Civil Rights

#3

Civil Rights

Sign #3 at Broadway Baptist Church, 121 W. Broadway

Like most cities in the South during the Jim Crow Era, Winchester had segregated schools, churches, businesses, and recreation areas, “White” and “Colored” restrooms and drinking fountains in public facilities. Most of the Main Street merchants did not welcome African Americans. Movie theaters had separate entrances and seating areas.

Jennie Bibbs Didlick (1908-2004)

Sometimes called Winchester’s Rosa Parks. A graduate of Howard University, she taught school in Winchester and later in Lexington where she was the principal at Booker T. Washington School. After being asked to sit in the back of a bus while traveling to her job, she filed a lawsuit against the Transit Authority and won a financial settlement. This occurred a decade before Rosa Parks’ Alabama lawsuit.

For more about Jennie Didlick.

Rev. Henry E. Baker Sr. (1922-2014)

Rev. Baker was a Broadway Baptist Church pastor, Winchester city commissioner, civil rights activist, and member of the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame. He helped ensure the peaceful integration of Winchester schools in 1956. Henry E. Baker Intermediate School is named in his honor.

For more about Henry Baker.

William Webb Banks (1862-1928)

Born into slavery, university graduate Banks was a newspaperman in Winchester and founder of his own paper, “The Chronicle.” Remembered for his protests over civil rights issues and publication of “A Brief History of the Clark County Negro.”

For more about W. W. Banks.

Rev. Horace D. Colerane Sr. (1857-1922)

In 1913, Rev. Colerane became the first African American elected to the Winchester City Council and represented the predominantly African American 4th Ward. After a local uproar and a petition by councilmen seeking his resignation, Colerane gave up the position without serving.

For more about Horace Colerane.

Winchester Little League

In 1953, Coach Joe Gilliam with William Didlick, Emmett Menifee, Walter Mack, Walter Newell, and Harvey Robinson organized the Winchester Little League for African American youths at Harmon Field. The following year, white kids were allowed to play, which was the first integrated activity in Winchester.

For more about Winchester Little League.

1954 Dodgers with managers Jim Chenault (far left) and Walter Mack (far right).