The Black Women in Bourbon Oral History Project (RPA Pilot/ Seed Project)

“The Black Women in Bourbon Oral History Project” furthers the broader goals of the recently launched Women in Bourbon Project, which aims to fill gaps in both scholarly and popular attention to the many women who play key roles in Kentucky’s $8.6 billion dollar bourbon industry (KDA). Though Fred Minnick’s Whiskey Women (2013) focuses on women’s role in the development of whiskey, bourbon, and Scotch, it is the only history to do so and does not focus solely on bourbon. While several women have authored bourbon/whiskey books themselves, (Peachee, Reigler, Ruffenach, Carlton, Greene, Stevens and Reigler) none focus explicitly on women’s or black women’s role in the industry. Advancing much needed work in diversity, equity, and inclusion, this project documents the extensive record of women who helped shape the bourbon industry and the bourbon culture that surrounds it. Launched in Spring 2021 in conjunction with students enrolled in WRD 569/HIS 595 Bourbon Oral History, Phase 1 of the project collected 24 interviews (5 with Black women), which have been professionally transcribed. The project includes a variety of women’s voices representing multiple perspectives, and was established in partnership with the University of Kentucky’s Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits, and advanced students in Bourbon Oral History. Building on the success of this initiative, The Black Women in Bourbon project proposed here encompasses Phase 2 and focuses specifically on interviewing Black women in the industry with a goal of adding another 15 interviews with Black Women to the broader Women in Bourbon Collection during 2021-2022. Phase 2 builds on junior, senior, and undergraduate scholars’ contributions in partnership with the Nunn Center to make these interviews accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.