UofL Libraries: Uncovering Racial Logics: Louisville's History of Racial Oppression and Activism: Introduction

About the Project

Introduction

Welcome to Uncovering Racial Logics: Louisville's History of Racial Oppression and Activism: a website that provides resources for people interested in researching or learning more about Louisville’s history of racial activism, segregation, and oppression, specifically in the areas of education, policing, and housing. These are all areas in which we see institutional racism at work, producing unequal access to resources, freedoms, and opportunities as part of ongoing U.S. racial stratification.

West Walnut Street from 6th to 13th Streets was a business, social, and cultural gathering place for African Americans. Source: "Walnut Street from Seventh Street, Louisville, Kentucky, 1942," CS_188788, Caufield & Shook Collection, Photographic Archives, University of Louisville.

This website was designed in collaboration with faculty, students, and community partners at the University of Louisville with the goal of sharing materials housed at UofL Archives and Special Collections (ASC). The University of Louisville ASC houses thousands of documents that are relevant for anyone interested in learning about the history of racism and racial activism in our city. As you move through the website, you will find scanned archival documents, information about each document and the larger collection it belongs to, and other materials related to racism and racial activism in Louisville.

Content Warning

Please be advised that these materials may contain images, language, and themes of racism, police violence, housing discrimination, and gentrification that may be upsetting and difficult to view. The documents, images, and publications presented here have been preserved and unaltered in order to present the materials in their original state and context. The content of these materials do not reflect the values of the University of Louisville or the Racial Logics research team.

Created By

With assistance from undergraduate and graduate research assistants: Cat Alexander, Elizabeth Frazier, and Ben Harlan. Additional technical assistance provided by Cassidy Meurer and Terri Holtze. We thank UofL’s Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research (CCTSJR) and Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research (ABI) for funding and supporting this work.