Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky Project: the DRVK Project- OVPR Curate Program

This proposal for a small scall grant aims to increase the number of biographies of lynching victims from 75 to 100. Reaching 100 biographies would be a significant milestone for the DRVK Project, showing that nearly one-third of the lynching victims in Kentucky have been memorialized, as well as adding new material to the archive.

The DRVK Project hired six undergraduate interns in Fall 2025 and Spring 2026. The interns researched and wrote about 20 people who were victims of racial violence between 1880 and 1900. The interns' work was submitted to the project team in May 2026. The work is in the final stages of fact-checking. When the process is completed, the number of biographies on teh website will increase from 75 to about 95.

The DRVK Project also formally joined the Red Record Consortium, as part of a network of similar projects associated with the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice project at Northeastern University. Dr. Brown has been appointed to the executive committee member. The DRVK Project will present its findings at the annual symposium for the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, Inc. on October 24, 2026.