This is a historical list of women from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

who were involved in civil rights activism from 1920 until the 1970s. This was a time period in the twentieth century when the civil rights movement impacted Kentucky's history of women and was enriched by Kentucky women. The civil rights era was one of the most significant sources of social change in the United States during the twentieth century. The

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

administers an Open Knowledge Initiative on this particular time period in the history of Kentucky women that is hosted by the MATRIX at Michigan State University. This list does not include any of the U.S.

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

(1790s-1860s) or those involved only in the woman's suffrage movement in the U.S. (1790s-1920) who dropped out of their activism once the 19th Amendment was ratified. Instead, this list showcases Kentucky women and their roles in civil rights efforts after the 19th Amendment (1920) - including actions to enhance civil liberties in the U.S. - and up through the first stirrings of the

Women's Liberation Movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

that emerged from the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. For this reason, this list of biographical entries of Kentucky women is limited to those women whose civil rights activism is somewhere in the time period that starts with the 1920s and ends with the 1970s.

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* Sophia Alcorn (rights of people with disabilities)

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* Anna Simms Banks (women's rights, African Americans' rights) * Joyce Hamilton Berry (women's rights, African-Americans' rights) *

Sallie Bingham Sallie Bingham (born January 22, 1937) is an American author, playwright, poet, teacher, feminist activist, and philanthropist. She is the eldest daughter of Barry Bingham, Sr., patriarch of the Bingham family of Louisville, Kentucky. Sallie ...

(women's rights) * Joy Bale Boone (women's rights) *

Anne Braden Anne McCarty Braden (July 28, 1924 – March 6, 2006) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, and educator dedicated to the cause of racial equality. She and her husband bought a suburban house for an African American couple during J ...

(women's rights, African Americans' rights, workers' rights) *

Madeline McDowell Breckinridge Madeline (Madge) McDowell Breckinridge (May 20, 1872 – November 25, 1920) was an American leader of the women's suffrage movement in Kentucky. She married Desha Breckinridge, editor of the ''Lexington Herald'', which advocated women's rights, a ...

(women's rights) *

Sophonisba Breckinridge Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (April 1, 1866 – July 30, 1948) was an American activist, Progressive Era social reformer, social scientist and innovator in higher education. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in political science and ...

(women's rights, juvenile rights) * Mary E. Britton (women's rights, African Americans' rights)

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* Anna Mac Clarke (women's rights) * Laura Clay (women's rights) * Emma Guy Cromwell (women's rights) *

Peggy McDowell Curlin Peggy McDowell Curlin (2 January 1940 – 24 September 2005) was an American women's health advocate from Harlan, Kentucky. Early life Curlin was born in 1940 in Harlan, Kentucky and attended Centre College, a liberal arts college in Danville, ...

(women's rights)

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Dolores Delahanty Dolores Delahanty (born October 23, 1929) is a social activist and political leader in Louisville, Kentucky. She was a founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus during the early Civil Rights Movement, and she was critical to the suc ...

(women's rights) *

Alice Allison Dunnigan Alice Allison Dunnigan (April 27, 1906 – May 6, 1983) was an American journalist, civil rights activist and author.James, p. 183. Dunnigan was the first African-American female correspondent to receive White House credentials,Mary Elliott Flanery Mary Elliott Flanery (April 27, 1867 – July 19, 1933) was an American progressive era social reformer, suffragist, politician, and journalist who is best remembered as the first woman elected to the Kentucky General Assembly and first woman e ...

(women's rights) *

Elizabeth Fouse Elizabeth Beatrice Cooke Fouse (May 14, 1875 – October 22, 1952) was a woman from Kentucky, dedicated to gaining equality for African American women on both local and national levels. She founded as well as became the head of many organization ...

(African Americans' rights)

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Audrey Grevious Audrey Louise Grevious (née Ross; September 30, 1930 – January 6, 2017) became one of the central leaders in the local civil rights movement in Lexington and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Early life Audrey Louise Ross was born in Lexington, Ken ...

(African Americans' rights) *

Viola Rowe Gross Viola Denisa Rowe Gross (August 25, 1921 – February 20, 2012) from Danville, Kentucky, was a teacher, businesswoman, clubwoman and author. She served on many local, state and national organizations and associations in support of African Americ ...

(African Americans' rights)

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Eliza Calvert Hall Eliza Caroline "Lida" Obenchain (née Calvert), (February 11, 1856 – December 20, 1935) was an American author, women's rights advocate, and suffragist from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Lida Obenchain, writing under the pen name Eliza Calvert Hall ...

(women's rights) * Josephine K. Henry (women's rights) *

Julia Britton Hooks Julia Britton Hooks (May 4, 1852 – March 9, 1942), known as the "Angel of Beale Street," was a musician and educator whose work with youth, the elderly, and the indigent was highly respected in her family's home state of Kentucky and in Memphis, ...

(African Americans' rights)

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* Kidd, Mae Street (women's rights, African Americans' rights)

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* Katherine G. Langley (women's rights) * Julia E. Lewis (African American rights)

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* Sara W. Mahan (women's rights)

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* Mary Virginia Cook Parrish (women's rights, African Americans' rights) *

Judi Patton Judi Jane Conway Patton (born 1940 in Pikeville, Kentucky) is an American activist for women's safety and child abuse prevention. She served as the First Lady of Kentucky from December 12, 1995, until December 9, 2003, during the tenure of he ...

(women's rights) * Katherine Pettit (women's rights) *

Lena Madesin Phillips Lena Madesin Phillips (September 15, 1881 - May 22, 1955) was a lawyer and clubwoman from Nicholasville, Kentucky, who founded the National Business and Professional Women's Clubs in 1919. She enlarged her circle, traveling also to Europe, and in ...

(women's rights) * Suzy Post (African Americans' rights) *

Georgia Davis Powers Georgia Davis Powers (née Montgomery; October 19, 1923 – January 30, 2016) was an American politician who served for 21 years as a state senator in the Kentucky Senate. In 1967, she was the first person of color and the first woman elected t ...

(women's rights, African Americans' rights) * Jeanette Brooks Priebe (women's rights)

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Thelma Stovall Thelma Loyace Stovall (nee Hawkins; April 1, 1919 – February 4, 1994) was a pioneering American politician in the state of Kentucky. In 1949 she won election as state representative for Louisville, and served three consecutive terms. Over the n ...

(women's rights) *

Carol Sutton Carol Sutton may refer to: * Carol Sutton (actress) * Carol Sutton (journalist) * Carol Sutton (artist) Carol Lorraine Sutton (born September 3, 1945) is a multidisciplinary artist born in Norfolk, Virginia, USA and now living in Toronto, Ontari ...

(African Americans' rights) * Mary E. Sweeney (women's rights, juvenile rights)

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* Helen Cary Caise Wade (African-American rights)

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Notes

References

* * * * * * McEuen, Melissa A. et al. eds. ''Kentucky Women: Their Lives and Times'' (U of Georgia Press, 2015
online review
* * * {{cite book , last1 = Wright , first1 = George C. , title = A History of Blacks in Kentucky: In Pursuit of Equality, 1890-1980, publisher = Kentucky Historical Society , year = 1992 , location = Frankfort, Kentucky , isbn = 0916968219 Women in Kentucky History of Kentucky History of women in Kentucky Women in Kentucky politics women in the civil rights era American women's rights activists American civil rights activists Women civil rights activists Lists of American women Kentucky women in the civil rights era

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See also

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