The 1964 March on Frankfort was organized by Kentuckians with guest speakers Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and Jackie Robinson. Music was provided by folk artists Peter, Paul and Mary and the Kentucky State College choir, led by Dr. Carl H. Smith. Ten-thousand people marched on Frankfort that day, and it led to the passage of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act of 1966.  

Kentucky was the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to pass its own state-level Civil Rights Act. The March on Frankfort was an important part of the process. Kentuckians demonstrated, and demanded, freedom.

“1966 The Kentucky Civil Rights Act began a new and brighter era and helped end a nightmare of legal segregation, discrimination and government-sanctioned racism, an atrocity African Americans and other minorities had endured since Kentucky’s beginning.”  

  John J. Johnson


“[The Kentucky Civil Rights Act] ... is a milestone for a southern state… [It] will serve as a great beacon light of hope for all men of goodwill… and… inspire other states to follow suit.” 

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (in 1966)

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