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New Marker, Annual Fest Highlight Lexington’s African-American Community

Posted at 11:50 AM, Sep 09, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-09 11:50:31-04

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lexington is celebrating its annual Roots and Heritage Festival, highlighting the city’s African-American history.

On Saturday, that history gained a permanent reminder with the unveiling of a new historical marker.

The sign celebrates the history of the Deweese Street neighborhood, which served as the heart of Lexington’s African-American housing and business district during the city’s segregated past.

Those attending said it is important to keep the city’s history alive.

“These neighborhoods continue to change,” said Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman James Brown. “We’ve got to do everything we can to ensure that the history is not erased, not forgotten.”

And there’s a lot of history to celebrate this weekend, with this year marking 30 years of the Roots and Heritage Festival, 50 years of the Urban League and 70 years of the Lyric Theater.

“We’ve got a lot of young people here today who have no idea how vibrant Deweese Street was, at one time,” said P.G. Peeples, president of the Urban League-Fayette County. “I mean it was the hub of the city, the African-American city.”