Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky

Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky (DRVK Project) is a digital archive of biographies, maps, timelines, educational materials, and transcribed articles. The DRVK’s project team came together around a key purpose: humanizing lynching victims beyond accounts that are heavy on statistics and light on personal narrative. As the projects grows, the DRVK”s seeks to expand its reach to make this data available and publicly accessible.  The project team tries to use online sources that are free and open to the public. Where we can’t find or use free materials (usually due to copyright restrictions), we offer transcribed articles for each lynching victim on the transcription database.
 
 
We have two sites! You are currently on the main site which houses biographies and interactive exhibits to explore the history of racial violence in Kentucky.

Click here to start your search of biographies.
 
Our other site acts as a database for our work and contains all of the transcribed articles and historical documents that have been used for our research.
 
Click here to start your search of transcribed articles. 

The project goals are to:

Refute long-standing, but false claims that a milder form of racism existed in Kentucky than in other southern states. This project researches and develops biographies of every person who was lynched in Kentucky between 1880 and 1955 using historical tools like census record data, birth and death certificates, and newspaper articles.
 
Encourage cooperation across the Commonwealth as community members come to terms with the events of the past, memorialize injustice, and encourage reconciliation.
 
Provide undergraduate students with essential experiential learning and encourages career readiness.  Student interns practice the detective work that archival research requires, learning to use microfilm, census records, court transcripts, city directories, property deeds and more, under the careful direction of professor advisors.
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The Commonwealth Institute of Black Studies (CIBS) serves as the administrative host for Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky.
 
To find out more about other projects at CIBS, please click here for the CIBS website.
 
To speak with a specialist about Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky, click here.

FACULTY TEAM

Melanie Beals Goan, Ph.D., August 2021 to the Present
History Interns Supervisor and website content editor. Specialist in Kentucky history, Appalachian history, women and gender in Kentucky, healthcare, undergraduate career development.

Nikki Brown, Ph.D., August 2021 to the Present
Managing editor.  Specialist in African American women’s history, race and visual culture, Jim Crow laws, and long Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century

Jennifer Hootman, MLIS, M.A., August 2021 to the Present
Librarian, Digital Design and Data Management.  Specialist in Digital Scholarship, History

Lynn Roche Phillips, Ph.D., August 2021 through May 2022
Geography Interns Supervisor and website content editor. Specialist in cartography, ARC/GIS, sprawl, urban planning, growth management, political culture

2023-2024 Academic Year

STUDENT INTERNS

Bridan Braun
Research Co-Editor, Article transcriber. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2025

Andrew Chan
Research Co-Editor, Article transcriber. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2025

Lexxi Colbert
Research Co-Editor, Article transcriber. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2026

Katie Craig
Research Co-Editor, Article transcriber. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2025

Jordan Gray
Research Co-Editor, Article transcriber Major: History. Graduation: Fall 2025

Hayden Hancock
Research Co-Editor, Map creator. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2025

Kailly Oum
Research Co-Editor, Article transcriber. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2025

Ariane Ribiero
Graduate Intern, Research Co-Editor, History, MA. Graduation: Spring 2024

Grace Yi
Research Co-Editor, Article transcriber Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2026

2022-2023 Academic Year

Spring 2023 interns

Martin Alfaya

Research Co-Editor and Data specialist. Major: History. Graduation: Fall 2023

Alana Blackman

Research Co-Editor, Essay on Ida B. Wells and journalism in the 1890s, Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2024

Alyssah Robinson

Research Co-Editor. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2025

Myla Roper

Research Co-Editor. Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2025

STUDENT Interns

Fall 2022 History Undergraduates in the course, HIS 351/AAAS 400: History Detectives

Martin Alfaya
Research Co-Editor, Major: History. Graduation: Fall 2023

Taylor Biggs
Research Co-Editor, Major: ICT (Information, Communication, and Technology). Graduation: Spring 2023

Ethen Kestler
Research Co-Editor, Major: History. Graduation: Spring 2023

Elijah Odorizzi
Research Co-Editor, Major: Secondary Social Studies Education. Graduation: Fall 2023

Dylan Post
Research Co-Editor, Major: Major: U.S. Culture and Business Practices. Graduation: Spring 2024

Kiara Rizzuti
Research Co-Editor, Major: Secondary Social Studies Education. Graduation: Spring 2023

Farris Shakadih
Research Co-Editor, Major: U.S. Culture and Business Practices. Graduation: Spring 2023

2021-2022 Academic Year

Faculty Team

STUDENT Interns

Dilni Abeyrathne
ARC/GIS Undergraduate Director of Mapping; Major: Environmental & Sustainability Studies, Geography, International Studies

 
 
Shaina Belford
Research Co-Editor, Major: Philosophy, French

Qwenton Briggs
Research Co-Editor, Major: History. Graduated Spring 2021

Kayleigh Dayka
Research Co-Editor, Major: History

Gracie Henderson
Research Co-editor, Public Relations coordinator, Major: History

Joe Noce
Research Co-Editor, Major: History. Graduated Spring 2021

Sarah Roach
ARC/GIS, Story-Map content creator and editor, Major: Geography

Cameron Smith
Research Co-Editor, Major: History, Philosophy