Interview with Grace Potter Carter, August 25, 1986

Interview Summary

The wife of Robert William Carter, Grace Potter Carter is the daughter of Current B. "Percy" and Margaret Whiting Potter, and has been an employee of the University of Kentucky for many years. Mr. Potter was a blacksmith and worked with explosives in a rock quarry in Frankfort, and Margaret Potter was employed as a seamstress. Grace Potter Carter began working for the University of Kentucky as a waitress in Boyd Hall during the Depression and earned the position of head cook at Donovan Hall during the Singletary administration.

Mrs. Carter recounts stories of her great grandfather, a former slave, her great grandmother, who was a midwife, and their memories of slavery including the assault of female slaves by the male slave owners. She discusses the educational background of the Potter family, the religious background of the Potters and their involvement in the church, and her own education at Bracktown Elementary, Dunbar and Douglas High Schools. Mrs. Carter recounts the advantages of living in Bracktown over Lexington, the career of her aunt, Dr. Mary Ellen Potter, who practiced medicine in Louisville during the Depression, the changes in education and family values, and the discrimination in Lexington before the advent of the civil rights movement.

Interview Keyword

African American churches--Kentucky African American neighborhoods African Americans in Lexington African Americans--Conduct of life. African Americans--Employment. Bracktown (Ky.) Family histories. Integration Lexington, Kentucky Midwives University of Kentucky

Interview LC Subject

African American business enterprises African American families African Americans--Education African Americans--Segregation African Americans--Social conditions Carter, Grace Potter Carter, Grace Potter--Interviews Race discrimination Racism Slavery Race relations--Kentucky

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.