Show notes
Built with slave labor, Jessamine County, Kentucky, has a history that includes over a dozen lynchings, Jim Crow codes, and continuing racial inequities—all overseen by a Confederate statue on the courthouse lawn.Like Confederate defender Brandon, Rev. Robert Gates cares very much about history. But the Confederate statue doesn’t speak for him. From his pulpit at the Historic Camp Nelson Baptist Church, he tells uncomfortable stories about Jessamine’s past that white residents don’t want to hear, violent stories not reflected by the statue on the courthouse lawn.Gates’s history in Jessamine County goes way back. His grandfather, whose living memory dates back to the 1890s, lived here when the Confederate statue went up. He was here when a young Black man named Tom Brown was lynched. And then he passed on those memories to his son, Gates’s father. To this day, the extended Gates family refuses to walk by the statue. When they need to do business in the courthouse, they enter through the back to avoid the statue and the site of the lynching. It’s as if Jim Crow never ended.EngageCheck out our website at rebelonmain.com.To support future creative projects, contribute here: rebelonmain.com/support.Email [email protected] to let me know what you think of this episode of Rebel on Main.Please give a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.Timestamps41:35 David heads to the public library to read old copies of the Jessamine Journal on microfilm.Transcript: Visit www.rebelonmain.com/episode3/transcript.ResourcesFor pictures of the graveyard in Maren’s backyard, video of the outdoor drama, and photographs of the lynching spoon, head to rebelonmain.com/episode3.The Central Kentucky Slavery InitiativeDocumenting Racial Violence in KentuckyGeorge Wright, Racial Violence: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings”Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its PhasesJames Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Treehttps://eji.org/reports/lynching-in-america/Production teamWriter and Host: David R. SwartzOriginal Music, Sound Design, and Mixing: Barry BlairStory Editor: Stephen SmithArtistic Design: Josh Smith and Lisa Weaver SwartzNext episode: In Episode 4—Jenna’s Petition—David talks with a local homeschooler who wants to destroy the statue.