Abolitionist, Berea College founder deserves statue (BY)
Marion B. Lucas
3:01 p.m. EDT July 29, 2015
... At the end of the Civil War, Kentuckians followed a path of regression, joining the South politically and socially. As a result, former Confederates were elevated to positions of leadership in the Commonwealth, ushering in more than 150 years of harsh, unfair treatment of the State’s black population.
At war’s end, one Kentuckian envisioned a more progressive future for Kentucky. That man was John G. Fee, Kentucky’s most famous abolitionist and the founder of Berea College. Fee urged northerners to invest money in Kentucky, to build factories, to develop new industries, and to create jobs, especially for Freedmen. Fee wanted to advance African Americans into Kentucky society by providing Freedmen with jobs, education, and integrated neighborhoods. Fee also saw the need to safeguard their civil rights.
Fee established Berea as a showcase for what Kentucky should become. He invited African Americans to move to Berea, where he provided land for homes in an integrated community, and built schools, including Berea College, open to both races ...
It is time to replace the statue of Jefferson Davis, whose ideas proved detrimental to Kentucky, with a statue of a visionary Kentuckian, John G. Fee, whose ideas would have solved many of Kentucky’s problems and given us a heritage that transcends racial hatred.
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/07/29/abolitionist-berea-college-founder-deserves-statue/30840289/
