Seven women have been unanimously selected as inductees to the “Kentucky Women Remembered” exhibit at the state’s Capitol — in which their portraits will hang in commemoration during Women’s History Month.
Among them: Hopkinsville native Gloria Jean Watkins.
Well known by her pen name, “bell hooks,” she was a revered author and social activist who also served in residence as a distinguished professor for Berea College.
Her writing explored the confluence of race, gender and capitalism — often describing their ability to “produce and perpetuate” systemic oppression and class dominance. A staunch feminist, she published nearly 40 literary works and five children’s books.
Among her top honors, she was named an International Literary Hall of Fame inductee in 2001, and a member of the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame in 2018. Berea College is also home of the bell hooks Institute and the bell hooks Center.
Watkins died December 15, 2021, after an extended illness, and since has been strongly eulogized. A mural of her has been canvassed in downtown Hopkinsville.
Governor Andy Beshear writes that: “as governor, but most importantly as a father, I am grateful that my daughter and generations of young girls are learning from the great role models we are honoring. They are paving the way for all our children to know they can do great things.”
Watkins’ portrait will be alongside other women of power, including:
— Lonnie Ali, the widow of boxing great Muhammad Ali, who serves as a Parkinson’s research and awareness advocate;
— Jane Beshear, former First Lady of Kentucky, who’s addressed breast cancer concerns with “Her Horses and Hope;”
— Sharon Currens, one of the founding women of Lexington’s Rape Crisis Program in the 1970s;
— Hannah Drake, an activist, author, poet and podcast host who currently serves as chief creative officer at IDEAS xLab and co-lead artist of the (Un)Known Project;
— Mary Margaret Mulvihill, one of the first women elected to the City of Louisville Board of Alderman, who also served numerous nonprofit boards and commissions;
— And Peggy Purdom Patterson, the first woman federal judge appointed in the Commonwealth.
