2003 Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame - Inductees from Lexington |
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Professor Carolyn Bratt |
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Rev. Bob W. Brown |
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Joe Graves |
 Mr. Graves was a state senator, state representative and
Lexington city council member who has spent a lifetime promoting civil
rights and fair accommodation laws. He formerly chaired the
Lexington Human Rights Committee, which helped integrate downtown movie
theaters during the early 1960s. He was co-chair of Kentuckians for
Public Accommodations Legislation, which lobbied successfully for civil
rights laws in 1964 and 1966. He participated in the March on
Frankfort during 1964, with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1969,
the Lexington chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews
awarded him its Brotherhood Award. |
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Robert S. Miller |
 Mr. Miller was a native and long-time resident of
Lexington. He attended Kenwick School and University High
School. After graduating from Haverford College outside of
Philadelphia, he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study European history at
Oxford University. He later graduated from Harvard Law School and
returned to Lexington in 1964, to raise a family and practice law at his
family's firm, Miller, Griffin & Marks. His early years as an
attorney were marked by his strong social conscience and desire to seek
civil rights for all Americans. He participated in planning the
historic "March on Washington," led by Rev. Martin Luther King,
Jr. in 1963. Later that decade, Mr. Miller drafted the charter of
the Lexington/Fayette County Urban League and served as its organization's
first director. He drafted the charter of the Lexington Human Rights
Commission and served as one of its first Commissioners. He was
director of both the Lexington Deaf Oral School and the local chapter of
the National Conference of Christians and Jews. |
Professor
Bratt, who was born in Suffern, NY, has lived in
Kentucky for more than 30 years and is known as a tireless fighter for
civil rights in general and women's rights in particular. She
obtained her law degree from Syracuse University College of Law in 1974
and joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky Law School in
1975. She was the first woman on the staff to earn tenure and the
rank of full professor. Ms. Bratt was one of the first women to
practice law in Lexington and was one of the first women to serve as a
faculty representative to the University of Kentucky Board of
Trustees. Ms. Bratt has served as chair of Gov. Martha Layne
Collins' Commission on Women; was a legal advisor to Gov. John Y. Brown's
Commission on Full Equality for Women; and served on the Kentucky Supreme
Court's Standing Committee on Gender Fairness. She has given more
than 300 speeches in Kentucky to various groups on gender equity and civil
rights laws. She helped develop UK's policies on sexual harassment
for staff, students and faculty. 
Rev. Brown was known for his staunch support of civil
rights while many other white clergy were lukewarm to the idea. He
not only encouraged African Americans to join his congregation at Trinity
Baptist Church in Lexington, he also encouraged other white pastors to
minister to everyone regardless of their race. As a teenager in the
1940s, Mr. Brown wrote school articles deploring segregated schools.
In 1961, he oversaw the integration of Trinity Baptist Church when several
black members joined over the objections of a minority of the
congregation. However, the issue had been so explosive that Rev.
Brown's health deteriorated and he considered stepping down as
pastor. He remained, however, and was a key figure in organizing an
interracial pastor's conference in the early 1960s in Lexington. In
1969, an intentionally set fire damaged Trinity Baptist Church. Rev.
Brown said at the time that the church could be rebuilt but people could
not be replaced.
Nominees from Lexington |
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Cynthia Beasley |
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George L. Logan |
 Mr. Logan is a native of Stanford, KY. He graduated
with honors from Kentucky State College in 1951 with a degree in history
and government. Later that same year he became one of the first
African Americans to enroll in the University of Kentucky graduate
school. In 1969 he became the first state Director of Traffic
Education with the Kentucky Department of Education. Mr. Logan
lobbied to have Kentucky recognize Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday
as an official holiday and helped draw boundary lines to ensure that
blacks in Lexington had representation in the state General
Assembly. he taught for 15 years in the Fayette County School
District and served on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Planning
Commission for more than 10 years. In 2002 received the first Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. "State Commission Citizenship Award,"
and has been an advocate of promoting African American history in school
curriculum. |
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Harry N. Sykes |
 Mr. Sykes is active in the Lexington Urban League. He
served four terms on the Lexington City Council, beginning in 1963.
He was Lexington's Mayor Pro Tem in 1967 after being the top vote getter
during the election. He ran unsuccessfully for Mayor in 1971.
He played professional basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters. He
taught mathematics and served as assistant basketball coach at Dunbar High
School in Lexington from 1954-1962. He was the first black to serve
as acting manager and chief administrative officers for the City of
Lexington from 1973-1975 and was highly respected for his leadership in
that capacity and for his success in attracting new business to
Lexington. Many students and business people in Lexington also cited
him as a role model. |
Ms. Beasley is the president and chief executive officer of
ChangeMasters, Inc., a human resources firm in Lexington. Her
company works in a variety of areas, including diversity training, mergers
and acquisitions, strategic recruitment and compensation analysis.
She has volunteered countless hours to improve diversity and working
conditions for minorities in Lexington. She has helped the Central
Kentucky Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners with
diversity training and has also worked with the Lexington Chamber of
Commerce to help minority businesses. Ms. Beasley, who has a
bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky, a
master's degree in human resource development, and who is working toward a
doctorate degree from George Washington University, has also helped
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government officials promote diversity
while continuing to develop her business.2001 Nominees and Inductees from Lexington