Negotiating the Image of the Inner Bluegrass

Abstract

The southern landscape is a visual narrative about continuing changes in cultural values and attitudes affected by race. It is also an instrument of cultural authority where groups and individuals struggle to selectively represent and narrate their pasts. This paper describes the post-bellum history of African American hamlets of the Inner Bluegrass Region of central Kentucky. It explores how preservation of these communities creates opportunities for negotiation between the memories of a painful segregationist past and the celebration of African American history and achievements within the larger story of the Bluegrass.