Interview with Luther Luckett, April 15, 1998

Partial Transcript: --name is Lee Dew.

Segment Synopsis: In this opening segment, Luckett talks about his early years in Owensboro up until the end of his high school career.

Keywords: Cars; Dates; Performers; Schools; Streets; Tokens

Subjects: Education; Kentucky--Rural conditions.; Owensboro (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: You say you graduated from high school in 1930, and then what did you do?

Segment Synopsis: Luckett talks about what life was like for him in Owensboro during the 1930s, specifically during the Great Depression.

Keywords: Businesses; Downtown; Flowers; Football; Funerals; Playing; Works

Subjects: Depressions--1929; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Employment--Kentucky--Owensboro; Owensboro (Ky.); Owensboro (Ky.)--History; Segregation; Segregation in education; Segregation in education--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: World War Two.

Segment Synopsis: Luckett talks about the social changes that took place in Owensboro as a result of World War Two.

Keywords: Businesses; Industries; Progress; Weir; World War II

Subjects: Draft; Economics--Kentucky--Owensboro; Local government; World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: You knew Lawrence Hager.

Segment Synopsis: In this segment, Luckett briefly discusses the Hager newspaper in Owensboro.

Keywords: Hagers; Lawrence W. Hager

Subjects: Democratic Party (Ky.); Newspapers--Kentucky.; Newspapers.; Owensboro (Ky.); Owensboro (Ky.)--History

Partial Transcript: Well, let me tell you about one of the most unpleasant commissions that I ever served on--(cough)--in Owensboro.

Segment Synopsis: Luckett talks about the urban development that started taking place in Owensboro during the nineteen thirties.

Keywords: 1930s; Commissions; Plans; Riverfront

Subjects: New Deal, 1933-1939; New Deal, 1933-1939--Kentucky; Owensboro (Ky.); Owensboro (Ky.)--History

Partial Transcript: The fifties saw development of some new industries in Owensboro.

Segment Synopsis: Luckett gives a short list of some people in Owensboro that were influential in the community during the nineteen fifties.

Keywords: 1950s; Berkley Davis; General Electric (GE)

Subjects: Local government; Owensboro (Ky.); Owensboro (Ky.)--History

Partial Transcript: Well, what--you sold your business in fifty-six?

Segment Synopsis: Luckett talks about some of the political leaders in Owensboro during the nineteen fifties.

Keywords: 1950s; Burkhead; Courthouses; J.R. Miller

Subjects: Agriculture--Kentucky; Kentucky--Politics and government; Owensboro (Ky.); Owensboro (Ky.)--History; Politicians--Kentucky; Strip mining

Partial Transcript: The next big, uh, deal that come forth back then as far as a sizable industry was the first aluminum plant in the Lewisport area.

Segment Synopsis: Luckett talks about the controversy that arose when the Harvey Aluminum company opened up a plant in Lewisport.

Keywords: Aluminum; Factories; Gases; Generation; Lewisport (Ky.); Plants; Texas Gas Service

Subjects: Economic conditions; Industries; Owensboro (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: But anyhow, through the fifties and sixties when that was going on, and then in the seventies when I started this...

Segment Synopsis: Luckett talks about his years working in institutional reform and the problems that the system has. He also mentions his connection with Wendell Ford and the friendship they shared during the nineteen seventies.

Keywords: 1970s; Cars; Corrections; Institutions; Sells

Subjects: Agriculture--Kentucky; Drug abuse; Drug abuse--Law and legislation--Kentucky; Ford, Wendell H., 1924-; Military Service, Voluntary--United States; Owensboro (Ky.); Prisons; Rural crimes--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Well, if I were to ask you what are your biggest wish for the future would be, I think maybe you've already answered that.

Segment Synopsis: Luckett uses this closing section to talk about his hopes and dreams for the future generation.

Keywords: Generations; Lasts; Young people; Youth

Subjects: Families.