This afternoon outside the Pennyroyal Area Museum, Hopkinsville native Francene Gilmer read excerpts from a handful of personal stories from formerly enslaved residents of Christian County.
These accounts, collected after the Civil War, were spoken aloud in the heart of Hopkinsville to celebrate emancipation. It was part of the Eighth of August commemoration organized by the Hopkinsville-Christian County Human Rights Commission the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, and slavery ended in Kentucky in December 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
Gilmer, executive director of the Christian County Literacy Council, first read the following:
“I was born May 15, 1856. My mother was the property of Mr. Bob Scott, in this county. I was a little fellow only 6 or 7 years old when set free with my mother. I can’t remember much about it, but I recollect my mother told me, ‘Now you is just as free as anybody.’”