History of the Anderson Laureate

History, both American and Kentucky, was made in January 1936 when Charles W. Anderson, Jr. raised his right hand to take the oath of office as a Representative of the Citizens of Louisville to the Kentucky General Assembly. When Anderson was sworn into office, four months prior to his twenty-ninth birthday, he became the first Black legislator both in Kentucky and in the South since the Reconstruction era.

Representative Anderson, the son of noted Frankfort physician, Dr. Charles W. Anderson, Sr. and well-known school teacher Tabitha Anderson, was subsequently re-elected to the Kentucky General Assembly on five consecutive occasions.

During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Representative Anderson successfully guided historic bills through the legislative process. Mr. Anderson became a watchdog for Kentucky's Black citizens.

The legislative record made by Representative Charles W. Anderson, Jr. is his guarantee of immortality in this Commonwealth. Barely into his new term of office, Representative Anderson introduced a bill to provide graduate education for Black students forced to be educated beyond Kentucky's borders by the separate school laws. When the bill became law it required the Governor to allocate $5,000 toward the cost of tuition for the students.

Another of Representative Anderson's legislative victories required rural high schools to educate Black children in all 120 counties of the Commonwealth. Counties without proper high school educational institutions were ordered to grant each Black student a sum of $100 for tuition in addition to transportation costs to attend classes in a nearby county.

Representative Anderson guided other pieces of legislation through the Kentucky General Assembly which prohibited racial discrimination in hiring on public building projects. He persuaded his colleagues to enact legislation to prohibit discrimination in the private business sector of Kentucky.

Not all of Representative Anderson's successes benefited solely black Kentuckians. One bill, of interest to all of Kentucky's school teachers, allowed teachers to keep their teaching positions after marriage.

Kentucky's notorious "hanging law" was also one of Representative Anderson's legislative targets. He successfully worked for the repeal of the law, instead, making it mandatory for all executions to be by electrocution.

Representative Anderson resigned his House seat in 1946 in order to become the first Black attorney in Kentucky or the South to become Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for Jefferson County.

Shortly before his accidental death in 1960, the President of the United States named Mr. Anderson as an Alternate United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

Charles W. Anderson, Jr. was educated at Kentucky State College, Wilberforce University and Howard University School of Law. He won the Howard University Alumni Award in 1945 "for distinction in Law and Government."

During his law career he was associated with Harry S. McAlphin, Willie C. Fleming, Earl Dearing and O.B. Hinnant.

The Personnel Cabinet is honored to present the Anderson Medal as a perpetual memorial to a bona fide treasure of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The Kentucky Personnel Cabinet and the Anderson Laureate Selection Committe congratulates Mrs. Ruby White Dunn as the recipient of the 2007 Anderson medal. 

Nominations are not being accepted at this time.

CRITERIA:

• Nominees must be Kentuckians, either native or adopted.
• Nominees may be either living or deceased.
• Nominee's contribution must benefit individuals in at least one of the seven EEO protected classes (race, color, national origin, disability, religion, gender, and age). The nomination will be judged based on their achievements over an extended period of time.
• Nominations must specify the level of impact the nominee has made to their community, state or nation.

INFORMATION:

1. Nominations must be submitted on an official nomination form. Please be sure to fill in every blank and sign the nomination form. (Note: A phone number must be included.)
2. Send the completed nomination form and copies of supporting documentation to the Anderson Laureate Award Selection Committee. The nomination must be postmarked no later than the deadline submission date. Nominations received after this date will not be considered.
3. Please direct questions to the Office of Diversity and Equality at (502) 564-8000.
4. Completed nomination forms should be sent to:

All nominations will be reviewed by the selection committee and those selected for the Award will be contacted.

The Anderson Laureate Award(s) are presented at the Governor's Annual EEO Conference Awards Luncheon.  This event is a part of the Governor's Annual EEO Conference.

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2007

Ruby White Dunn

2006

Dr. Barbara Shanklin

2003

Joe Graves

2001

Vincent "Van" Warren

2000

Mae S. Cleveland
Sharon S. Fields
Leonard Gray
Tina Johnson
Dr. Frank Otha Moxley
Charles Whitehead
Charles "Chuck" Williamsen

1999

Carl W. Albright
Dr. Anne Stewart Butler
Raymonde Jacques
Robert Jefferson
First Lady Judi Patton
Governor Paul E. Patton
Beverly Watts

1998

Reverend Patrick Delahanty
Charles Martin Newton
Grant Talbott, III
Joan Taylor
J. Maynard Thomas

1997

Don Anthony Cantley
Homer Gray, Jr.
Willie E. Peale, Jr., Esq.
Reverend Danny G. Williams
William Hunter Wilson

1996

Bob Arnold
Susan Milburn Bauer
Pamela Dixon
Elizabeth Showalter

1995

Annett R. Coffey
Governor Brereton C. Jones
James H. Simpson

1994

Judge Gary D. Payne

1993

Reverend Louis Coleman, Jr.
Barbara Lynem Curry
Senator Gerald A. Neal
George Wilson

1992

Elizabeth H. Cahaney
Katie B. Smith Nolan
Normal L. Passmore
John William Shannon
Clarence Howard Wilson

1991

Anne Braden
Frank Brown, Jr.
Governor Martha Layne Collins
Senator Georgia Davis Powers
Jane Stephenson
Governor Wallace Wilkinson

1990

Verda Mills
Reverend John G. Fee

1989

Governor Edward T. Breathitt
Lyman T. Johnson
First Lady Martha Stafford Wilkinson
Whitney M. Young, Jr.