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Archives & Special Collections (ASC)

Kentucky Alliance Oral History Project: Gracie Lewis

Kentucky Alliance Oral History Project

Interview: Gracie Lewis

Gracie Lewis is a journalist, activist and longtime member of the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Lewis’ work promoting fairness and equality in employment, housing, education and criminal justice led to her 2010 induction into the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Civil Rights Hall of Fame.

Transcript of clips

Topic: The younger generation

So when I came back, I didn’t stop in the movement. I just basically felt that I was called to serve. You know, all of us, including yourself, we have a mission to, all of us have a mission to continue the movement going, because we’re always going to have to struggle. So we have to constantly train one generation to the next generation. Because, you know, all of the young people, they’re going to inherit all of this debt that’s going on. They should be intimately involved with it.

Topic: Anne Braden

I would say my walk with Anne Braden, she was just a one-woman powerhouse, and she was just a great encourager of the people in the movement to just keep on moving.

Topic: Working across racial lines

Just bringing together all groups of all cultures and backgrounds, I mean, that’s just natural. I mean, we’re just a rainbow group. We’re just a rainbow groups, and so we’re loving it. Because you can’t do nothing, see all of us is just inter-related, we’re inter-linked no matter how we look at it, we’re just all in just one great garment of destiny. And so we just have to look beyond a person’s color, race, sexual orientation, and just move on and just deal with the issues. The issues far outweigh the color of a person’s skin.