UofL research team receives Louisville Metro Government grant to write history of policing in Louisville
January 30, 2024
A UofL research team, consisting of co-principal investigators Dr. Felicia Jamison (History and Comparative Humanities), Dr. Siddhant Issar (Political Science), and Dr. Catherine Fosl (Emerita, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies), as well as student researchers Mya Todd, Ethan Gorton, and Isabella Johnson, recently completed a report titled, “The History of Policing in Louisville: A Fact-Finding Report on Institutional Harms.”
This study originated in the Truth & Transformation Initiative sponsored by Louisville Metro Government’s Office of Equity. Researchers received additional support from the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research.
The research team analyzed extensive archival materials, from police and court records dating to the early nineteenth century, to twentieth-century Black newspaper accounts of police brutality, to the most recent Department of Justice report. Documenting a longstanding pattern of historical institutional harm in the relationship between Louisville police and local Black communities, the report has been submitted to Louisville Metro Government and shared with community members. Later this semester, the research team plans to hold public events to further discuss their findings. The study can be found here.
This is one of several community-engaged projects in which Humanities scholars and students create innovative scholarship focusing on Louisville and the state of Kentucky.
