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From Wikipedia
(Accessed November 12, 2018)
Abby Lindsey
Marlatt, Ph.D. (December 5, 1916 – March 3, 2010) was a social justice activist and
a teacher scholar committed to civic engagement. While a professor at
the University of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington, Kentucky, she
became the center of controversy at UK in the mid-1960s over anti-war protests
and whether the university could censor her in her role as a public
intellectual. She was honored for her work by many academic, professional and
community organizations including the National Conference for Community
and Justice, and she was inducted into the Civil Rights Hall of Fame in
2001[permanent dead link].
Early life and education
Born on December 5, 1916, and raised in Manhattan, Kansas,[1] Abby Marlatt grew up in a family that had long roots in higher education. She was the daughter and only child[2] of Frederick and Annie Marlatt, the granddaughter of Washington and Julia Marlatt and the niece of Abby Lillian Marlatt.[3] Marlatt attended ansas State College, graduating in 1938 with a bachelor's degree in home economics, specializing in dietetics and institution management. While she was in college, she became very active in the student Christian movement, serving as chairman of the college chapter of the YWCA. She recalled in an interview with Betsy Brinson that one of the highlights of her college career was a summer service project in New York City where she served as an assistant manager in the Allen Matthew House on West 11th Street, a settlement house for working-class girls where they learned to plan and cook meals together.[2]
Born on December 5, 1916, and raised in Manhattan, Kansas,[1] Abby Marlatt grew up in a family that had long roots in higher education. She was the daughter and only child[2] of Frederick and Annie Marlatt, the granddaughter of Washington and Julia Marlatt and the niece of Abby Lillian Marlatt.[3] Marlatt attended ansas State College, graduating in 1938 with a bachelor's degree in home economics, specializing in dietetics and institution management. While she was in college, she became very active in the student Christian movement, serving as chairman of the college chapter of the YWCA. She recalled in an interview with Betsy Brinson that one of the highlights of her college career was a summer service project in New York City where she served as an assistant manager in the Allen Matthew House on West 11th Street, a settlement house for working-class girls where they learned to plan and cook meals together.[2]
To qualify as a
dietician she went to the University of California at Berkeley as an intern.
She finished her internship earning her certificate in 1941 having taken some
graduate work as well. Dr. Agnus Fay Morgan, who was head of the department,
hired her as a teaching assistant so that she could work toward her Ph.D. There
she worked with the American Friends Service Committee and the Fellowship
of Reconciliation, and she was trained in non-violent direct action by Bayard
Ruston.[2]
Career
Early career as university
professor
While she was ABD she was hired as an assistant professor in Foods and Nutrition at Kansas State University in 1945. Only two years later, she had finished her dissertation – her research focused on nutrition and dietary habits of school children[3] – and earned her Ph.D. in nutrition and food science in 1947.
While she was ABD she was hired as an assistant professor in Foods and Nutrition at Kansas State University in 1945. Only two years later, she had finished her dissertation – her research focused on nutrition and dietary habits of school children[3] – and earned her Ph.D. in nutrition and food science in 1947.
In 1953–54 she
took a sabbatical and served as a visiting professor at the Beirut College for
Women, by then offering four-year degrees for women in Lebanon (and now a
member college of the Lebanese American University). The school had been
founded by the American Protestant Mission to help develop education in the
region, and during the summer the students would serve as interns to visit
local villages to teach girls and women basic literacy, mother-child healthcare
and handicrafts.[4]
While at Kansas
State she served on the local board of the YWCA and with her help, students who
were members of the YMCA and the YWCA planned a sit-in at lunch counters nearby
campus.[2]
Soon after
earning her tenure and becoming an associate professor at Kansas State, Dr.
Marlatt was hired in 1956 at the University of Kentucky's College of
Agriculture to be the inaugural Director of the School of Home Economics. She
was hired at a senior level with tenure in the Department of Nutrition and Food
Science.[5]
Civil rights movement in
Lexington, Kentucky
Marlatt directed the School of Home Economics at the University of Kentucky for several years without incident. By 1959 she had begun to openly participate with college students and local Black civil rights organizations in peaceful protests and sit-ins in downtown Lexington to desegregate public accommodations there. Her first experience was in the late spring of 1959 when she, as a faculty sponsor for the campus chapter, worked with Charles Smith of the Lexington YWCA branch (which had an integrated coffee shop at the time) to try and bring a racially mixed group to a small restaurant at the corner of Columbia and Rose Streets, nearby campus. They were refused seating, and even after they spoke with the manager, the group of white students and local Black activists were thrown out of the eatery.[2]
Marlatt directed the School of Home Economics at the University of Kentucky for several years without incident. By 1959 she had begun to openly participate with college students and local Black civil rights organizations in peaceful protests and sit-ins in downtown Lexington to desegregate public accommodations there. Her first experience was in the late spring of 1959 when she, as a faculty sponsor for the campus chapter, worked with Charles Smith of the Lexington YWCA branch (which had an integrated coffee shop at the time) to try and bring a racially mixed group to a small restaurant at the corner of Columbia and Rose Streets, nearby campus. They were refused seating, and even after they spoke with the manager, the group of white students and local Black activists were thrown out of the eatery.[2]
In the summer
of 1959, members of the university chapters of the YWCA
and YMCA along with youth from the NAACP chapter (primarily
those attending Dunbar High School[2]) started the Lexington chapter
of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Julia Lewis, then a
registered nurse working at Eastern State Hospital, was recruited by the
president of the Lexington chapter of NAACP, Audrey Grevious, to serve as
the president. Dr. Marlatt served as secretary.[2]The CORE members
would send out negotiating teams of one man and one woman to talk to store
managers about their policies that denied equal
access to all. And they organized sit-ins at lunch counters in the variety
stores in downtown Lexington with teams of at least three and up to six people
who would attempt to sit and order. If they weren't served as a group, they
would sit for a designated length of time - and if only the whites were served,
they would try to share their food with their partners.
Betsey
Brinson, oral historian: How about the university administration
and your colleagues? How were they receiving you in terms of your involvement
with all of this? Abby Marlatt: I felt that if my involvement
were out of school hours that it was my privilege to do as I felt I needed to
do. Uhmm, the people, uhmm, in this school, some of them were sympathetic to
what I was doing but not sympathetic to the point that they would join me.
Others were very antagonistic and felt that I was damaging the school and that
they really wanted to distance themselves from me because of this. ... Dr.
Dickey was the president at that point and I was called into his office one
day. He said that, he thought I should be aware that my activities were
impacting negatively on the finances of the university because of activities of
some of the faculty and students against businesses downtown.[2]
By 1961 they
had a large racially mixed dinner meeting at which James Farmer,
co-founder of CORE and the organizer of the 1961 Freedom Rides, spoke.
However, by 1968 the racially mixed CORE chapter ended when whites were told to
leave from one the meetings.[2]
The church
members who had been active in the CORE and NAACP protests organized as
the Lexington Committee on Religion and Human Rights. They met at the YMCA
on the corner of West Second and Jefferson Streets. Dr. Marlatt worked in this
racially mixed group together with Joe Graves, Kentucky Civil Rights Hall
of Fame 2003, and Harry Sykes who in 1963 became Lexington's first Black city
commissioner and in 1968 founded the Lexington Fayette County Urban
League.[6]
Vietnam War protests and
controversy as professor
By the 1960s she encountered problems with the school's administration and board of trustees. She was demoted from her position as dean of the College of Home Economics in 1963 by UK president Dr. Frank Graves Dickey. What specifically led to her being investigated were two major incidents:
By the 1960s she encountered problems with the school's administration and board of trustees. She was demoted from her position as dean of the College of Home Economics in 1963 by UK president Dr. Frank Graves Dickey. What specifically led to her being investigated were two major incidents:
1. publishing in the University of
Kentucky's student newspaper (Kentucky Kernel) in March 1962 an open
letter titled "Informed Citizenry Called the Basis of Democracy" and
signed as the Dean of the School of Home Economics in which she advocated an
anti-war philosophy of the conscientious objector; and,
2. standing in front of Lexington churches
in the summer of 1962 to distribute handbills encouraging citizens to dissent
by avoiding signing up for the draft and not paying taxes [7]
The
university's board of trustees recommended that Dr. Marlatt be fired for incompetence. By that winter the
Kentucky Civil Liberties Union and the University of Kentucky branch of the
American Association of University Professors had taken up the case. This
angered the dean of the College of Agriculture, who convinced President Dickey
to remove her as director of the School of Home Economics effective September
1, 1963.[8]
A Unitarian,
Marlatt was also a member of the ACLU. Because Marlatt was a tenured
professor at UK, she was ultimately unable to be fired from her position as a
faculty member, though in an oral interview she mentions being removed from
teaching duties for a year.
In 2001,
Marlatt was recognized by the Commission on Human Rights[permanent
dead link].
Academic professional
affiliations
· Kappa Omicron Nu (1938–2010, life member)
· Kappa Omicron Nu (1938–2010, life member)
·
American Association of University
Professors (1940-20004); served on the International Committee
·
American Association of Family and Consumer
Sciences (1946–2004); Ohio-Kentucky representative, Awards Committee, Food
and Nutrition Division Secretary, Chair of Association of Administrators of
Home Economics
·
American Dietetic Association (1943–2004)
·
Kansas Dietetic Association (1943–1956), president
·
Sigma Xi (science and engineering) (1945–2004);
University of Kentucky Chapter President, vice president
·
Phi Upsilon Omicron (1957–2010); honorary member,
President Iota Alumni chapter
·
Kentucky Council on Aging (1962–85); charter member
·
Kentucky Nutrition Council (1965–1985);
vice chair, treasurer, secretary, Planning Committee for Nutrition Seminar
·
Land Grant Institutions (1978–1983); served on review
committee on role of women in developing countries
·
Omicron Delta Kappa (1980–2010); honorary member
·
Nursing Home Ombudsman Program (1981–2004); Professional Advisory Panel
·
Fayette County Commission on Community
Services for Older Persons (1982); committees on long-range planning and
nutrition
Local civic activism
National and international
organizations
·
Congress of Racial Equality (1959–1968),
organizer of Lexington chapter
·
United Nations Association (1960–2010),
board member of the Bluegrass chapter
·
YWCA
Statewide organizations
·
Kentucky Civil Liberties Union (1956–2010)
·
League of Women Voters (1986–2004?); board
·
Legislative Research Commission, Advisory
Committee of Senior Citizens, established by the Kentucky General Assembly
(1988–2004?); chair of Consumer Affairs (Health Human Services), commission
chair and vice chair
Local agencies and
organizations
·
Lexington Commission on Religion and Human
Rights (1960), organizer
·
Community Action Council (1965–2004?),
officer and board member
·
Micro-City Government (1972–2001),
organizer, fund raiser, secretary, treasurer, board member
·
Emerson Center, Inc. Non-profit housing
(1974–2004?); chair, vice chair, board member
·
Bluegrass Community Services, Inc. (sponsor
of nutrition projects for elderly) (1976–2004?); board member and chair
·
University of Kentucky Donovan Scholars
Program (1985–2004?); advisory board chair, Scholarship Committee, Dulcimer
group (1989–2004?)
·
Ethics Commission of Lexington Fayette
Urban County Government (1995–2001); vice chair, representative of League of
Women Voters
·
Retired Seniors Volunteer Program
(1997–2001); mentor and tutor at Harrison Elementary School
Honors and awards
·
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion, 1985
(given by the University of Kentucky to a citizen of Kentucky for exemplifying
a spirit of service to others)
·
National Conference for Community &
Justice, 1985 (Brotherhood/Sisterhood Award)
·
University of Kentucky Women's Forum Sarah
B. Holmes Award for service to women, 1996
·
Kentucky House of Representatives, 1999
(citation as model of good citizenship for continuing work with youth programs)
·
University of Kentucky College of Human
Environmental Sciences Hall of Fame, 2000 (charter recipient)
·
Central Kentucky Civil Liberties Union,
2001 (Distinguished Service Award)
·
Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame, 2001
·
Kentucky Council on Aging, 2001 (Gaines
Center Humanities Award)
·
Lexington Fayette Urban County Government
Senior Citizens Hall of Fame, 2002
·
Kentucky Association of Family and Consumer
Sciences, 2002 (Kentucky affiliate's award for Community Service)
·
University of Kentucky Wiley-Berger Award
for Volunteer Service, 2004
Personal life and death
In 2004 when
supporting Dr. Marlatt's nomination for the Wiley-Berger Award, Sean Wright,
Director of the Black and Williams Neighborhood Center said that as a young
African American male he had watched her "sit with, fight for and advocate
changes many times in a predominantly all African American venue showed her
character and individuality. Dr. Abby Marlatt is truly a Drum Major in the Band
of Justice."[9]
Other resources
Marlatt's oral
interviews, collected and archived for the Kentucky Civil Rights Project,[10] have
been preserved online. Documents and memos regarding the inquiry into Marlatt
by Dr. Frank Dickey and the board of trustees are preserved online at the UK's
academic governance site and will prove useful to researchers and those
unfamiliar with the case. Short biographies can also be found in:
·
Talbert, Charles Gano. The University of Kentucky:
The Maturing Years. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1965.
References
2. Marlatt, Abby (2 February 1999). "Transcript, Interview with Abby Marlatt by Betsy Brinson" (PDF). Kentucky Civil Rights Oral History Project. Kentucky Oral History Commission, Kentucky Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
3. Smith, James. "Collection Overview: Abby Lindsey Marlatt papers, 1874–1966". Morse Department of Special Collections. Kansas State University Libraries. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
4. Lattouf, Mirna (2004). "Beirut College for Women (BCW)". Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
5. Bednarski, Kristin (4 March 2010). "Abby Marlatt, Central Kentucky civil rights activist, dies at 93". Kentucky.com. Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved 13 March2015.
6. "Sykes, Harry N." Notable Kentucky African Americans Database. University of Kentucky Libraries. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
7. Jones, Davy (2004). "The Marlatt (and Morin) Case" (PDF). University of Kentucky. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
8. Hampton, Jim (20 December 1962). Dickey Refuses to Remove Home-Economics Head. Louisville Courier-Journal; clipping from Jones, "The Marlatt (and Morin) Case"
9. "Nomination Form for Wiley-Burger Award for Volunteer Service, June 2004," Abby Marlatt Papers (2012ua050), University of Kentucky Libraries special Collections, Lexington KY
10. http://www.ket.org/civilrights/bio_marlatt.htm
Selected Sources from UK Libraries:
Living the story the civil rights movement in Kentucky
Young Library Closed Media Stacks - Ask at Media Library Desk in B-67 Young Library AV-V3226
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