Chaz Rough: Welcome everyone to this month looking at Louisville. My name is Chaz.
Stacey Yates: And I’m Stacey.
Chaz Rough: Now we’re here at the Frazier International History Museum and we’re also going to be venturing out to Churchill Downs as well as to the Speed Art Museum, and you maybe saying, well that’s great Chaz, but why, why Stacey?
Stacey Yates: Well, Chaz in addition to Valentines this month. There’s also it’s black history month, so we want to just salute that and take you to two of Louisville’s top attractions that we want to see in podcast anyway, but they are doing very special exhibits and honor of black history month and that those are the Speed and the Frazier.
The Speed is going to have a Gee bend quilt exhibit which we’ll take a look at and the Frazier has a very exciting because I think that will be very moving and it’s actually going till May, and it’s called the Wreck of the Henry Anna Marie and that’s the recovered station.
Chaz Rough: We’re going to be doing that going to these locations and we’re going to Churchill Downs and find out about African – Americans in the Kentucky Derby, so a lot of great information and you know this podcast for years if you have an idea for not coming podcast please send those to www.podcast@gotolouisville.com. We can use your content in our show. We’ll send you some cool shrug about.
Stacey Yates: That’s right and in honor of Valentine’s day, we will be celebrating at one of Louisville’s most romantic spots high top of the gold house hotel at Riveu, so as usual I’m hungry I think we need to —.
Chaz Rough: I know we have to go to the start because I'm starting to get hungry too. Let’s just go.
Stacey Yates: We are here at the Frazier International History Museum and we are lucky enough to get a chance to talk to its Executive Director, Dr. Madeleine Burnside. And it’s nice for having us here and we appreciate it.
Madeleine Burnside: Thank you so much for coming.
Stacey Yates: We come to the Frazier a lot for a normal permanent collection exhibits, but you’ve got a very special exhibits that coming to the doors until—tell me just a little about it.
Madeleine Burnside: Well it is very special. It’s actually something that I personally worked on for—well, since 1991. It’s a long time. It’s the Wreck of the Henry Marie. The exhibitions called a slave ships speaks and it isn’t that the only it’s the remains of the only excavated slave ship in the new world.
Of the thing about it is these are the only artifacts that really exist that you can see from the actual middle passage, so in terms of African-American history, this is really significant because these are real objects from this real experience.
Stacey Yates: Right, people can come to the Frazier and experience this until when?
Madeleine Burnside: It closes on May 26, so there’s a lot of time but don’t let it slip by.
Stacey Yates: Right.
Madeleine Burnside: The thing you see here every wooden shape of this time period because keeping it water tight as main deal, so you see all the ships passing is here. You see different tools that we used, but the principal thing was this grind steel. If you couldn’t keep those sharp, you couldn’t keep the ship to float and there was actually instances of ships went down so the grind stone broke.
So these were the shackles that we found on the ship for exile and thing about it is when they found the ship they didn’t know it’s going to be a slave trader at all. They know it was English and they found the first pair of shackles and they didn’t think much of it because there are shackles always on ships at this time period because when you hear the pirate in the movie saying, top of the irons. That’s what they are talking about this is what they look like. So they found three pairs and they thought it’s not pretty standard, but then they kept finding more and more. They actually found evidence of a 100 pairs which implies 200 and slave people at least.
Chaz Rough: Wow! I see its looks a child right there.
Madeleine Burnside: And that looks like a child so some of them are very, very small, and it’s very it’s most connotative about them because you can see they restrain but the thing well, it’s so hard to look at the statue today when we were working on the exhibition.
Chaz Rough: It is out here now.
Madeleine Burnside: But what started to think about was actually there’s no reason to restrain someone who is not fighting back, so it said that even a very small person was resisting and fighting back and you just think, how extraordinary to be so brave and strong it is such a difficult circumstance and I think that’s in the way a message of hope.
Stacey Yates: We are here at the Speed Art Museum with a good friend of mine, Lonna Versluys and she is going to tell us a little about a great exhibit that they’ve got on display until March.
Lonna Versluys: And Stacey thanks for coming out. Till March we have an exhibition Gee Bend the architecture for quilt and these quilts are created by four generations of women living in isolation in a small place called Gee’s Bend Alabama.
Most of the inhabitants are Gee are descendants of slaves and they passed down the tradition of quilting and what’s really unique about this quilts is they have—they used incredible geometrical shapes and they look so modern and yet they are not. They take their patterning in all from tradition. There are about 47 quilts on display made by 42 women. You can see actually when you look at some of the quilts, you can see they used because these were functioning pieces used for mat to keep their families warm and they used materials that were either discarded or what they had around the house. So you really see a lot of different patterning and just different textures.
Stacey Yates: Thank you. Be sure to come to the Speed Art Museum. We check out the Gees bend exhibits till March.
Chaz Rough: We’re here Churchill Downs of course which is famous for the Kentucky Derby and I’m here with John Asher. Now John, tell us the impact of African-Americans on the Kentucky Derby.
John Asher: The Kentucky Derby is America’s oldest continuously held sport and it’s been held every year since 1875. That’s this year will be a 134 years, really the foundation for the derby. It was really with the shrink of African–American athletes in three years 13 of the first 15 Kentucky derbies were won by African -American jockeys including three jockeys who among the greatest two ever in the saddle of any to inherit into the sport. Icy Murphy, the three Kentucky Derbies in the Hall of Fame he is really the Michael Jordan.
Chaz Rough: Yeah, that’s what he said he was Michael Jordan.
John Asher: He was the most prominent to African-American athlete probably the first of the 20th century, beyond it was a remarkable, remarkable athlete who soon died in his 30s, but 144% of his race is in this industry again three Kentucky Derby wins in that group also in that Hall of Fame Willy Sams. He was two for two in the Kentucky Derby and Jimmy Wingfield who was really a mythic character and he is on a third world racing he won two Kentucky Derbies then rode aboard also African-American trainers have huge impact on Kentucky Derby.
The very first Derby, which won, was by horseman Veyers with African-American writer Oliver Louis but the trainer was Ramsey Williams, he is also in the Hall of Fame. Ed Brown who was a protégée won instance. He won two Kentucky Derbies he is also in the Hall of Fame.
In the early years, specially the very, very early racing they were the absolute stars.
Chaz Rough: And if anybody wants to hear more information of course they can go to KentuckyDerby.com not only about the trainers and the jockeys but of course the world’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby which is coming out real soon.
Now let’s talk about review, of course Valentine’s Day is on the month of February of course I give you that CD Love Burn is breaking my heart.
Stacey Yates: Yeah, I’m playing it every night.
Chaz Rough: Yeah, at the Rivue.
Stacey Yates: And these are great spot.
Chaz Rough: It is worth for spot.
Stacey Yates: That’s why I love coming here to the bar for drinks and then straight to five minute to stay a great view. It’s Louisville’s only roof top dining. It’s still great spot.
Chaz Rough: Well, we’re going to be bringing a very special guest to the count and this is Thad, the General Manager, so Thad come on it.
Thad Mattingly: Hello, welcome everybody.
Stacey Yates: Hi, this is Thad Mattingly.
Chaz Rough: Yeah, tell us about some of these foods you’ve got.
Thad Mattingly: We have two awesome selections from our regular menu and one special item, we have our syrup scallops. Those were done with curried yellow and red pepper and pure red asparagus at the top so was on your, and you had that one before.
Stacey Yates: I haven’t seen that one before.
Chaz Rough: That’s right.
Thad Mattingly: And these are crab cakes and that was done with smoked pepper aioli and then our chef’s special of the evening is sauté escargot. Do you like escargot?
Stacey Yates: No, because it gets stuck on the teeth..
Chaz Rough: I don’t know the committee.
Stacey Yates: I do, and tell us about these gorgeous drinks.
Thad Mattingly: We of course have our signature sunrise Rivue that is a mango Vodka concoction, but little bit of a puree of barren bottom and the Bluer view which of course it’s a blueberry Vodka.
Stacey Yates: I understand that you still have openings for Valentine’s Day but even if you don’t February is about?
Thad Mattingly: For February, we are celebrating romance the entire month. We have special packages here in the hotel, so if you can’t make it down for a dinner with us during the week of Valentine’s Day. The whole month you can come and enjoy as in come up and see us in the restaurant.
Stacey Yates: Well thank you. Thanks for having us.
Chaz Rough: Great one. I’m hungry as in fact.
Thad Mattingly: Are you ready to dig in?
Stacey Yates: Yeah, let’s go.
Chaz Rough: Yes, and as always.
Stacey Yates: You’re looking at Louisville.
Chaz Rough: See you real soon.
Stacey Yates: Cheers.
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