A portrait of Hopkinsville native Gloria Jean Watkins, the feminist author and activist known by the pen name bell hooks, will be commissioned to hang in the Kentucky State Capitol following her selection for a Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit.
Watkins, who died in December 2021 and was memorialized last April in a celebration of life at Hopkinsville’s Alhambra Theatre, was one of seven women whose portraits will be added to the exhibit. Their induction coincides with the Kentucky Commission on Women’s celebration of Women’s History Month, Gov. Andy Beshear’s office announced in a press release.
“As governor, but most importantly as a father, I am grateful that my daughter and generations of young girls are learning from the great role models we are honoring today,” Beshear said in the release. “They are paving the way for all our children to know they can do great things.”
The Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit started in 1978 as a display at the Kentucky State Fair. It was intended “to bring attention to outstanding women who made significant contributions to Kentucky history,” the release describes. It became a permanent exhibit in the West Wing of the capitol in 1996 with dozens of portraits of Kentucky women who had been inducted in Kentucky Women Remembered.
But many Kentuckians have probably never heard of the exhibit, in part because no new inductions had been made since 2014. Funding for the Kentucky Commission on Women — the group that advocated for the exhibit’s placement in the capitol — was eliminated in 2018 during Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration. Although the General Assembly has not put funding for the commission back in the budget, it was reformed in 2019 with 24 members and Lt. Gov. Jaqueline Coleman serving as an ex-officio member.
In addition to Watkins, the new inductees are:
- Lonnie Ali, widow of Muhammad Ali and lifetime director of the Muhammad Ali Center, which she helped open in 2005 in Louisville.
- Jane Beshear, former Kentucky first lady and mother of the current governor. She is honored for raising awareness about breast cancer.
- Sharon Currens, an advocate for survivors of sexual violence. She helped found Lexington’s Rape Crisis Program.
- Hannah Drake, the co-lead artist for the (Un)Known Project, which works to discover the names and stories of enslaved Black people.
- Mary Margaret Mulvhill, one of the first women elected to the Louisville Board of Aldermen.
- Peggy Purdom Patterson, the first woman appointed to be a federal judge in Kentucky.
Watkins’ selection for the exhibit is part of an ongoing appreciation for her work that has seen a resurgence in parts of Kentucky, and especially in Hopkinsville, since her death.
Born in Hopkinsville in 1952, she began her education in segregated public schools and then transitioned to the integrated Hopkinsville High School in the late 1960s.
Hopkinsville’s 2022 observance of Women’s History Month focused on Watkins and her legacy as one of the country’s most influential writers of her era. She wrote more than 30 books that explore issues ranging from feminism, racism and Black culture to rural identity and class. She also wrote several children’s books.
Following the Women’s History Month events and the celebration life, a bell hooks mural was unveiled in August on the Christian County Historical Society building at Ninth and Liberty streets. It shares a streetscape that includes the former Carnegie Library, which was Hopkinsville’s public library during Watkins’ youth. This is where she spent many days checking out books that fed her intense intellect and curiosity.
Interest in learning more about bell hooks the writer and Gloria Jean Watkins the Hopkinsville native has not waned in her hometown. Last month, Hoptown Chronicle helped as a sponsor of two bell hooks book discussions. The first one, which focused on “Belonging: A Culture of Place,” had a packed audience in the Corner Coffeehouse. The other was an online gathering with the WKMS book club. They discussed hooks’ childhood memoir, “Bone Black.”
Stayed tuned. I expect we’ll be announcing more opportunities in Hopkinsville for people to continue the conversation about bell hooks.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
