Kentucky Projects Get Funding to Preserve Black History

By Briasia Russ Published: July 29, 2021

Kentucky Projects Get Funding to Preserve Black History

FILE - In this file photo dated Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020, Black Lives Matter protesters hold posters as they march through Notting Hill during the "Million People March" through central London. A government inquiry, by a panel of experts, has concluded Wednesday March 31, 2021, that there is racism in Britain, but it’s not a systematically racist country that is “rigged” against non-white people, although many ethnic-minority Britons greeted that claim with skepticism. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, FILE)

By Briasia Russ

Three projects in Kentucky are helping to preserve African American history after receiving $150,000 in federal funding. AP News reports that the funding will go towards projects at Cherokee State Park, the Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah and the Palmer Pharmacy Building in Lexington, according to state officials.

Each establishment will receive $50,000 which will go toward:

Cherokee State Park will use the funding to pay for interpretative signage and programming
Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah will restore the Purple Room. (The Purple Room was used as an after-hours gathering space for musicians) When rooming was segregated, the hotel allowed for Black travelers to stay at their hotel.
Built by Black pharmacist Dr Zirl A. Palmer in the 60s, the Palmer Pharmacy Building in Lexington will have a feasibility study and business plan to rescue the building.

“These grants further support the preservation of these irreplaceable historic resources that help identify and tell the stories of African Americans in Kentucky,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement.