Interview with Georgia Davis Powers, April 26, 2013

Partial Transcript: This is Nieta Wigginton. I'm here with the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Oral History Project...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about her childhood, family, and the neighborhood she grew up in. She describes her ambitions as a child to go into business, and her skill in negotiation even at a young age.

Keywords: Bankers; Ben Montgomery; Brothers; Childhood; Children; Competition; Doctors; Frances Montgomery; Housework; Ironing; Joseph Ray; Muhammad Ali; Negotiations; Neighborhoods; Parents; Siblings; Teachers

Subjects: Childhood; Family--history; Louisville (Ky.); Parenting; Springfield (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: How did your experiences having eight brothers, how did that prepare you...

Segment Synopsis: Powers shares some of her early firsthand experiences of racial discrimination, and how she could tell even as a young person that this was wrong.

Keywords: Driver's licenses; Firing; Five and dime stores; Jobs; Money; Physics teachers; Victor Perry

Subjects: Discrimination in restaurants.; Politics and government; Racially mixed people; Segregation

Partial Transcript: When we were kids, my father and mother would pile us in the car...

Segment Synopsis: Powers states that her father was of mixed race, and shares a story of how he was discriminated against by his white coworkers when they found this out.

Keywords: Bathtub enamelers; Ben Montgomery; Clubs; Company presidents; Coworkers; Food

Subjects: Families; Leadership; Racially mixed people

Partial Transcript: Did your father discuss that with you and your brothers as that was going on?

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes how her family moved to Louisville after a tornado destroyed their home in Springfield, Kentucky.

Keywords: Cabins; Marriage; Parents; Tornadoes

Subjects: Families

Partial Transcript: When you mentioned, uh, the cabin that your, that your parents uh, lived in...

Segment Synopsis: Powers tells how her great-aunt Celia Mudd, a former slave, inherited an 840 acre farm from her white employer.

Keywords: Ancestry; Bravery; Celia Mudd; Death; Family history; Farms; Fearlessness; Kentucky Court of Appeals; Lancaster family; Property; Slave cabins; Slaves; Virgins; Wills

Subjects: Family farms; Nelson County (Ky.); Property--Kentucky; Slavery; Springfield (Ky.); Women--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Now you're writing a book about her, and you shared with me that your niece just wrote...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about her decision to run for the Kentucky State Senate, and some of the opposition she faced from other African Americans.

Keywords: Bernard Bonn (??); Dr. C.E. Riggs; Elitists; Housing; Lynnie McLaughlin (??); Money; Preachers; Senators

Subjects: African Americans; Democratic Party (Ky.); Kentucky. General Assembly. Senate; Politics, Practical; Women political activists; Women's rights

Partial Transcript: Now, Raoul Cunningham, uh, who is now the president of the local branch of the NAACP...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about Raoul Cunningham, who assisted her in her campaign. His youth choir also assisted with voter registration campaigns. She tells how she suspected that the ballots for that election had been tampered with, and describes both her platform and endorsements.

Keywords: 33rd senatorial district; Candidates; Choir directors; Choirs; Endorsements; Executive committees; Kentucky AFL-CIO; Musicians; Politics; Precinct captains; Raoul Cunningham; Stamps; Voter registration; Voting; William Gatewood; Young Democrats; Youth choirs

Subjects: AFL-CIO; Political campaigns

Partial Transcript: Well, to get those endorsements and to uh, lead, uh, an election...

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes how she became involved in politics though her work for Wilson White, a candidate for the US senate.

Keywords: Candidates; Chairman of volunteers; Fred Tucker; IBM; Jobs; Senators; Volunteers; Wilson White

Subjects: Kentucky. General Assembly. Senate

Partial Transcript: Now he knew your voice in Louisville because of some of the work you were already doing...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about how she became involved in the Allied Organizations for Civil Rights. She discusses her colleague Lucretia "Lukey" Ward, and the March on Frankfort in 1964.

Keywords: Allied Organizations for Civil Rights; Architects; Dinner parties; Frank Stanley, Jr.; Jackie Robinson; Kentucky Civil Rights Bill; Louisville Defender; Lucretia Ward; March on Frankfort, 1964; Office managers; Peter, Paul, and Mary

Subjects: King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929-1968

Partial Transcript: So in 1967, I had no intention of running for office but, in 1966...

Segment Synopsis: Powers recounts a conversation that she had with a legislator, in which he refused to vote for a bill she was supporting. She also describes a meeting that she, Dr. King, Jackie Robinson, and several black ministers had with Governor Ned Breathitt after the march on the state capitol at Frankfort.

Keywords: 42 (Movie); Jackie Robinson; Legislators; Lorde Clep (??); Ministers; Muhammad Ali; Public accommodations bill; Voting

Subjects: African Americans--Civil rights--Kentucky; Breathitt, Edward T., 1924- --Civil service; Frankfort (Ky.); King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929-1968

Partial Transcript: When you mentioned the pastors um, I've heard another place where you mention the role of...

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes Operation Selma, a project based in Louisville that would help civil rights protesters in Selma, Alabama. She tells how she was involved in this undertaking.

Keywords: A.D. Williams; Airplanes; Harry Belafonte; Lucretia Ward; Marches; Meetings; Money; Operation Selma; Organization; Purdue University; William Summers, III; Zion Baptist Church

Subjects: African American churches--Kentucky; African Americans--Kentucky--Louisville; Fund raising; King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929-1968; Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Partial Transcript: And during that time period, um, marching was very dangerous.

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about the death of Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist. She also describes her lack of fear, even after this event. She also states that there were relatively few female civil rights leaders in Kentucky.

Keywords: A. Philip Randolph; Airports; Cars; Fearlessness; Lucretia Ward; Marches; Murders; Parents; Shootings; Viola Liuzzo; Violence

Subjects: Civil rights demonstrations; Civil rights leaders--United States; Civil rights workers; Women civil rights workers

Partial Transcript: What are some of the other marches across the, uh, mentioned Selma...

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes a series of marches that she was a part of in St. Petersburg, Florida, which were in support of the sanitation workers' strike there.

Keywords: A.D. King; Freedom songs; Marches; Raoul Cunningham; Sanitation; Sanitation workers; St. Petersburg (Fla.)

Subjects: African Americans--Civil rights; Civil rights demonstrations; Civil rights movements

Partial Transcript: Senator Powers, you were sharing that um, Mr. Cunningham, he did some of the speaking...

Segment Synopsis: Powers sings the freedom song "We Shall Overcome". She helped to lead this song as part of the sanitation workers' strike in Florida. She also talks about the struggle for voting rights for convicted felons in Kentucky.

Keywords: Court system; Criminals; Darryl Owens; Economics; Felons; Freedom rights songs; Freedom songs; We Shall Overcome (song)

Subjects: African Americans--Civil rights; Civil rights movements--United States; Kentucky; Kentucky. General Assembly. Senate; Poverty; Suffrage

Partial Transcript: You mentioned that you organized mothers and you organized women, and we were just...

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes some of the tactics that she used to ensure that the legislation she backed would be passed.

Keywords: Appearance; Bills; Legislation; Policies; Politics; Power; Skin color; Tactics

Subjects: Kentucky. General Assembly. Senate; Leadership; Women

Partial Transcript: Of all the bills that you were able to pass, that were...

Segment Synopsis: Powers tells how she gained support for the Open Housing Bill in Kentucky, and how this bill passed into law.

Keywords: Committees; Daylight savings time; Discrimination; Negotiations; Open Housing Bill; Tom Gerrig (??); Voting

Subjects: Daylight saving--Law and legislation; Ford, Wendell H., 1924-; Kentucky--General Assembly--Senate; Nunn, Louie B., 1924-2004

Partial Transcript: Nice. What are some other bills, I understand that you worked very diligently for individuals...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about her work in the Kentucky State Senate, advocating for people with disabilities and homemakers. She explains why she felt that this was important. She also expresses her concern at how women are often treated in the military, especially violence against them.

Keywords: American military; Children; Homemakers; Homemakers Bill; Husbands; Military; Money; Training; Violence Against Women Act; Wives

Subjects: Adoption; Law and legislation; People with disabilities; Women; Women soldiers

Partial Transcript: You've been keeping up with, um, political...

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes some of the many jobs that she had before she began her career in politics.

Keywords: Curtis Wright; Esther Jones; Expediters; Forestry; Funeral homes; Helen Keene Anthony; Jobs; Kane Manufacturing Company; Learning; National Youth Agency; Power; Power machines; Promotions; Riveters; Rivets; Sewing; Sewing Factories; Work; Wright Aeronautical

Subjects: Buffalo (N.Y.); Louisville (Ky.); New York (N.Y.); World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: Now based on your age, um, that you would be in those locations, our country had been...

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes some of the factory jobs that were available to women during World War II. She tells how she eventually became homesick and returned to Louisville.

Keywords: Apartments; Factories; Homesickness; Husbands; Jobs; Marriage; Norman Davis; Parents; Union (N.J.)

Subjects: Louisville (Ky.); Women; World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: And um, I had bought a restaurant, and uh, a coin laundry next door...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about Senator's Restaurant, a business she opened because her salary as a senator was too small to live on. She tells why she chooses to live in the West End of Louisville. She also recounts how her car was stolen, and how she got it back 28 days later.

Keywords: Brothers; Cars; Cooks; Cousins; Doctors; Giblet stew; Laundries; Laundromats; Loans; Marriage; Money; Recipes; Restaurants; Salaries; Sauce; Senator Burger; Senator's Restaurant; Senators; Teenagers; Theft; Thefts; Valets; West End (Louisville, Ky.)

Subjects: Cooking; Entrepreneurship; Restaurants--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: You mentioned violence, you shared with us at the very beginning that, during one of...

Segment Synopsis: Powers recounts some of the instances against her and other civil rights activists in Louisville, including when she was hit by a piece of thrown concrete.

Keywords: A. D. King; Buses; Concrete; Green Street Baptist Church (Louisville, Ky.); Integration; Marches; Parks; Reverend Leo Lesser; Rocks; Trucks; Violence; Voter registration; Wyandotte Park (Louisville, Ky.)

Subjects: African Americans--Civil rights--Kentucky; Civil rights movements; King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929-1968; Louisville (Ky.); Segregation; Violence

Partial Transcript: Now when you mention, um, having access to Dr. King, and then you mentioned that...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about the support and friendship that she received from Marlene Tenton Samuels, the executive secretary to the lieutenant governor at the time that she was first elected as state senator.

Keywords: Bills; Caterers; Cooking; Executive secretaries; Hotels; Lieutenant governors; Marlene Tenton Samuels; Meals; Raoul Cunningham; Reading clerks; Secretaries; Typists; Vacancies

Subjects: Frankfort (Ky.); Race discrimination

Partial Transcript: You mentioned her being a teacher and, and the influence that teachers had on you...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about some of the teachers, bankers, and other professionals who lived in her neighborhood when she was growing up. She also tells how she was not able to attend school with a white friend of hers because of segregation.

Keywords: Bankers; Carrie Anthony; Friends; G.D. Wilson; George Bullup; Georgia Jetan (??); Helen Keene; Joseph Ray; Margaret Vivatel (??); Muhammad Ali; Principals; T.J. Long; William Keene

Subjects: Louisville (Ky.); Segregation; Teachers

Partial Transcript: What other schools did you attend in Louisville? What-- tell us a little bit about your...

Segment Synopsis: Powers tells how she accidentally set her house on fire when she was a small child. She also describes what the West End of Louisville was like when she was a child, and tells how, after the Open Housing Bill was passed, most affluent blacks moved to the East End.

Keywords: Blacksmiths; Fires; George Morton; House fires; Kentucky Derby; Kindergarten; Mary B. Talbert Elementary; Mr. Robinson; Open Housing Bill; Spankings; West End (Louisville, Ky.)

Subjects: Discrimination in housing; Louisville (Ky.); Teachers

Partial Transcript: Er, Senator Powers, I have to ask you this question.

Segment Synopsis: Senator Powers briefly talks about the bill to change the lyrics of "My Old Kentucky Home" to be less racially offensive.

Keywords: "Darkies"; Carl Hines; My Old Kentucky Home (song); Racial slurs

Subjects: Kentucky--General Assembly--Senate; Law and legislation

Partial Transcript: Did you work at all with the Bradens, um, regarding the open housing laws?

Segment Synopsis: Powers discusses how the Ku Klux Klan would harass and intimidate African Americans, and shares two examples, one of which happened to her personally.

Keywords: Anti-Mask Bill; Charlotte Wade; Grand Dragon; Hotels; Housing; Intimidation; KKK; Klu Klux Klan; Lucretia Ward; NAACP; Shootings; Voting

Subjects: Braden, Anne, 1924-2006; Discrimination in housing; Kentucky. General Assembly. House of Representatives; Kentucky. General Assembly. Senate; Ku Klux Klan (1915- )--Kentucky; Shively (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: And the NAACP was active in um, fighting against the Klan as well...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about her work with the Louisville Chapter of the NAACP. She also discusses her early aspirations to become a doctor, and why she did not pursue this goal.

Keywords: Alpha Kappa Alpha; Doctors; Ear piercing; Freedom Fund Banquet; Georgia Davis Powers Scholarship Fund; Louisville Municipal College; Money; Raoul Cunningham; Scholarships; Surgeons

Subjects: Education--Kentucky; Fund raising; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Louisville Branch

Partial Transcript: Are there any pictures that-- I know we can't bring the pictures to the camera...

Segment Synopsis: Powers points out some of her photographs of famous people, and tells how she knew them. In particular, she talks about Jesse Jackson and her work for him when he ran for president.

Keywords: Barbara Jordan; Civil Rights Movement; Operation Bread Basket; Shirley Chisholm

Subjects: African Americans--Civil rights; Clinton, Bill, 1946-; Gore, Albert, 1948-; Jackson, Jesse, 1941-; King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929-1968; Presidents--United States

Partial Transcript: Tell us a bit more about the book "I Dream a World".

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about her inclusion in the book "I Dream a World", about influential African American women. She recounts meeting Leontyne Price at the reception for the book.

Keywords: Books; Coretta Scott King; Exhibitions; I Dream a World (book); Lena Horne; Leontyne Price; Mary Frances Berry; Oprah Winfrey; Photographs; Pictures; Receptions; Signatures

Subjects: African American women

Partial Transcript: Now you're also mentioned in this book, "Kentucky Cured: Fifty Years in Kentucky Journalism"...

Segment Synopsis: Powers tells how she came to be included in Al Smith's book "Kentucky Cured: Fifty Years in Kentucky Journalism". She also talks about some of the autobiographies she has written.

Keywords: Al Smith; Autobiographies; Book reviews; Books; Dissertations; Georgia's Kentucky Journey (book); I Shared the Dream (book); Kentucky Cured: Fifty Years in Kentucky Journalism (book); Media; Senators

Subjects: Courier-journal (Louisville, Ky.)

Partial Transcript: And also, I've just completed... uh, story, The Day, underscore day, Dr. Martin Luther King...

Segment Synopsis: Powers talks about the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, describing her own experiences staying at the Lorraine Motel, where he was killed.

Keywords: A.D. King; Andrew Young; Chauncy Estridge (??); Florida; Hotel registrations; Hotel rooms; Lorraine Motel (Memphis, Tenn.); Lucretia Ward; Lukey Ward; Ralph Abernathy; The Day Dr. Martin Luther King; The Day Dr. Martin Luther King was Killed (book)

Subjects: King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929-1968; Lorraine Motel (Memphis, Tenn.); Memphis (Tenn.)

Partial Transcript: Now, when Dr. King was uh, assassinated during that trip...

Segment Synopsis: Powers describes the civil rights movement immediately after the death of Dr. King, and how other leaders of the movement reacted. She shares why she was not involved in any women's organizations, and talks about the role of many women in the civil rights movement.

Keywords: A.D. King; Andrew Young; Dorothy Cotton; Jose Williams; Organizations; Ralph Abernathy; Soap operas

Subjects: Jackson, Jesse, 1941-; King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929-1968; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Women; Women civil rights workers

Partial Transcript: Well, as we prepare to close, you um, shared with us your aunt's legacy. If someone uh, from your family had...

Segment Synopsis: Senator Powers describes what she wants her legacy to be for future generations. She also shares how she came to be named Georgia, and talks about her niece, who is also named Georgia. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: "Voice of the voiceless"; Birth certificates; Fairness; Georgia Lee Butler; Georgia Lee Hampton; Legacy; Letters; Mail; Names; Nieces; Sarah Mcquinny (??); Superintendents

Subjects: Teachers