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Host resigned his cabinet position in 2005 but agreed to continue as chair of the Louisville Arena Task Force (LATF). Its members agreed that Louisville needed a new arena but disagreed on the location. “Papa” John Schnatter, University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, and Mayor Jerry Abramson all held strong opinions about the best site. The LATF eventually selected a riverfront location, with Schnatter casting the lone dissenting vote. Host then became chair of the Louisville Arena Authority (LAA), working with Louisville civil rights leaders to ensure that minorities were hired on the construction project and overseeing an extremely complex bond issue. Host and the LAA guided the construction project through to completion, and the KFC Yum! Center opened in 2010. Financing of the arena faced some initial criticism, but fears of default have proved to be unfounded. The KFC Yum! Center provides Kentucky with one of the best venues for sports and entertainment in the country.

This chapter focuses on the many difficulties and changes experienced by the seminary's following its move to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1877. By 1895, none of the seminary's founders remained, marking the end of the institution's first age. The founding faculty steered the seminary through the severest trials. Time after time, when the death of the seminary was at hand, they refused to abandon it, and God blessed their stubborn faithfulness with sufficient support to continue the enterprise, at least until the next crisis. By the early 1890s, their labors and sacrifices succeeded in establishing the seminary on a permanent foundation, with a secure endowment and a marvelous campus.

The First Division was transferred in September 1920 to Camp Dix, New Jersey. In Louisville, hundreds of the officers and men had married Kentucky girls. As soon as they were settled at Camp Dix, Charles began writing a history of the First Division. General Douglas MacArthur, who was the superintendent at West Point, asked Charles to let him bring the first and third classes of the Corps of Cadets to Camp Dix for summer training with the First Division. Charles' son was a member of the third class. They found Camp Dix in a badly deteriorated condition. So, the buildings were repaired, railroads fixed to the target range, and living conditions improved. Charles had arranged with the War Department to have First Division officers and men detailed to the duty of compiling the records of the First Division in the War Department.

The introduction portrays the scene at the Paul Rusch Festival Yatsugatake County Fair. Initially, it appears to be like any other American harvest festival, but the event takes place in the highlands 120 miles northwest of Tokyo. It explains why the Japanese would honor the Kentuckian Rusch, someone they called the “red-headed foreigner,” outlining the arc of Rusch’s life, from an altar boy in Louisville, Kentucky, to a military intelligence officer who walked the halls of the Imperial Palace and interacted with royalty, prime ministers, captains of industry, and the rich and powerful in both America and Japan. Rusch took stands on racial injustice and worked to uplift the poor people of rural Japan, but at some points he compromised his religious principles as he became involved in the dark intrigue of America’s Cold War policy. Rusch was also something of a con man, a kind of Robin Hood who bent and broke the rules to forward the cause of helping people or promoting his own pet projects. Rusch was instrumental in the rebuilding of the postwar Episcopal Church in Japan.

Chapter 1 traces Paul Rusch’s early life in Louisville as the son of a grocer and as a soldier in World War I. After the war, Rusch led an effort to establish a bohemian art colony in Louisville, though his venture eventually went bankrupt and landed Rusch in court. Rusch left Kentucky and then on a lark volunteered to help rebuild the Tokyo and Yokohama YMCA branches after the Great Kanto Earthquake. His connections at Holy Trinity Church in Tokyo led to positions on the Rikkyo University faculty and as a fund-raiser for St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo. As Rusch worked to convert young Japanese men to Christianity by relaunching the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, Japan was swept up in political and social turmoil and militarism. Along the way, he staged the first organized game of American football in Japan and laid the foundation for Japan’s collegiate football league. Dr. Rudolf Teusler mentored Rusch during tours in America, honing Rusch’s skills in fund-raising, expanding his network to include wealthy patrons, and shaping Rusch’s staunch anti-Communist views.

This chapter examines Fanny's family life after the end of the war. It discusses the increasing hostility of postwar Louisville toward the Federal government, and the role of the Federal courts, where Fanny's husband served as court clerk, in enforcing the new laws regarding African American rights. It also looks at Andrew Ballard's brief tenure as political editor of Louisville's Republican newspaper. Fanny suffered several emotional blows during this time, including the death of her father, the death of her daughter, and the decline and death of her husband. This was also the period in which she and Cecelia reconnected in Louisville, and Fanny bequeathed some small tokens of affection to her former slave in her will.

Kentucky became intensely pro-Southern after the war, a fact reflected in the rise of the old Confederate press. Some of the papers did not survive the conflict, but many did. Haldeman returned to Louisville and restarted the Courier, which soon had a greater circulation than both the Journal and the Democrat. In 1868 he bought out his rivals. The new paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal, was Democratic and relatively moderate. Its editor was the storied Henry Watterson, a former Confederate soldier and journalist. The Yeoman was back in business, too. Ironically, though, the Statesman’s new owners turned the paper Republican. Other secessionist organs such as the Covington Journal,Cynthiana News,Hickman Courier, and Paducah Herald resumed publication as conservative Democratic organs. Whereas the rebel editors and publishers had represented the minority opinion during the war, they found themselves in step with most Kentuckians afterward. Yet the question remains: was the Lincoln administration justified in suppressing hostile newspapers?

This chapter focuses on an ordinance passed by the Louisville Board of Aldermen making it illegal to discriminate based on race in any place of business open to the general public, the first such law, according to Mayor William O. Cowger, “in any major city in the South.” It notes that passage of the ordinance, like the peaceful school integration of 1956, won Louisville national acclaim as an “All American City” and marked the high point of its reputation as a regional leader in race relations. It provides however, that this historic legislation did not arise in a vacuum; rather, the Louisville open accommodations struggle coincided with a region-wide wave of mass demonstrations for jobs and freedom, as the slogan of the 1963 march on Washington put it.

This chapter looks closely at Schuman first three mature dance scores: Undertow, Night Journey, and Judith. It explores the nature of Schuman's collaborations with Antony Tudor and Martha Graham and examines the similarities and differences in these working relationships. Attention is also given on how these three works were commissioned, with a particular emphasis on the role of the Louisville Orchestra in creating the possibility for Graham's “dance concerto” Judith.

Voters had four candidates to choose from in the presidential election of 1860. The Kentucky press endorsed three of the hopefuls, the winner not among them. The Louisville papers reflected the divisions in the state. The Journal endorsed Constitutional Unionist John Bell; the Courier rallied behind Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, a Kentuckian; the Democrat lined up with Stephen A. Douglas, the Northern Democrat; and no paper of any consequence (perhaps no paper at all) supported the Republican Lincoln. Bell carried the state, followed by Breckinridge, Douglas, and Lincoln. The war of words over the presidential race became even more heated during the secession crisis. The future of the Union was at stake in the former; Kentucky’s future hung in the balance in the latter.

This chapter focuses on educational and housing segregation prevailing during the period. It notes that the U.S. Supreme Court had issued the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas ruling, declaring segregation in public education unconstitutional. It further notes that over the next few years, the Louisville Board of Education, peacefully integrated public schools, achieving national and even international praise. It also reports that in the newly developed suburb of Shively, a violent confrontation over residential segregation brewed where a black family had moved into a home on Rone Court and faced a rising wave of harassment and intimidation. It observes that in both episodes activists relied on interracial cooperation to challenge the racial status quo, and the resulting events garnered national media attention that shaped Louisville's reputation. It notes that the educational and housing segregation were inextricably linked because Louisville tied school attendance to residence.

Green, though still a slave under Dobyns, began preaching in Flemingsburg, 18 miles distant, in 1853, though he had to be home by dark. In 1855 he started a church in Paris, over 40 miles from Maysville, preaching as well in Bracken and Lewis counties. In 1853 he purchased the freedom of his sister Harriet. In 1855 his Maysville church purchased lot to build on. He began alternating his Sundays between the Paris and Maysville churches. Dobyns allowed him to travel as far as Georgetown and Louisville for his preaching. His freedom to travel may have been due to Dobyns's having retired from his wholesale business. In 1856, he bought his freedom. But the Panic of 1857 ruined Dobyns, and to save Green's wife and children from being sold, a group of white citizens loaned Green $850 to buy them. Dobyns committed suicide in late 1859.

In July 1884, at the very moment Gould was heading west to start a new life, Elisha Green was facing the breakup of both his congregations. A younger generation was chafing under his old-school leadership, aspiring to the middle class and an uneducated former slave did not seem the man to lead them there. Both churches survived, while giving birth to two new ones: Zion Baptist in Paris and Plymouth Baptist in Maysville. Plymouth was the brainchild of the Rev. B. Andrew Franklin of Louisville, of whose sexual scandals there the Maysville Baptists may not have been aware. In the fall of 1884, Green campaigned for William H. Wadsworth's election to Congress. This chapter details the political situation in Kentucky at that time. On Nov 27, 1884, Green, now a widower, married a much younger woman.

This chapter describes the process by which Fanny was educated to the duties and challenges of slave ownership. Cecelia was purchased as an infant by Fanny's father and eventually became Fanny's personal property, and the chapter discusses the evolving relationship between the two girls. It also delves into Fanny's family history and suggests how her father's attitudes shaped Fanny's views on slavery and slave management.

This chapter describes Fanny's life after Cecelia's escape. Wealthy, socially prominent, and still reliant on the service of slaves, Fanny enjoyed life among Louisville's social elite during the 1850s. This chapter also describes her courtship and eventual marriage to Andrew Jackson Ballard, a Louisville lawyer. It examines historical patterns of courtship and the gender expectations that attended Fanny's new role as wife and mother.

This chapter chronicles the life of Fanny and her family during the Civil War. Helped by her husband's government post and with her sons too young to fight, Fanny suffered few of the deprivations that marked residents in other regions of the South. Still, as Louisville and Kentucky turned increasingly hostile to the Republican administration that her husband served, Fanny and her family felt an increasing degree of isolation due to the wartime tensions that marked Louisville during this period.

After the war, Cecelia and William moved back to Louisville. This chapter looks at their experiences in the context of African American life in this period. Cecelia and William faced persistent racial discrimination and low wages for hard work. In the mid 1880s, William disappeared while looking for work, and Cecelia was left alone. This chapter describes her ultimately successful efforts to secure a Civil War widow's pension, and analyzes the workings of the pension system. It also looks at her daughter's marriage to Alexander Reels, and her support for the aging Cecelia. It also describes Cecelia's renewed connection with Fanny and, after Fanny's death, her correspondence with Rogers Clark, Fanny's son.

This chapter describes how Louisville interests tried to persuade the KHSAA board to return the state high school basketball tournament to Louisville, over the objections of Lexington supporters. Louisville experienced racial unrest after African Americans boycotted a local movie theater that refused to admit blacks to a showing of Porgy and Bess, which featured an all-black cast. For this and other reasons, Lexington was the preferred site for the state tournament, and it took a secret vote of KHSAA board members to return the event to Louisville. The Lincoln players were hoping for a rematch with Louisville Central, but the Yellowjackets were upset in the regional tournament by Flaget High School. Flaget's African American point guard John McGill was also an outstanding tennis player who had spent the previous summer traveling as Arthur Ashe's doubles partner.