Five Things to do at the Frazier, Food Safety Pioneer Mary Sweeney’s 1918 Victory Salad, 2012 U of L–UK Basketball “Dream Game,” and More
Good Monday morning,
Depending on your location when you open this letter, you may either be greeting the first morning of spring break or eagerly anticipating its start later this week. Maybe you left spring break behind a long time ago, but you’re ready to celebrate the sights and sounds of a most delightful season. Either way, our city and state have a lot to offer, and the Frazier is a great place to start!
On Saturday, April 9, we will be hosting a Family Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. celebrating the many Kentucky Barrier Breakers featured in the Frazier’s galleries—from Garrett Morgan, an inventor so talented he created both the traffic light and the gas mask, to Willa Brown, the first African American woman to obtain a pilot’s license. It will be a fun-filled day of crafts, specially themed scavenger hunts, tours, story times, and more. We’ll kick off the day with a classical performance from Quartet Dioica, a local string quartet who will perform the works of women composers. The best part: this day is FREE to families in Louisville and Southern Indiana with children under 18, thanks to a generous donor! Just mention that you heard about this day here and come enjoy all we have to offer.
For this Family Day, we’re also hosting a drive for dolls for a storytelling camp hosted by our friends at Bridge Kids International. We are collecting twelve-inch fashion dolls representing people of color. Dolls can be new or used, though articulated dolls (dolls with moving joints) are preferred.
What else is going on at the Frazier this spring, you ask? So much!
The education team kicks off today’s issue of Frazier Weekly with the top five things you can enjoy during a day at the museum.
We continue our celebration of Women’s History Month with two historic Kentuckians named Mary E.: first, Nobie Martin highlights Berea native Mary E. Merritt, the first Black woman to become a licensed nurse in Kentucky; then, Vickie Yates Brown Glisson spotlights food safety pioneer Mary E. Sweeney and her 1918 recipe for victory salad. Hayley Rankin shares artifacts in our collection representing two inspiring women: Senator Georgia Davis Powers and Irish-American dressmaker Madame Glover. Mayor of Douglass Hills Bonnie Jung shares some data on the increase in women running for public office. And Sammie Holmes interviews Corn Island Archaeology principal investigator Anne Bader.
Plus, Brian West reflects on the historic Louisville-Kentucky men’s basketball game of March 31, 2012—ten years ago—and Amanda Egan interviews V Reibel in honor of Transgender Day of Visibility.
Enjoy reading! We hope to see you April 9.
Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth & Family Programs
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
Five Fun Things to do at the Frazier During Spring Break
Looking for fun things to do over spring break? There are plenty of exhibitions, engagements, snacks, and activities at the Frazier to keep you entertained! Here are our top five suggestions.
Education and engagement specialist Shelby Durbin goes on the Great Louisville Hunt, September 4, 2021. Credit: Shelby Durbin.
1. Go on the Great Louisville Hunt! This Frazier original production is an audio-based, drivable scavenger hunt. It’s a great way to see the city, learn some history, and spend time with people you care about. Stop for a picnic midway! Pro tip: go to the Great Louisville Hunt highlight on the Frazier’s Instagram page to see education staff member Shelby Durbin hit the road.
Curator of guest experience Mick Sullivan leads a tour of the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition, February 18, 2022. Credit: Megan Schanie.
2. Take a Guided Exhibition Tour! We love having hometown tourists join us for tours and gallery engagements. We have daily offerings at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m., including guided experiences of Cool Kentucky, West of Ninth, The Spirit of Kentucky®, and more.
3. Explore Cool Kentucky! Not sure what else to do around Kentucky during spring break? Let us be your guide! The Frazier’s first floor exhibition Cool Kentucky highlights everything from Mammoth Cave and the Corvette Museum to Big Bone Lick and the Rosemary Clooney House. Fun at the Frazier can also lead you to your next day trip!
Teaching artist Brian West enjoys Dippin’ Dots ice cream in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition, March 24, 2022. Credit: Shelby Durbin.
4. Get Brain Freeze! Dippin’ Dots began as a wild idea a microbiologist had while flash freezing cattle feed. Today, the company Dippin’ Dots is headquartered in Paducah, Kentucky, and the delicious cold pellets they make are sold all around the world—including at the Frazier’s Museum Store.
5. Watch KentuckyShow! Along with exploring Cool Kentucky, West of Ninth, and all our other galleries, sit for a spell and enjoy KentuckyShow! The 32-minute multimedia presentation will transport you from our Brown-Forman Theatre to some of the most beautiful and notable places in the Commonwealth.
Education Team
Curator’s Corner: Berea-born Red Cross Hospital Nurse Mary E. Merritt
Happy first week of spring! With March coming to a quick close, so does Women’s History Month—even though the honoring of women continues. My name is Nobie Martin, and I have been working as an intern with the Frazier Museum’s collections and curatorial department for the past few months. I’m very happy to write about one particular woman whose story caught my attention while I was assisting with research for the upcoming exhibition The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall.
Photograph of Mary E. Merritt published on section 3, page 12, of the August 14, 1949, issue of the Courier Journal, undated. Credit: Courier Journal.
In the past few years, within the pandemic, we’ve become more aware of the presence of healthcare workers. Since Louisville is such a large hub of hospitals and care offices, it’s no surprise there’s a rich history of healthcare workers in this city, as well. During Women’s History Month, there’s a need to reflect on the women who set the foundation for working in the field of medicine here in Louisville.
Mary E. Merritt (1881–1953) was the first Black woman to become a registered nurse (R.N.) in the state of Kentucky. Yet that is only one of many of her accomplishments. She was very well rounded and lived through a handful of life experiences.
Born in 1881 and raised in Berea, Kentucky, she took college classes at Berea University where her tuition was paid for by teaching in Manchester, Kentucky. She graduated as a professional nurse in 1906 at Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., and received her registered status in 1913. She returned home to Kentucky soon after. She was able to keep a steady stream of jobs between those years: She was a housekeeper for Berea College’s president, a superintendent at Mitchell Hospital in Kansas, and a nurse in the home of Cassius M. Clay.
After a fateful meeting with Lucy Belknap during a trip to New York, Merritt was recommended to the board of the Red Cross Hospital in Louisville. Red Cross Hospital was not associated with the American Red Cross: It was a community-founded hospital for Black Louisvillians and a starting point for Black women who wished to have a career in nursing. The hospital being established at this time was crucial because Jim Crow regulations still prevented Black Louisvillians from receiving treatment. Initially, Merritt only intended to spend one year at the hospital, but one year soon rolled into thirty-four. People’s healthcare needs were going unmet, so Merritt decided to fill the gap.
Merritt and her story are not just notable because of the title of being the first licensed Black nurse in Kentucky, but for having the compassion and integrity it takes to devote a lifetime of care for others, whether it was educating others or working in a Red Cross camp during World War I. Her life narrative is also one of intersectionality: She was a Black woman from a small city, meaning there were multiple marks against her. Her overlapping identities reflect the friends and family we see in Louisville today. Regardless of limitations, she set out to achieve her goals. Merritt possessed a rare attitude of determination and compassion that we’ve seen in nurses, doctors, and technicians alike during the pandemic. It’s an attitude to which the rest of us can aspire.
Sources
“Mary E. Merritt.” Women’s Work in Louisville, Kentucky. University of Louisville Libraries.
“Mary E. Merritt, RN.” Friends of Eastern Cemetery. September 9, 2019.
Nobie Martin
Collections & Curatorial Intern
For the last month, we have watched in shock as Russia has invaded Ukraine and the horrors of war have played out before our eyes. We have been in awe of the bravery and commitment of the Ukrainian citizens to fight for the independence of their country. We have seen the pictures of private sector women with little to no training taking up arms to protect their country. Coincidently, much of this has unfolded during the month of March, a month devoted to honoring women’s contributions to history.
Historically, women have stepped up to assume dangerous and sometimes untraditional responsibilities during times of strife. One such person from Kentucky was Mary E. Sweeney.
University of Kentucky Home Economics College dean Mary E. Sweeney of Lexington, Kentucky, 1917–18. Sweeney was chief of the Home Economics Division of the U.S. Food Administration. Part of the records of the U.S. War Department general and special staffs. Credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
Seniors in a physiological chemistry lab under Miss Mary Sweeney’s direction, c. April 1917. Published in Kentucky High School Quarterly, April 1917. Credit Louis E. Nollau Print File, University of Kentucky Special Collections.
Mary was born in 1879 in Lexington and acquired the necessary education and skills to become an international leader in home economics and family relations at a pivotal time for women. The Morrill Act passed by Congress in 1862 reformed education curricula, particularly at the land grant schools, such as the University of Kentucky. This led to public health and social reforms and a greater recognition of the role of women in the “domestic science” that became known as “home economics,” a curriculum to educate women on the science of food safety, childcare, nutrition, and family health. Mary’s background allowed her to become part of this new curriculum.
Mary taught physics and chemistry before serving for five years in rural Eastern Kentucky where she introduced hot school lunches in rural schools and courses in nutrition and home care. In 1916, Mary was appointed the first dean of the University of Kentucky’s newly formed College of Home Economics. Mary wrote that the decision to move the Home Economics department into a separate college was “the largest and most progressive step that has been taken in the interests of Kentucky women.” She also noted that a graduate from the new college would equally “rank with the man who takes his degree in law or medicine.”
Mary’s background led to her appointment in 1917 as chair of home economics at the newly formed U.S. Food Administration in Washington, D.C., where she trained citizens on how to prepare foods so more rations could be sent to soldiers fighting in World War I. Her efforts led fourteen million Americans to sign pledge cards agreeing to observe wheatless Mondays, meatless Tuesdays and porkless Saturdays. Children signed pledge cards to eat everything on their plates. This effort led Mary to be the primary author of a cookbook in 1918 titled War Cook Book. The cookbook recognizes cooks as “kitchen soldiers” who salute the flag and plan meals that allow certain foods to be sent to the soldiers. Mary would go on to become part of the war effort in both WWI and WWII and receive the U.S. Army citation for bravery under fire in WWII. Mary traveled the world teaching and consulting and eventually became the President of the American Home Economics Association, among many other honors. Her research eventually led to the establishment of the federal Head Start program. Mary was named to the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1965 and died in 1968 and was buried in Lexington, Kentucky.
Mary made a significant contribution to the recognition of the importance of women educators. Her efforts have had a lasting impact on our country and the lives of rural women in many parts of the world. One of the War Cook Book’s recipes found in the chapter titled “Patriotic Salads” is “Victory Salad.” Many of the ingredients for the salad are spring vegetables that are becoming available locally. I included the recipes for both French and cooked dressings that are suggested for the salad, but today we would likely only use one of the dressings.
Recipe for Victory Salad
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked carrots
1 cup cooked potato
1 cup cold cooked peas
1 cup cold cooked beans (green beans or cannellini beans work well)
4 lettuce leaves
For garnish (all are optional):
Whites of 2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
Yolks of 2 hardboiled eggs, forced through a strainer
Sliced pickles
Chopped olives
Parsley
Capers
Celery
Mayonnaise
Ingredients for French dressing:
2 tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice
4 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
Ingredients for cooked dressing:
4 whole eggs or 8 yolks
2 tbsp. sugar or honey or 4 tbsp. corn syrup
1 cup vinegar or fruit juice
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions for French dressing:
Add seasonings to the oil, then beat in the vinegar or lemon juice, adding it a little at a time. French dressing may be made in quantities by placing the ingredients in a bottle and shaking well. Although dressing separates in standing, it may be combined again by shaking thoroughly each time just before serving.
Directions for Victory Salad:
Marinate with French dressing, either together or separately, 1 cup each cooked carrots, cooked potato, cooked cold peas, and cold cooked beans. Arrange on lettuce leaves in 4 sections and cover each one with mayonnaise or cooked dressing.
Garnish as desired.
Directions for cooked dressing:
Heat liquid in the top part of a double boiler and pour slowly into the beaten eggs. Add seasonings and cook the mixture over water until thick. When cool, thin with either plain or whipped cream or beaten egg white. This dressing is especially good for fruit salads. This will make one pint.
Vickie Yates Brown Glisson
Board Member, Frazier History Museum
Guest Contributor
Museum Store: Rosie the Riveter Umbrella
Rosie the Riveter umbrella sold in the Frazier’s Museum Store. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Stay dry from spring showers this Women’s History Month and look cool doing it! You can pick up this Rosie the Riveter umbrella in our Museum Store along with a lot of other fun Rosie-themed items! Rose Will Monroe, the real-life inspiration for Rosie, was from a small town in Pulaski County, Kentucky. The umbrella is for sale for $24.
Collections Blog: Outfits From Senator Georgia Davis Powers and Dressmaker Madame Glover
Have you seen our latest blog posts about Georgia Davis Powers and Annie Casey “Madame” Glover?
Gray suit jacket and skirt Senator Georgia Davis Powers wore, c. 1960s–80s. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Ivory day dress Madame Glover made in 1905. Cotton with eyelet embroidery and lace. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Click here to read about artifacts in our permanent collection that help tell the story of two impressive Kentucky women. Senator Powers was a leader in Kentucky’s civil rights efforts, organizing the March on Frankfort in 1964, while Madame Glover was a working-class Irish immigrant who became the most sought-after dressmaker in Louisville at the turn of the twentieth century.
Visit our homepage to explore more highlights from the Frazier’s collection.
Hayley Rankin
Manager of Collection Impact
On This Date: UK Men’s Basketball Beats U of L in the Final Four, March 31, 2012
Thursday will be the tenth anniversary of the third “Dream Game” between the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville men’s basketball teams. On March 31, 2012, Rick Pitino’s overachieving Louisville team lost to John Calipari and the preseason favorite Kentucky Wildcats, 69–61, at the Superdome in New Orleans.
This would be only the third time since 1982 that the schools had ever met during NCAA Tournament play, and the first time they would meet during the Final Four. With that mutual berth in 2012 came a convergence of narratives and traditions, and, one fistfight at a dialysis center.
Kentucky was led by freshman center—and consensus National Player of the Year—Anthony Davis. As the number one recruit out of high school, Davis led the Wildcats to an overall number one seed in the 2012 tournament and a sterling record of 32 wins and only 2 losses. It seemed inevitable that the Cats would get “number 8,” as many fans called it.
By comparison, the ceiling for the 2012 Cards was the Sweet 16 or a flame out in the first round, as they had done the year before. As the Cards had lost 4 of their last 6 regular season games, that projection seemed like a stretch to the most diehard Louisville fans. But to everyone’s surprise, Louisville, led by junior point guard Peyton Siva, not only won the Big East tournament, they also went on to defeat higher seeded teams during the NCAA tournament to reach the 2012 Final Four.
Brian West poses in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition wearing a t-shirt he bought in 2012, March 24, 2022. Credit: Shelby Durbin.
The Cards from the beginning were overmatched by the more talented Cats. Darius Miller made timely shots to keep the Cats on pace to victory, and Davis’s size and presence in the paint dictated where the Cards could go in the low post. Still, by the midway mark of the second half, Siva made a three point shot from Bourbon Street to tie the game at 49-49. Yet, the defensive play of Davis down low, and the size advantage of Kentucky’s guards over Louisville’s backcourt, was too much for the Cards to overcome. Kentucky bested “little brother,” and two days later went on to beat the Kansas Jayhawks, winning the National Championship for the first time in 13 years.
However, legend has it that after the final buzzer of the previous game, Anthony Davis stood before the crowd and yelled, “This is my state! My state!” Regardless of the veracity of that statement, it is indisputable that this game was of special significance for both programs. And, despite the passage of time, and some tarnishing of the luster of Louisville’s 2012 run, it still holds a special place in the hearts of many Kentuckians.
Brian West
Teaching Artist
Bridging the Divide
Jefferson County League of Cities President Bonnie Jung on Women Elected Officials
As we close out Women’s History Month in March, I would like to share some progress being made on the political front with women, how we are bridging divides. Without a doubt, we still have a long way to go, but strides are being made. At a recent event I attended, the executive director of the Jefferson County League of Cities approached me and said I needed to talk with Bonnie Jung, the Mayor of Douglass Hills and the current president of JCLC, about that progress in their eighty cities. I talked to Bonnie and asked her to share the numbers with me and you—not just the numbers about mayors, but city commissioners and councilmembers, too.—Rachel Platt, Director of Community Engagement
More women are serving as elected officials in Kentucky than ever before. At a Kentucky League of Cities Women in Government Conference in mid-March, there were 167 women in attendance from all parts of the Commonwealth. As the Mayor of the City of Douglass Hills and a Kentucky League of Cities board member, I was privileged to be among them.
This rising participation by women in government is outstanding considering we are less than two years past the 100-year mark of women receiving the right to vote.
We have a great illustration of the increasing impact of women elected officials here in Jefferson County. Currently, the entire Executive Board of the Jefferson County League of Cities is composed of women. I am honored to serve as president of JCLC, which represents the eighty Home Rule Cities in Jefferson County that bring government closer to home for their citizens and provide them with services they want and need.
In Louisville Metro, twenty-four cities have women mayors, 111 women are city commissioners, and seventy-six women are city councilmembers (including on Louisville Metro Council). In Kentucky, thirty-two of the 138 legislators (23.2%) are women.
Those statistics show women are choosing to run for public office. I applaud them. But we have to keep that voice of encouragement going so more women will do so.
As a young girl, people mentored me and told me I could be involved in government, so I believed I could. The late Kentucky Sen. Wendell Ford once said to me: “Little girl, you can do anything you set your mind to.” His words stuck with me.
We need to keep telling girls there is a place for them in government because they can make a positive difference. I’ve seen and I’ve lived it. Let’s keep it going!
Bonnie Jung
President, Jefferson County League of Cities
Guest Contributor
History All Around Us
Corn Island Archaeology Founder and Principal Investigator Anne Bader
On display in the Beecher Terrace case in the Frazier’s “West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation” exhibition is a selection of about one hundred objects Corn Island Archaeology (CIA) recovered during its excavation of the Beecher Terrace site in the Russell neighborhood of Louisville. Corn Island Archaeology was founded in 2005 by U of L and UK alum and archaeologist Anne Bader. For Women’s History Month, we asked Corn Island laboratory manager Sammie Holmes to interview Anne about her experience in the field.—Simon Meiners. Communications & Research Specialist
Logo of Corn Island Archaeology. Credit: Corn Island Archaeology.
Corn Island Archaeology founder and principal investigator Anne Bader, undated. Credit: Corn Island Archaeology.
Anne Bader founded Corn Island Archaeology on the premise of making archaeology about the community in which she serves. She wanted to connect people to history, through archaeology, in a way they can experience, interpret, and interact with their homeland. Archaeology is important not only to experience, she says, but to learn from as well.
As a college student at the University of Louisville, she started out digging in the dirt before she even began taking archaeology classes. She was, indeed, one of very few women in the program at the time. She didn’t let this stop her: She had known since the sixth grade she was going to be an archaeologist. As a child, she had fallen in love with the beauty of archaeological science, the idea of walking in the footsteps of the past and solving the puzzles archaeological interpretation provides. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree from U of L, she obtained a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky.
Anne had heard stories of other women archaeologists hitting roadblocks with male coworkers and employees. But thankfully, she said, she has never experienced that herself. She told me that only once was she intimidated by a man—but not because he was man. It was because she was the one person telling him, a man backed by a line of excavators, he could not start construction on a site because the site had cultural significance.
All in all, Anne considers her tenure in archaeology to be an exciting, informative, and truly enjoyable experience. She loves her job through and through. She’s always been an innovator and has never shied away from being a woman in the field. She never really thought anything of it, but she’s happy to hear more and more women are flocking to archaeological science—getting into the research, site excavation, and more.
Logo of Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society. Credit: Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society.
When Anne founded Corn Island Archaeology in July 2005, she wanted to make sure archaeology was available to anyone who wanted to participate. She made it a personal goal to not only help out the state and city agencies, as well as many other local companies, in making sure their sites were excavated with care, but also that the communities in which these projects took place had access to the information the projects revealed. In conjunction with the founding of Corn Island, Anne also started the Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society for anyone who is interested in archaeology.
When I asked Anne why she named the company “Corn Island,” she responded, “The island is the crossroads between Native American pre-contact and historic archaeology in Louisville. It is a connection to our past that continues to tie us to our present.” One of her favorite Corn Island projects was an excavation at the site of a Native American village in southern Indiana. Excavating the site provided great insight into the peoples of the midwestern area during the Mississippian period of archaeological history. When I asked Anne what her favorite site of her career was, she told me it was her first. “I was told it’s all downhill from here because I got to start off on such a beautiful, culturally rich excavation . . . But I didn’t care. I love what I do and have had some great sites since that one.”
Corn Island Archaeology works on many sites from Native American pre-contact to historic periods and everything in between. As a woman working for a woman-owned business (one of the few woman-owned Cultural Resource Management firms in the state of Kentucky), I find it awe inspiring and deeply rewarding. Women like Anne, and Anne herself, are part of what inspired me to enter the field. Even when we were all told we probably couldn't do it (for myriad reasons), we continued to prove the doubters wrong. Women have added much to the field in terms of both new insights and different life experiences that connect people back to those historic people living their everyday lives.
From left, Corn Island Archaeology team members Jonas Yates, David Schatz, and Sara Deurell at an excavation site, 2017. Credit: Corn Island Archaeology.
What does Anne recommend to young women, and men too, who would like to enter the field of archaeology? Learn all you can, get that degree, and learn some more. Specialize in something, make yourself an expert in that area, market yourself, and, above all, persevere. If you keep going for that dream, one day, you’ll get it—if not in the way you initially expected.
Corn Island Archaeology offices in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, during the 2019 Gaslight Festival, September 12, 2019. Credit: Corn Island Archaeology.
If you ever want to tour the Corn Island headquarters or chat with Anne Bader, send her an email at abader@ciarch.com or stop by the office during the Gaslight Festival in Jeffersontown one September to watch archaeology in real time. You can also see artifacts from excavations at the West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation exhibition at the Frazier History Museum or at the Falls of the Ohio in Clarksville, Indiana. The Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society meets every second Saturday of the month and is always welcome to new members—so you can chat with Anne there, as well!
Sammie Holmes
Laboratory Manager, Corn Island Archaeology
Guest Contributor
International Transgender Day of Visibility: An Interview With One of Us
As someone who is a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, I must take a moment to celebrate and bring awareness to an important day: the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV), an annual day observed March 31. This Thursday will mark the thirteenth annual TDoV, a day on which we celebrate the resilience of trans and non-binary people and raise awareness of discrimination trans and non-binary people face worldwide.
Kentucky is full of amazing representation from the LGBTQIA+ community! People like Silas House and Sweet Evening Breeze are just a few of them. The next time you visit the Frazier History Museum, make sure you stop by the “LGBTQ Kentucky” section of Cool Kentucky , a permanent exhibition located on the first floor of the museum. We strive to ensure Kentuckians of all kinds are represented in our museum.
Just know that ALL of us, regardless of identity, expression, or orientation, are enough just as we are.
V Reibel, undated. Credit: V Reibel.
To honor Transgender Day of Visibility, I interviewed an amazing person, V Reibel. V is a Kentuckian who sheds so much light and love in this world!
Content warning: panic attacks, anxiety, depression.
What is your name?
My name is V Reibel.
What are your pronouns?
My pronouns are they/them. (In drag, my pronouns are he/him.)
How do you identify?
I'm trans masculine non-binary (and a drag king).
What is your gender expression?
My gender expression is genderqueer.
What is the difference between gender identity and gender expression?
Gender identity is who you are from the inside; gender expression is how you express yourself to the world. It may be in alignment with your gender identity, or it may not. There’s no wrong way to express your gender (because it’s been made up by society!).
What does being trans masculine non-binary and genderqueer mean to you?
For me, I do not fit neatly into a box. I live somewhere in between and outside of the binaries of male and female. I’ve known this from about the time I was eight but never had the words to articulate what I felt until about two years ago when I discovered the word “non-binary,” meaning, “someone who does not align with the binary social constructs of male and female.” I started using trans masculine as well in addition to non-binary because, while I knew I wasn’t a man or woman, I definitely leaned more to the masculine side of things. Eventually, my desire to express this side of me came through so strong that I decided to physically transition to a more non-binary body. I want the outside of me to match the inside.
What is your profession?
I’m an actor, drag king, and solutions specialist at Verizon. While acting and performing drag are my passions and the two things I’m constantly working on, Verizon helps me pay the bills.
What were some of the pivotal moments in your life that led you to live and identify as you do now? Why?
I never felt comfortable dressing “like a girl.” But that facet of me didn’t surface until I was in graduate school studying acting. I spent two years in Houston: I was hard at work learning everything I could about acting, while also getting to know myself as a human much more intimately. When I reached the end of my education, I was in a university play that required me to dress like an early twentieth-century lady. At the time, it didn’t bother me. I had been acting since I was sixteen and, up until the end of this play, I had played a wide array of ladies, in and out of dresses and wigs. But something odd started to happen. When I would get ready for the show, I would dread going on. I would start to panic; I was afraid I couldn’t keep myself together. It wasn’t until two years later, after many attempts to grapple with this crisis, it became clear to me why: I hated that my garb signified that the person wearing it was a woman. And, internally, I knew this wasn’t an accurate portrayal of who I was. This was probably one of the most significant events that lead to my self-discovery.
What are your responses to the anti-trans laws currently being passed across the country?
I can’t speak for every trans person out there. I can only speak from my own experience. If I had known earlier on in my life that I was transmasc non-binary and could communicate that something wasn’t right to my parents, I would have. Would I have had the options trans youth have today to live as their fully authentic selves? Probably not. I knew no one who transitioned when I was a kid. But I can guarantee you, if I had access to that kind of healthcare earlier on, I believe I could have addressed the issue and saved myself from the depression and anxiety I felt growing up as a teen and young adult. But how amazing that we have the science and medicine and the resources now to do that for trans youth! To allow that demographic to live their lives as their true selves. That’s all anyone wants to do. It’s nobody else’s business except the person who is trying to improve their life by being their true self.
What do you have to say to your younger self and to all youth who are experiencing the same feelings, thoughts, and questions you once experienced?
Don’t give up. Keep rising every day and doing the best you can. Know in your heart who you are and don’t let anyone tell you different.
Note: The Frazier History Museum is a safe place. But if anyone is ever in need of additional resources—whether to learn or to provide yourself and those around you with the means to navigate these kinds of topics—visit the following links for support.
Additional Resources:
“Trans Day of Visibility.” LGBT Foundation.
Queer Kentucky. Provides services such as “Trans Inclusivity in the Workplace” training.
Amanda Egan
Membership & Database Administrator
Calendar of Events
In Case You Missed It: “Celebrating Ed Hamilton” (Mar. 22)
What a night, it was soooo good we had to share it with you: our sold-out program celebrating the life of Louisville sculptor Ed Hamilton.
From left, Rachel Platt, Andy Treinen, Ed Hamilton, Ed’s wife Bernadette, and their daughter Kendra Hamilton-Wynn comprise the panel at the Frazier’s “Celebrating Ed Hamilton” program, March 22, 2022. Credit: Mick Sullivan.
From left, Bernadette Hamilton, Bing Davis, Ed Hamilton, and Audrey Davis greet one another at the Frazier’s “Celebrating Ed Hamilton” program, March 22, 2022. Longtime friends of the Hamiltons who live in Dayton, Ohio, Bing and Audrey appeared at the program as surprise guests. Credit: Mick Sullivan.
And just a heads up: when you fill a room with folks who love and adore Ed and his family, be prepared for it to last a while.
The first half of the program was a discussion about Ed’s life; the second half consisted of special guests toasting Ed and what he has meant to them, and to us.
Cheers!
Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement
