If you want to immerse yourself in Black history this month, you don’t have to go far. VisitLex has free walking tours throughout the city.
Yvonne Giles was one of the historians the organization partnered with in 2017 to make it happen. It’s still in existence, and there are expansion plans this year.
“These are stories most people have not heard about, so that’s why we do this,” said Giles.
On Monday, Giles, well-known as the “Cemetery Lady,” showed LEX 18 around the path, stopping at a few locations she wanted to highlight.
“The African Americans that we’ve featured helped develop the community,” said Giles.
As the first African American woman elected to the La Grange city council, Giles can best be described as not only living history but also a living history book. Most of her shared stories were from her extensive memory and personal research.
“Everybody asks me, ‘How do you remember all that?’ And I don’t know. I don’t even think about it. It just sticks with me, and I say it,” she laughed.