You are serving as one of three co-editors for the forthcoming Kentucky African American Encyclopedia. How important is it to have a written history of the Commonwealth’s African American legacy?
The encyclopedia will provide the missing part of Kentucky's history as it documents the Commonwealth's diversity. It will serve as the authoritative reference tool on blacks in Kentucky. People need to know the total story of the state's history, especially the contributions of other races, to better appreciate and understand one another. Initially our people were enslaved, but since that era we have played significant roles in shaping the commonwealth and the nation. For African Americans, especially our schoolchildren, the encyclopedia will be a source of pride in the accomplishments of other African Americans in their home communities. Everyone wants to know that they come from people who have made contributions to this country and that their history matters. For too long, many black accomplishments have been left out of our history texts and the encyclopedia will fill in those gaps in Kentucky’s history.

As you have gathered information for the encyclopedia, what has surprised or impressed you the most?
One of the things that has impressed me has been the many grass roots efforts to document and preserve Kentucky's black heritage. Last summer Gerald Smith (encyclopedia co-editor) and I began traveling across the western part of the state spreading the word about the encyclopedia and trying to locate resources for the volume. We went to Paducah, Owensboro, Hickman, Murray, Henderson, and Hopkinsville. What we found were people in each community who were setting up black history museums, preserving historic black sites, writing histories of their black community or cemetery, or establishing community groups to do all these activities. It was so much more than we had hoped to find and since that time, I've heard about similar efforts in other small communities. These local projects will greatly assist our research efforts with the encyclopedia and hopefully we will be able to get some of the history buffs in these communities to write some of the entries as well.

How did you become involved in the project?
For several years I had written essays on various Kentucky African Americans, which were subsequently published in “Notable Black American Women, Book II (1996),” “Kentucky Women (1997),” “Notable Black American Men (1999)” and the “Encyclopedia of Louisville (2002).” I thought it would be a good idea to have a similar collection of biographies just about black Kentuckians. I submitted a proposal to the University Press of Kentucky to write a book about noteworthy Kentucky African Americans. Steve Wrinn, who is the director of the University Press, didn't think there would be enough material for the publication, but he later discussed my modified version of my proposal with Dr. John Hardin at Western Kentucky University. Steve's idea was an encyclopedia that would include not only individuals, but places, events, organizations and other topics on the African American experience in Kentucky. After John and I agreed that this would be a project of interest to both of us, Steve invited Dr. Gerald Smith at the University of Kentucky to also join the project. Then the three of us developed a detailed proposal which resulted in the current Kentucky African American Encyclopedia Project.

How has writing the encyclopedia enhanced your teaching?
One of the ways the encyclopedia research will enhance my teaching is by supplementing current text books on a variety of subjects. As I work with our students in class, it is always a goal to make history relevant to them and this can be accomplished by including people, events, places, organizations, etc. from their Kentucky home county. For example, when we teach students about the Modern Civil Rights Movement, they need to know that the struggle for civil rights was fought not only in places named Selma, Birmingham, and Memphis but also in cities across Kentucky with people like Helen Holmes of Frankfort, Frank Stanley Jr. of Louisville, and many others leading the charge.

What are the benefits to the University in having visiting scholars?
Visiting scholars bring a variety of rich resources to college campuses. Many visiting scholars teach, conduct research, provide opportunities for campus scholars to become involved in their research as we're doing with the encyclopedia, fill a disciplinary gap, (or as in my case, provide needed support for existing programs), provide broader curricular offerings which we're also doing, and increase campus diversity.