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Kentucky Has Three Sites on New U.S. Civil Rights Trail

via civilrightstrail.com

Kentucky is among the 14 states that are a part of the new U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

The effort highlights 130 sites linked to the modern civil rights movement, and was officially unveiled Monday, on Martin Luther King Junior Day.

The initiative is aimed at encouraging civil rights education and tourism.

Kentucky has three sites on the trail, including one at the location of a 20-hour pro-integration sit-in at Berea College.

The city of Louisville is also honored for the efforts of local civil rights activists in the early 1960s that ultimately led to the passage of a public accommodations ordinance ending segregation in white-owned establishments.  

The state’s third site on the trail is in the Shelby County town of Simpsonville, marking the birthplace of Whitney Young, a civil rights leader who fought against employment discrimination and received the Medal of Freedom in 1968.

Tennessee is also a part of the new effort, with sites located in Clinton, Memphis, and Nashville.

© 2018 WKU Public Radio

Kevin is the News Director at WKU Public Radio. He has been with the station since 1999, and was previously the Assistant News Director, and also served as local host of Morning Edition. He is a broadcast journalism graduate of WKU, and has won numerous awards for his reporting and feature production. Kevin grew up in Radcliff, Kentucky and currently lives in Glasgow.
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