carroll
• Yvonne Giles
• Randolph Hollingsworth
• James Klotter
• Billie Mallory
• P.G. Peeples
• Juanita Betz Peterson
• Gerald Smith
• DeBraun Thomas
• Thomas Tolliver
• Rev. Clark Williams

EHI Consultants served as the project manager, and Solid Light designed, created and will fabricate and install the signs.

The 2016 and 2017 Together Lexington project partners were:

• Ann Bakhaus, president of Kentucky Eagle, Inc.
• Lisa Ball, vice president of Ball Homes
• Barry Bishop, regional vice president/operations of Windstream Communications
• Carla Blanton, president, Carla Blanton Consulting
• Sheri Evans Depp, director, global talent management, diversity and corporate citizenship, and NA business partners for Lexmark International
• Bill Farmer, president & CEO of United Way of the Bluegrass
• Rufus Friday, president and publisher of the Lexington Herald-Leader
• Lee Greer, president of Greer Companies
• Larry Hall, president of Hall Media, Inc.
• Larry Jones, central region president of Community Trust Bank
• Dr. Augusta Julian, president of Bluegrass Community and Technical College
• Brian McCarty and Bruce Drake, partners in Bluegrass Hospitality Group
• Bret Melrose, owner of Fayette Heating & Air
• Sam Mitchell, CEO and director of Valvoline
• Jeff Murphy, vice president of marketing and communications for KentuckyOne Health
• Rhonda Petr, director of marketing, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid
• Mary Quinn Ramer, president of VisitLEX
• Andy Shea, president and CEO of Lexington Legends Baseball
• Bill Thomason, president and CEO of Keeneland