From the earliest moments of Kentucky’s recorded history, the lives of African-Americans have been intricately woven into the fabric of the state.

At Kentucky’s recent 28th Annual Equal Employment Opportunity Conference, the Commonwealth’s Personnel Cabinet Secretary presented the annual Charles W. Anderson Laureate Award to Gerald L. Smith, associate professor of history in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences.

Associate professor of history and UK alumnus Gerald Smith hopes to continue researching the connection between King and religion.

Members of the public and especially young people are encouraged to attend "Aiming for New Heights," a celebration of the Lexington Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the group of black and white individuals largely responsible for Kentucky’s civil rights movement.

University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences history associate professor Gerald Smith loved his time on campus so much as an undergraduate and graduate student, he decided to return to his alma mater to share his passion for history.

Gerald Smith has spent a lifetime studying the nation’s African-American leaders, including the formative years of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Six University of Kentucky professors have recently been named recipients of the UK Alumni Association 2013 Great Teacher Award.

Professor Gerald Smith travels to Paducah, Ky., to meet with former professional football player and discuss his Kentucky ancestors at the McCracken County Courthouse. The UK historian gives Jerome Bettis information and insight on members of his mother's family who lived around the western Kentucky community.