Huntertown Oral History

This proposal is requesting funds to interview, and record the memories and reflections of, former residents of Huntertown (Woodford County). Huntertown was one of dozens of African American Hamlets across the Bluegrass which were formed from former plantations following the Civil War. Many still exist today. Huntertown was not so lucky. Its residents were bought out by a process initiated at the county level over a decade ago, and the land recently has been acquired by Woodford County and rezoned as parkland. This small project focused on Huntertown both stands alone and serves as a pilot and potential foundation for several larger projects aimed at exploring the relationships between African American life and livlihoods, and the importance of land and landscape to a sense of community belonging and political citizenship.