The Pennyroyal Area Museum will be open Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. for its first-ever 8th of August Emancipation Celebration. Admission will be free.
Organized by the Hopkinsville-Christian County Human Rights Commission, the celebration will focus on local Black history.
The museum is an ideal setting for an 8th of August commemoration because its new exhibit space fully integrates the story of people of color in the community, said Idalia Luna, the commission’s executive director.
African American history is “embedded throughout the entire museum, and that’s the way it should be,” Luna said.
Prior to the museum’s restoration and exhibit overhaul in 2019-2020, there was a sense that Black history was separate, but now it is part of the full story of the community, she said.
Traditionally, Black families in Western Kentucky have celebrated emancipation on Aug. 8, a date that some believe is when enslaved people in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee first learned they were free. In other parts of the country, emancipation is celebrated on June 19, or Juneteenth. Earlier this summer, Congress adopted legislation that makes Juneteenth a national holiday.
Alissa Keller, executive director of the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County, said the museum recently installed several new panels related to local Black stories.
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During Sunday’s celebration, several artifacts will be highlighted and speakers have been lined up, including Shayla Lynch, Gwenda Motley and Donavan Pinner. The museum has 24 oral histories with local luminaries such as James Victor, Mamie Dillard, F.E. Whitney, Mayor Wendell Lynch, retired District Judge Arnold Lynch and Nannie Croney.
Food vendors that will be outside include Brothers Get Down Pit BBQ, Tata’s Soul Food Kitchen and D.J.’s Famous Lemonade. Afternoon Delite Ice Cream next door to the museum, normally closed on Sunday, will be open during the celebration.
The museum is at 217 E. Ninth St.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
