Two blocks from where she and her family grew up reading book after book after book, more than 100 people packed the atrium of the Museums For Hopkinsville-Christian County Friday afternoon — escaping the chilly March rains to celebrate the renaming of 8th Street between South Virginia and Clay streets to “bell hooks way.”
Francine Gilmer, executive director for the Christian County Literacy Council and one of eight members for the bell hooks Legacy Group, noted there was no better moment to celebrate the former Gloria Jean Watkins than now — on the heels of Black History Month, and the dawning of Women’s History Month.
The acclaimed author, feminist, intellectual, educator and cultural critic died in 2021, having penned more than 40 books and children’s stories addressing social, civic and racial concerns, and Gilmer urged her words yet live.
A champion for her sister during, and after, hooks’ death, Gwenda Motley was understandably emotional — channeling the words of another famous Black women and author, Maya Angelou, in honor of her lost, but never forgotten, sibling.
Mayor J.R. Knight said the best part of his job is getting the opportunity to recognize the former and current citizens of Hopkinsville their accomplishments.
However, Knight noted a humble hooks never sought praise or recognition for herself, only her words, and his own daughter — an educator — has turned to her texts through and after college for guidance and leadership in special education across the country.
Perhaps inspired by hooks herself, Jada Poindexter, executive assistant for the Hopkinsville-Christian County Human Rights Commission, gave a charged rendition of her own “Belonging As A Black Woman,” which took second place in last year’s bell hooks Writing Contest.
Heather Dearing, deputy chief of staff for the Beshear/Coleman administration, was alongside Hopkinsville native and Commissioner for the Kentucky Commission on Women Whitney Johns, offering strong words from Frankfort leadership.
Gilmer also relayed that a street in Berea has been named in hooks’ honor, as well, and that a KET documentary, titled “Becoming bell hooks,” is available to stream on ket.org following its release last week.
More than 100 people were on hand for the sign’s unveiling, and all were invited to tour the new “bell hooks Legacy Room” in the museum — which includes several personal effects from her life.
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