News/Events

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

February 15, 2024

Contact:  Joanna Hay

502 229 2110

joannahay@gmail.com

WE ARE THE WOMEN BEHIND THE MARCH

A SOUND INSTALLATION ON THE STEPS OF THE CAPITOL IN FRANKFORT KY

In anticipation of Women’s History Month and the 60th Anniversary of the 1964 Freedom March on Frankfort, we are announcing the installation of We Are The Women Behind The March.  Listen to the sounds and the stories of the Kentucky women who organized the 1964 March on Frankfort which was attended by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and 10,000 Kentuckians on March 5th, 1964.

The team of artist-historians, Joanna Hay, Katima Smith-Willis, and Dr. Le Datta Denise Grimes have created an audio experience at  the foot of the Capitol steps.  Weaving the voices of women like Helen Holmes, Sen. Georgia Davis Powers, Sheila Mason Burton and Mattie Jones, with Dr. King’s voice,  the listener is transported back 60 years. The contemporary voices of Ms. Smith-Willis and Dr. Grimes punctuate the historic voices creating an emotional experience as the listener stands, walks and listens to the story from the very spot where Dr. King spoke.

Experiencing the sounds of these voices honors the role of the Kentucky women who did the work and planned the historic event. Dr. King, Jackie Robinson and Peter Paul & Mary came to Kentucky for a march to demonstrate the need for Civil Rights legislation in Kentucky.  Women were behind the scenes organizing it.

Capital City Museum Director, Dr. Eleanor Haskens-Wagner says: “Sharing this critical historical moment through the experience of this sound art installation is unlike anything else offered in Frankfort – or the state. We Are the Women Behind the March does a fantastic job offering an immersive, creative, and inspiring opportunity for folks to learn more about the women who made such a significant historical experience happen.

The creative team includes documentary filmmaker and sound artist, Joanna Hay; community activist and leader of the 2020 march on Frankfort, Katima Smith-Willis; and Clemson University oral historian and scholar, Dr. Le Datta Denise Grimes.   

Dr. Grimes reflects on how “the hopeful, lilting voice of Katima Smith-Willis, against the historical backdrop, and wisdom provided by myself and the women who participated in the march, is inspirational. It is also aspirational. It reminds us of how far we’ve come and strengthens us for the challenges yet to come as we strive to live wholly aware, wholly equal, and wholly just.”

The audio experience is accessed by scanning a QR code with a smartphone from the sign located at the foot of the Capitol steps in Frankfort.  For a preview, listen at this link.  

Joanna Hay hopes that, “every day, (but especially on Tuesday, March 5th, as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of that historic day by marching up Capital Avenue), people will stop to listen to the voices of the Women Behind The March as they arrive at the steps to the Capitol.”

Additional Images and Press Materials can be found here.

The project was made possible by the Kentucky Foundation for Women, City of Frankfort, National Park Service, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Capital City Museum, Kentucky Historical Society and Joanna Hay Productions.

##

About this event

• 1 hour

• Mobile eTicket

The Lexington History Museum’s LexTalks series offers our first program of the year on Sunday, March 19 at 2:00 pm at the Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan House in Downtown Lexington.

"Central KY Women & the 1964 March on Frankfort" will be presented by African American history scholar Dr. Le Datta Grimes and documentary producer Joanna Hay.

The 1964 March on Frankfort was organized by Kentuckians with guest speakers Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson. Music was provided by folk artists Peter, Paul and Mary and the Kentucky State College choir, led by Dr. Carl H. Smith. Ten thousand people marched on Frankfort that day, and it led to the passage of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act of 1966.

Learn more about our guest speakers and The March on Frankfort Project here.

The Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan House is located at 210 North Broadway. Some parking is available in the house lot; metered street parking is free on Sundays.

This event is FREE. Registration required.