“A perfect woman, nobly planned . . .” —William Wordsworth Jesse Stuart and Naomi Deane Norris met as Greenup High School students in the mid-1920s. When Deane saw Jesse, a “timid-looking new boy from the country,” she was unimpressed with his patched sweaters and [...]
Beginning in 1937, a new book had been tumbling around in Jesse Stuart’s head. It was a book about education—a personal testimony to the teaching profession. In 1948, he finished the book, and it was published the following year. “The Thread That Runs So [...]
World War II had been underway a little more than two years when Japan’s savage attack at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, plunged America into the global conflict. Early the following year, Jesse Stuart, nearly 36 with a pregnant wife, tried to enlist in [...]
Jesse Stuart was born on August 8, 1906. To celebrate his birthday and his many contributions to life in eastern Kentucky, my next three articles will focus on Stuart’s life and works. The late Poet Laureate of Kentucky, Jesse Hilton Stuart, published 2,000 poems, [...]
Adventure story, biography, western, history, “Simon Kenton, Kentucky Scout” fits all these descriptions. Its vivid, intense language tells the story of Kentucky’s exploration and settlement through the life of the young frontiersman. Kenton was born April 3, 1755, in Fauquier County, Virginia, the son [...]
Wayne Onkst, Chairman of the JSF Board of Directors, was here today to sign copies of his book, Presidential Visits to Kentucky: 1819-2017, that will be distributed to underserved high school and public libraries throughout Kentucky. The distribution project is made possible by a generous [...]
No small target at six-foot-two, young Sam Houston wasn’t thinking about getting hit. He was thinking about getting even. Running through a hail of musket balls, spears, and arrows, he and his fellow soldiers of the elite 39th U.S. infantry unit sprinted toward an [...]
For those who loved “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek,” author Kim Michele Richardson offers another fine evocation of the often cruel conditions of rural Appalachia in the last century and a powerful portrait of the courageous women there who fought against ignorance, misogyny, [...]
In the spring of 1781, during the American war for independence from Great Britain, redcoat troops arrived in upland Carolina and brought terror to Elizabeth Jackson and her sons. Elizabeth’s youngest son, Andrew, though barely fourteen years of age, hated their presence—and quickly learned [...]
From colonial beginnings until early in the twentieth century, one-room schools played an important role in Eastern Kentucky education. These tiny schools that dotted the hills and valleys were, collectively, a salvation to a region recovering from the Civil War and, later, the Great [...]
