An oral history recorded by the Kentucky Historical Society tells the story of Hal and Bettye Thurmond and how the Catholic faith led them to be civil rights leaders in Hopkinsville beginning in the 1950s.
“He understood his faith as being based on what you do, and so the side of Christianity that focused on what we would call good works would be the thing that attracted him,” the couple’s son David Thurmond, of Louisville, describes in the interview recorded in January 2018.
Hal Thurmond, who was from Franklin, Kentucky, had grown up in the Methodist church but was not a church-goer as a young adult. Health problems in his late 30s probably gave him the push to eventually convert to Catholicism. Bettye Thurmond was a lifelong Catholic. She grew up in Russellville and married Hal when she graduated from high school.
- LISTEN: Oral history with David Thurmond
After World War II, the Thurmonds settled in Hopkinsville. He owned and operated Blue Lake Block Co.
Hal Thurmond recognized racial inequality and segregation in Hopkinsville as problems that he was called to address as a Christian. He used his position and influence as a white business owner to challenge and chip away at inequality.
One story illustrates his approach, which was often subtle but meaningful.
David Thurmond describes a time when his father took two ministers – one white and one black – to breakfast at a segregated restaurant in Hopkinsville. The three men ate, paid the bill and left without incident.
“That’s the kind of thing you can do when you are the president of the Chamber of Commerce,” David Thurmond said. “Who is going to call the sheriff on the president of the Chamber of Commerce?”
The Thurmonds helped establish the Hopkinsville Human Relations Commission, which was recently renamed the Human Rights Commission. Hal Thurmond died in 1971. Bettye Thurmond died in 1986. They were posthumous inductees to the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2007.
They are remembered every October with an award named for them that goes to a local person who does work that advances human relations. The 2019 award will be presented at the Mayor’s Unity Breakfast on Oct. 24 at the James E. Bruce Convention Center. Nominations for the award will be accepted through Oct. 4.
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.
