07/29/2019
Last year, a statue honoring Soror Alice Allison Dunnigan was unveiled at the Newseum in Washington D.C. She was the first African American female correspondent to receive White House credentials and the first black female member of the Senate and House of Representatives press galleries. Sorors were on hand at the Newseum for the unveiling. It was a joyous and truly historical event.
Soror Dunnigan's statue is being transported to its permanent location in her hometown of Russellville, KY. Plans have recently been finalized for the unveiling and installation as part of the August 8th celebration weekend. Separate events during the weekend are being hosted by the Allison-Dunnigan Family and the Seek Museum to commemorate bringing the statue home to Kentucky. International Grand Basileus Deborah Catchings-Smith will attend the Thursday dinner, the 8th of August opening ceremonies, as well as the Friday unveiling. We invite Sigma family in the area to attend these events. Below is information regarding each event scheduled:
EVENT LISTING:
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Farm to Table Fundraiser for the Alice Allison Dunnigan Scholarship Fund
Kentucky African American Heritage Museum - Corner of East 6th Street and South Morgan Street (If raining the location will be the University of Kentucky, Logan County Extension Office, 255 John Paul Rd.). Tickets are $35, $60 per couple. Tickets can be purchased by contacting Dr. Nancy J. Dawson at (270) 847-8726.
1:30 P.M. Walking Tour
2:30 P.M. Reception
3:30 P.M. Brief Remarks
4:00 P.M. Dinner
Opening Ceremony of the "8th of August Celebration"
6:00 P.M., First Baptist Church, 221 S. Spring Street, Russellville, KY
Friday, August 2, 2019
Unveiling and Installation Ceremony for the Soror Alice Allison Dunnigan Statue
4:00 P.M., Corner of East 6th Street and South Morgan Street,
Russellville, KY
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Matt Tipton 5K Walk/Run
7:00 A.M., E. 9th Street, Entry Fee $25
Parade - "The Time is Now"
10:30 A.M., Soror Dunnigan is the Honorary Grand Marshall. The Allison-Dunnigan family will be the Grand Marshals. Local chapters are making plans to participate in the parade.
Emancipation Celebration Concert (Eighth of August Celebration)
7:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M. Backyard of the West Kentucky African American Museum
Transportation Information
Airport: The nearest major airport, Nashville, TN, is 60 miles from Russellville. The Louisville, KY airport is the next closest.
Hotel: The nearest 4-star hotels are 25-30 miles away in Bowling Green, KY
Let's help to honor our Soror and her accomplishments!
About Soror Alice Allison Dunnigan
A journalist from rural Western Kentucky, Alice Allison Dunnigan, was a trailblazer who broke barriers for people of color in Washington, D.C., despite facing poverty, segregation, and sexism.
Born in 1906 to a Kentucky sharecropper, Dunnigan was raised in a strict household with parents that emphasized the importance of hard work. She began attending school once a week at age 4 and learned to read before entering the first grade. By age 13, she began writing for the Owensboro Enterprise, a first job that would cultivate a lifelong passion for journalism and reporting.
As she struggled to win her place in the White House press corps, Dunnigan would often face unequal treatment and delayed pay, forcing her to raid restaurant garbage cans just to find a meal some days.
Her unwavering dedication to her cause paid off though. On Jan. 1, 1947, Dunnigan became the head of the Associated Negro Press Washington Bureau where she spent the next 14 years writing stories that would be printed in over 100 African American newspapers across the country. The year also saw Dunnigan become the first black female member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives press galleries. In 1948, she became a White House correspondent, making her the first African American woman to hold a press pass to the nation's highest political forum.
Dunnigan eventually left her seat in the press galleries in 1960 to join Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign for the Democratic nomination. Though John F. Kennedy won the nomination, Dunnigan was asked to continue working with the White House as the education consultant on the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. She went on to work for the U.S. Department of Labor as well as the President's Council of Youth Opportunity.
After leaving the White House, Dunnigan returned to writing. She received more than 50 journalism awards throughout her life. Following her death in 1983, she was posthumously inducted into the Black Journalist Hall of Fame.
The statue of Dunnigan, based on a photograph of the reporter on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, was created by Kentucky artist Amanda Matthews and debuted at the Newseum in Washington last September. It will be installed on the grounds of the West Kentucky African American Heritage Center.
About the 8th of August Celebration
On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slaves held in locations in conflict with the United States were henceforth free. Black communities in Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina have observed Emancipation Day on that day ever since. Not so elsewhere in Appalachia.
When Union soldiers took control of an area, they would, amongst other things, read the proclamation and enforce it. Because of this, various states, territories, and municipalities celebrate emancipation on the day when the law was enforced in their region.
Tennessee and Kentucky, for example, have long informally recognized August 8 as the day. As early as 1875, the African American community in the vicinity of Greene County, TN had begun to hold annual celebrations on August 8th, known as the "Eighth of August Celebration" according to local accounts in The Greeneville American. Last April Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen went a step further and signed House Bill No. 207 into law, officially recognizing August 8 as "Emancipation Day" in Kentucky.
