"Community and memory are two concepts that together evoke emotions long felt but seldom expressed. This work explores two aspects of memory - that captured by photographic images freezing a particular moment in time and that captured through oral history interviews. Based on thirty-six interviews and containing two hundred photographs from fifty-two personal collections, Community Memories brings together the life stories, remembrances, and experiences that have coalesced into the shared memory of the African American community in Frankfort, Kentucky's capital."

"To be sure, these photos and oral history excerpts offer only a brief glimpse into the everyday life of the African American community. There are undoubtedly aspects of that community that are not included at all; however, five main themes emerged in both the interviews and the images and became the subjects of distinct chapters within the book - the elusive concept of community is the overarching theme; the importance of family, and the significance of employment, religion, and education are the threads that combine to form the sense of community, togetherness, and belonging. Within these often-intertwined webs of social interaction, reside the stories, celebrations, songs, meeting places, and lore of Black residents in the Frankfort area."

"While this is a glimpse of Frankfort's African American community, it has much in common with other Black communities, especially those in the South. Although much in the collection that produced this work - both photographic and oral history - is nostalgic, it ultimately demonstrates that change is constant, producing both negative and positive results."--Jacket.