Historical Influence: Reading Georgia Powers as a Grassroots Civil Rights Leader in the Rough Business of Kentucky Politics

Historical Influence is a thematic political civil rights history of Senator Georgia Davis Powers. Powers made major contributions to the Commonwealth of Kentucky during the rough business of Kentucky politics-the politics of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Life history assumes understanding the specific context of one person is paramount. In Powers' twenty-one years as a Kentucky state senator, she championed bills for open housing and labor, and against race, class, sex, education and job discrimination. Senator Powers sponsored and co-sponsored some 147 bills, 75 of which became laws during her tenure. Onyekwuluje provides an in-depth and inspiring story about Powers' role in the fight for equal justice in Kentucky and around the world. She is positioned politically with women like Harriet Martineau and Ida B. Wells in anchoring the truth about rights, responsibility, and humanity. Onyekwuluje connects Powers' life to women issues around the world.