Oral History Interview with Ken Litchfield

ETHEL WHITE: This is a conversation with Ken Litchfield. We are in his office at The Kentucky New Era, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. It is February 15, 2001. My name is Ethel White. If we could start with a little of your own background, a little biography; could you just start from the beginning?

KEN LITCHFIELD: All right. I’m a native of Christian County. I was born seventy-one years ago. I went to school, elementary school, high school. Graduated at Singing Fork High, which has been consolidated since I left. It’s still an elementary school now. Then went, after 1:00high school, I had two years at Western Kentucky at Bowling Green. And then went into the Army for a four-year tour, serving most of the time in Japan. This was during the Korean War. Then when my tour ended, I had my G.I. Bill and came back and went on up to the University of Kentucky to finish my Bachelor’s degree. I had one year left then on the G.I. Bill, so I went up to Columbus and got my Master’s in Political Science at Ohio State. During my 2:00Army tour I had stationed for a while up at Columbus and took classes at night at Ohio State and enjoyed it so that I said, “This is where I want to get my degree.” And so that’s where I wound up. After getting out of Ohio State, and had to employ them to look for me a job. We found an opening at The Courier Journal at Louisville. So I came down as a general reporter and stayed there about a half a year and decided....I was married and had two children then, and the family wanted to come on back to Hopkinsville. And so I returned then and have been here ever since.

WHITE: Okay. Well then since you are a long time 3:00resident in this area, can you, can you paint a picture of what Christian County is like? And particularly what it was like, say, when you were growing up and as a young man. Younger man.

LITCHFIELD: It’s changed it’s aspects quite considerably. When I was growing up it was strictly the center of an agricultural area. It dominated everything, all the businesses in town were farm related. It was strictly an agricultural area. And so, since then, we’ve been moving toward industrial growth; and it’s really changed the situation in the whole community. And 4:00of course, getting Fort Campbell opened in ‘42, at the beginning of World War II, it is, has a very major role in our development at Hopkinsville.

WHITE: You mean economically?

LITCHFIELD: Yes, because of the nearby military base. You can’t realize what the effect of the economy is with Fort Campbell. You know when things boom at Fort Campbell, it spreads up here. And so, you know, not only on sales of merchandise and homes and that; but it’s just a whole general military community 5:00almost. Clarksville, Tennessee is just on the other side and they’re a little closer to it than we are; but it’s Clarksville and Hopkinsville dominate the Fort Campbell situation. So Hopkinsville today is quite a switch from when I was growing up.

WHITE: It’s not the sleepy town perhaps, that it once was?

LITCHFIELD: Right. And of course it’s going to be even more change with the tobacco. You know we had depended greatly on tobacco production, and now it looks like that is going to be falling, and that will put us even more dependent on industrial development; which gets all our attention 6:00in the development now, in the city.

WHITE: Are people scared?

LITCHFIELD: No, no.

WHITE: They’re not. They’re not afraid of what will happen when tobacco finally...

LITCHFIELD: No, no.

WHITE: ...diminishes.

LITCHFIELD: No, they’ll just switch to something else. It hasn’t created any problems for the farmers.

WHITE: What’s the area like socially? I mean social attitudes and mores?

LITCHFIELD: Well, we’re strictly got a Southern flex on our personalities, and it’s strictly--we depend on Southern lore and Southern operations. It’s you know, even more 7:00Southern than the geographic location. (Phone rings) WHITE: Do you want me to pause this?

LITCHFIELD: Please.

WHITE: You were just talking about the Southern flex here.

LITCHFIELD: Oh yeah.

WHITE: I read, I read a, something that The Kentucky New Era puts on the Internet, which had to do with the history of Christian County. And there was a section in there, where it talked about the divisions: for instance during the Civil War, when the Northern part of the county went for the North and the Southern part of the county went for the South. And then it said--then it talked about starting a school, a black school system in eighteen seventy, in the eighteen seventies; and moving black people into political offices before the end 8:00of the nineteenth century. Can you, can you embellish on that anymore? In other words what--it sounds like a mixed fixture, mixed picture, and I wonder whether there has been any fall-out from those early developments?

LITCHFIELD: No, I don’t see any leftover characterizations from that. We’re, with this large black community it’s a--the Southern traits are very apparent. 9:00It’s been one of our problems in the Civil Rights programs, because of that, it’s, we’ve been gradually changing. See with so many new residents, that’s--see that influence changed the whole character of the community; with these people moving in from other areas, you know. That’s one thing--I should--Fort Campbell, that is a major factor in changing the characterization of this community. You see, you can see, look people have come here and been stationed at Fort Campbell. And here I was talking about the economy and all, what’s happened is it’s broadened, all personnel...You 10:00know they stay here and then when they get ready to retire; they just stay, remain in this community. So that is, Fort Campbell has been a major factor from that aspect. Yeah, that’s a...

WHITE: Well now when you were growing up here, for instance, there were separate schools for blacks and whites?

LITCHFIELD: Aye.

WHITE: And do you--what do you remember about--did you ever come in contact with any black people when you were growing up?

LITCHFIELD: Now, I grew up on a farm.

WHITE: Uh huh.

LITCHFIELD: And oh yes, of course a lot of the farm labor were blacks, and so I....And not only that but the household help would be, you know, the cook would be a black. So when I grew up it was that 11:00type of operation.

WHITE: Well, was there ever any trouble in those years?

LITCHFIELD: No, uh uh.

WHITE: Was there an accepted, an accepted agreement on place?

LITCHFIELD: Right, that was the thing, everybody just accepted the way it was. And there was no problems from either side, blacks or whites.

WHITE: Okay, when you came here then in nineteen fifty-six, you came to The New Era. And this is a parenthetical question, was it easy to get a job? Was there a job waiting for you here?

LITCHFIELD: Oh yes.

WHITE: Easy to get a job with this paper?

LITCHFIELD: Oh yes, I got the job before I left the uh, Louisville. I...

WHITE: And what was the....Go ahead.

LITCHFIELD: I had worked here during the summer one of the times, summer vacation 12:00from when I was in school. So I was familiar--I had worked a couple of summers at the radio station in covering news. And then...

WHITE: Radio station here?

LITCHFIELD: WHOP. Right. So I was a lucky thing in getting summer jobs; two summers at the radio station and then the third summer at The New Era. And so you know, when I was up at The Courier Journal, I knew what it was like. I said, “I just believe I’d rather go back to The New Era and go home”. That’s what brought that about.

WHITE: And what was your job when you first came here? Not your summer jobs, but did you start as a...

LITCHFIELD: I was a news reporter.

WHITE: News reporter?

LITCHFIELD: I was covering Courthouse and police beats, and schools.

WHITE: Was there any, 13:00and incorporating the question of race relations or civil rights, in nineteen fifty-six, now that was two years after Brown versus. Board of Education. Was there anything going on? Any fall-out from that court case in this area? That you remember?

LITCHFIELD: Well now, let’s see. We were right in that period, you know there was much of a movement on integration then.

WHITE: There was or was not? What did you say?

LITCHFIELD: There was, yes.

WHITE: In this area?

LITCHFIELD: Right.

WHITE: In this part of the country?

LITCHFIELD: Yes. Well here, I notice I have a note here on Hopkinsville Schools. The first integration of the Hopkinsville public schools, that was in September of ‘58. So you see what a timing it is, that was when it was all....That was the major point of it. And then of course, 14:00that was the first integration in Hopkinsville, ‘58. Then here it is, you can see how long it spread out then, because here is ‘63...

WHITE: You’ve got a newspaper clipping that says, “All local schools to desegregate.” Hmm, interesting. Now that’s the summer of ‘63. So that would be for the Fall.

LITCHFIELD: See, you see, you’ve gone five years there.

WHITE: And did they start, did you say they started with the lower grades?

LITCHFIELD: Right.

WHITE: And gradually took them five years to desegregate...

LITCHFIELD: And that was just to start it. Now here is ‘72...

WHITE: Oh.

LITCHFIELD: ‘Seventy-two...

WHITE: Okay.

LITCHFIELD: And it says, “Schools ask integration delay.” 15:00And they went to court, went to Federal Court to have it delayed. The plan had been approved to integrate completely the school system, but the school system wanted it delayed until they had time to work out all the arrangements and everything. But they didn’t get it delayed, because here’s a note, integration was implemented by November the first,’ seventy-two. So they had to go right on with it. And what happened in all this integration was, they wound up closing all of the black schools and 16:00transferring those students to the other schools that were all white, had been all white.

WHITE: Well now, did you, did you cover this?

LITCHFIELD: I wasn’t covering schools as much.

WHITE: You were not covering school desegregation?

LITCHFIELD: Right.

WHITE: Well do you--but you lived here...

LITCHFIELD: Oh yeah.

WHITE: ...and you were a reporter here. Do you remember anything, anything in particular about this? Do you remember anything you saw or heard?

LITCHFIELD: It was all a very peaceful integration. There was no rioting or major protest or anything. It was a smooth, handled very smoothly. 17:00The fight was mainly just in the courts, you know; and in that manner. But the, you know, the blacks, they protested quite a bit, closing all those schools, the colored schools.

WHITE: Why?

LITCHFIELD: Well they wanted to keep, you know, remain, they had been going there. You know, it was just like doing away with, merging Kentucky with Ohio or something, you know. You lose your identity. You lose everything. Let’s see, we’ve got fifty states, that’s too many. Let’s come down to twenty-five 18:00and see what happens then. Who are you going to, hey, we’ll merge Kentucky and Tennessee. Well you think Kentucky would like that? That’s exactly what happened on schools, exactly.

WHITE: So you’re saying that the blacks didn’t want to integrate either?

LITCHFIELD: They wanted to integrate, but they didn’t want to close all, they wanted to merge...

WHITE: You mean they wanted some of the whites to go to their schools?

LITCHFIELD: Right. Oh yes, I’m sorry. They weren’t against integration. What they were against was having to go to the white school and close theirs, you see? And every one of the black schools were closed, and the students transferred to the white school. And of course, one thing, you can see why, I mean the buildings are all newer and much bigger, better, everything. It was 19:00just a better situation.

WHITE: And is that the reason why they closed the black schools and had the blacks come to the white schools? In other words, it wasn’t, it wasn’t a sort of a pro-white attitude. It was simply better facilities.

LITCHFIELD: Right, larger, newer and everything. I can see why anybody might think, well look here the whites just said they wanted to keep their schools and they’ll close...Well that wasn’t this problem. It was more, larger schools, newer schools, in all respects so everybody came out ahead by doing it that way. And...

WHITE: Well...Okay go ahead.

LITCHFIELD: No, that’s okay.

WHITE: Well, I wonder why do you think it took from nineteen fifty-eight, until nineteen seventy-two 20:00to integrate the schools?

LITCHFIELD: Well, those things you don’t just do overnight, that’s the trouble. You had so many problems to work out and opposition on some things....What do we do, and all that kind of thing. And so even here, you see, after they had already, the plan had been approved from everybody concerned on integration completely, to integrate completely the Christian County school system. And so they’re still in court saying, “Put it off some,” you see, because they filed this suit in U.S. District Court to delay for a year the implementation of the approved plan. 21:00WHITE: Well now who had agreed on the plan? And who was filing the suit to delay it?

LITCHFIELD: The Christian County school system was the one that filed that.

WHITE: Filed the...

LITCHFIELD: Now they had approved it.

WHITE: ...the request to delay?

LITCHFIELD: Right.

WHITE: Okay. And they wanted to delay it because they didn’t think they had all the details worked out? Is that what it was?

LITCHFIELD: Right, look here. The delay in installing the plan is being sought by the Board of Education because of difficulties due to time factors. They didn’t have time to make the transfers and getting the new building, the buildings re-aligned and everything.

WHITE: So who had agreed on the plan? Had they agreed on the plan, but they just thought it was too soon to get it? Okay.

LITCHFIELD: It had been approved by them, by the school system. 22:00WHITE: So the plan was fine, but...

LITCHFIELD: We’re not talking about changing the plan or anything. All we’re saying is, now when is it going to take effect? After all, that was the only issue. They went to Federal Court and lost out.

WHITE: Well is there a....Was there a secret to why this went so peacefully? Why it went so well? Because it didn’t go well, and I’m not trying to stir up trouble, but school desegregation did not go well, or did not go easily or peacefully everywhere. But it did here. Now why do you suppose?

LITCHFIELD: I, uh...know what...

WHITE: You think it was the way it was handled?

LITCHFIELD: Probably. Here this will show you, on this, the Board’s plan the last few years to close these two black elementary schools. Those were the city’s two 23:00remaining all black schools. Kicked off a storm of controversy and led to the formation of a largely black Concerned Citizens Committee, which fought the move in Federal court. That gives you a clue just exactly. And the Board was finally ordered to re-open one of those black schools which had been closed and transfer back there the students who had been transferred to other schools.

WHITE: Did it stay re-opened? Do you know?

LITCHFIELD: No, it did not.

WHITE: Ultimately closed again?

LITCHFIELD: It was too great a thing. But that was the, that was a major issue on the integration was having to leave their schools.

WHITE: Do you know--you 24:00said you didn’t cover this yourself, but do you know anything about the coverage of the paper or by the paper of this? I mean you’re obviously looking at some articles here, but do you know anything about decisions that were made about what to cover or how to cover? Or do you remember talking to any of the people who were out following it?

LITCHFIELD: Most of it, most of it, no we didn’t do. Most of it was limited to covering the Board of Education meetings, where the issues would be discussed; and both sides would be there. And that’s mainly what was involved.

WHITE: Did you ever hear anything about those meetings? The Board of Education meetings?

LITCHFIELD: Well not too much.

WHITE: Not particularly, okay. And 25:00once--do you remember once the schools actually integrated, do you remember anything that happened once the black and the white young people went to school together? Did that part go peacefully also? Of course, I realize that I am putting you in a difficult position if you didn’t actually cover this. (Laughing) LITCHFIELD: Well, you know, of course I happened to look here at some, what is ( ). Of course these things you just can’t do overnight.

WHITE: Right.

LITCHFIELD: But, and you know--it’s really now, you think, why did it take so long? I mean, let me show you. Here is one story, “All Local Schools to Desegregate.” That’s ‘63. That’s ‘63. Then you look over here, 26:00seventy-two, nine years later, “Schools Ask For Integration Delay.” You see, those things, you know that’s the way it goes, they just, so much to work out and opposition and getting everybody to agree, is almost an impossibility. So that’s what....But it was a peaceful....I mean we didn’t have any protests or parades or anything of that nature. It was just all the discussions and argument was at the Board meetings and that type of thing. Each side presenting his proposals.

WHITE: Is that what you would have expected from a community like this?

LITCHFIELD: Yes.

WHITE: That it was so peaceful.

LITCHFIELD: Because if we’d just had riot. You know...

WHITE: You what? 27:00LITCHFIELD: If we’d had a past record of all the problems and fights and whatever, you know, you’d say there’s no telling what it will turn into; but this just continuation of what this community has been. And it was just, just strictly a legal fight and prolonged. That’s the only, it took forever to get it done. But you don’t do these things overnight.

WHITE: Right. Right. Uhm...

LITCHFIELD: Now...

WHITE: Yeah, go ahead.

LITCHFIELD: Okay, on this....Other thing on the schools. We had several other racial programs. For example, now in ‘63, see that’s about right when we were into integration, the city created 28:00a bi-racial Human Relations Commission. That was the City Council and that was in ‘63. It was a fifteen member Commission and worked with various community groups, and to be set up basically along the lines suggested by this Negro organization that appeared before the Council.

WHITE: Oh, what was that?

LITCHFIELD: The organization?

WHITE: Yeah, that appeared before the Council.

LITCHFIELD: Yeah, Progressive Citizens Committee. And this Commission then was created and it was to be a study and advisory group relating to all phases of civil rights problems, but no enforcement power. It will work 29:00toward elimination of discriminatory practices. And that continued on for years, as a regular city organization.

WHITE: And has that proved to be a pretty successful...

LITCHFIELD: Oh yes.

WHITE: ...successful group?

LITCHFIELD: Right, it was, all down through the years it was all centered around this Human Relations Commission. On all....so that was one of the major things that helped this community. And employment problems--it wasn’t just, you know, it wasn’t just school situations. But it was, public aid and the full 30:00aspects. And even like, here’s an example of it, in seventy-one here they, we passed this ordinance banning discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. You see, that’s just another....Oh, and guess who proposed it? Listen...I’ll show you. I’ll read this. “Officials of the City Human Relations Commission which proposed the ordinance”....See? So I mean, all types....That Commission was a very helpful, that was one of the best things we came up with for the overall look at this. This bi-racial Commission handled problems of a bi-racial nature.

END TAPE ONE SIDE ONE BEGIN TAPE ONE SIDE TWO LITCHFIELD: And relating to this ordinance 31:00that would ban discrimination in the sale or rental of housing, let me tell you. I’m quoting from this ‘seventy-one article, “This would be the first significant civil rights legislation against discrimination ever enacted in Hopkinsville.” How is that?

WHITE: Do you remember, you know, in Louisville in the late sixties, just a few years before this, there were a lot of Open Housing demonstrations going on. Was there anything like that here?

LITCHFIELD: No, no there wasn’t. Now this was enacted in ‘seventy-one. And now listen....It wasn’t unanimous. Here’s the City Council....Let me tell you. The vote seven to four. So that shows you. We don’t have unanimity at all on this. But, because it was controversial. 32:00And they said the ordinance was drawn basically with the same provisions as the State Open Housing Law. They copied it, basically.

WHITE: But it wasn’t a result--you don’t remember that it was the result of any particular trouble here. It was just that things were going on elsewhere and it seemed to be the right time.

LITCHFIELD: Right, right.

WHITE: Also do you remember--you said this Human Relations Commission was formed in nineteen sixty-three. Do you remember any public accommodations, you know, sit ins or anything like that, that were going on in other parts of the country? Was there anything like that here?

LITCHFIELD: No, unh, unh. I think, you know, all these advance steps of forming these, like the 33:00Human Relations Commission and the other steps that were taken. I think that’s what kept the community calm, and we didn’t have all the protesting. Most of the arguments were at meetings, you know.

WHITE: So what you’re saying is, that Hopkinsville was responding to needs before they got to the point of....

LITCHFIELD: Right.

WHITE: ...unrest.

LITCHFIELD: Here’s an example, okay, on this, when they passed this Open Housing measure. Listen, “More than one hundred people, most of them blacks, jammed the council chambers to indicate their support for the Open Housing measure.” You see? So that’s how that worked. And then all of the, you know, as these things took 34:00a step, then other relations, racial problems that we had just gradually changed. For example, we used to have....The movie theaters were segregated, you know. There was a section for the blacks to sit in, and a section for the whites. Okay, you go in a department store, there were two water fountains, one marked colored, one marked white. It had been that way forever, and nobody ever thought anything about it. But those things in, as we integrated, all these things were dropped. But all, every movie, I remember the movie, every theater, you know, you had, mainly up in the balcony area, that was reserved 35:00for the blacks. And everybody accepted them, like it had been that way all through the years, and finally those things just were changed as the whole community was integrated.

WHITE: Do you remember anybody, any of the people who were in the leadership positions of the time, whether they be the white, say City Council people; or any black leaders, do you remember anybody who might have been responsible for helping to set the tone? Or was it very much of a group effort?

LITCHFIELD: Right, it was mainly...

WHITE: I mean nothing stands out in your mind? No one person stands out?

LITCHFIELD: No, because, you know, the, well I’ll tell you, the Mayor Pro Tem....Just 36:00to show you....The Mayor Pro Tem was one of the two blacks on the City Council.

WHITE: So you had black people on City Council. What year was that?

LITCHFIELD: Oh, oh I was going to tell you. From the beginning we had two....I was going to tell you about that because that gives you a--reflects what the community was; why we didn’t have protests and all that, because of that. Okay, when we, we’ve had two blacks from the beginning of the City Council. That was back in the forties that the City Council started. And 37:00you say well how did--okay, it was--they worked it out so it wouldn’t be a problem on election. You say, well how in the world did the blacks manage to gain election? Okay, we divided the city up into twelve Wards and you only voted in your Ward. And so we had two Wards that were almost all black, and so naturally, you see, their councilmen were blacks. But now, of course, we have three on. We have a twelve member Council and we have three blacks now. But there have been two or three all the time on membership.

WHITE: Well now, you know, you describe this part of the world as Southern in orientation. 38:00And yet you’re talking about two black members of the City Council in the nineteen forties. Other parts of the South, they were trying to keep blacks from voting. But you actually had two Wards with blacks, who were allowed to vote and could elect black representatives.

LITCHFIELD: That’s the best example of why we didn’t have such protests and so forth. You can see the community--we may have had the black--the Southern habits, but you can see the difference. We were enough on the line between North and South, you can see that. We weren’t deep South and we weren’t deep North.

WHITE: Do you remember any other black officials? 39:00Say in the sixties? I mean, does anything pop into your head? It doesn’t have to be definitive. Either elected or appointed?

LITCHFIELD: The uh, I can’t recall the name, on that Commission--that Human Relations Commission, they took the lead in many of these programs. That was one of the good....you know to have that agency. They were able to go, you know, into any kind of problem you had, racial problem.

WHITE: Now, you said they couldn’t, didn’t have any powers of enforcement. You said that.

LITCHFIELD: Right.

WHITE: So they obviously got the backing from somebody.

LITCHFIELD: But that....right. And that was a good thing, 40:00because they weren’t calling anybody and sending them to court and all. What they did, it was just a persuasive group to work out an agreement. So often on these problems, you need somebody, an intermediator, to work out an acceptable compromise.

WHITE: And have there ever been any steps backward?

LITCHFIELD: I think it’s all been...

WHITE: Things sort of move along?

LITCHFIELD: ...advancing all along. There’s no step back. Every once in a while, you’d think well something will turn up, but it would be worked out. We have a record, a good record.

WHITE: And this newspaper, 41:00itself, basically would send people to cover School Board meetings, Human Relations, perhaps Council meetings or Commission meetings, City Council meetings?

LITCHFIELD: Right. And you know, we carried, we had black writers....see that’s a good example. Columns, weekly columns were written by, from people from the black community. So you see, that gives you an example of how, why this community gained like it did.

WHITE: Now, when you say, writing weekly columns, I mean does that mean they were on the, they worked out the paper? Were they actually employed by the paper?

LITCHFIELD: No, no, no, they just...

WHITE: You mean they would send in stuff and you’d run it.

LITCHFIELD: Right, they’d write a column 42:00and we’d run it weekly and it would be all the news from their community. And anything they wanted to put in it, on activities and publicity and whatever.

WHITE: Have you ever had any black reporters on the paper?

LITCHFIELD: Well, now we have a, there’s a Sports Reporter.

WHITE: There is? Okay.

LITCHFIELD: And I’m trying to think....

WHITE: One answers the question. You do then.

LITCHFIELD: I’m sure we’ve had some, but the sports particularly, because they dominate the sports now. And if you’re ever going to need a black 43:00reporter, sports would be the ideal spot.

WHITE: And what about the schools, and I’m not trying to hammer the schools or focus on the schools exclusively. But have there been any particular outcomes, you know, either good or bad, over the last, say thirty years, since the schools have been integrated? Has this given better opportunities to Blacks? Have there been any problems? Have there been any successes? Or once again, is it just another sort of slow and peaceful progress?

LITCHFIELD: To show you how it goes, the high school, the black high school, which was closed when the integration came about; and of course, just recently now, 44:00the black community has acquired that property. And now they are making, reviving that school and are going to use it for a community center, I think. And that’s the idea. But they got the property and they are working on it as a community center. That would be ideal. That was Attucks High School.

WHITE: But there hasn’t been a move to re-segregate or to recreate a black high school, for identity purposes?

LITCHFIELD: No, no, they just want to, they want to make use of it, from its historic value, as the high school that 45:00we had so long.

WHITE: What has, I’m just curious, what has been the focus of your reporting? What kinds of things have you followed over the years?

LITCHFIELD: Oh just about everything. (Laughter) WHITE: Jack-of-all trades?

LITCHFIELD: Government mainly, city and county government. And then lately, for the last few years I’ve been desk work, you know, I wouldn’t be out covering anything. Handling the AP wire. It’s a, we have a good record, you can see that. 46:00WHITE: Well, I thank you very much. It’s been very interesting for me.

LITCHFIELD: Well I don’t know if you gained much information or not.

WHITE: You did.

LITCHFIELD: This really, I think really gives the story, you know. I was glad to find these clippings. I ran across them. I said, oh my gosh, this is just what I need!

WHITE: Just what you needed, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they’ve been very helpful. Thank you.

END OF TAPE ONE SIDE TWO END OF INTERVIEW