Louisville celebrates NAACP leader Raoul Cunningham with honorary street name

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A long-time president of the Louisville branch of the NAACP was celebrated with a street named in his honor Tuesday.

The corner of South 45th Street and Varble Avenue in the Chickasaw neighborhood was dedicated as "Raoul Cunningham Way, Louisville's NAACP Leader" during a ceremony.

Cunningham and his family were the first African American family to move to the area in 1958.

"The day that we moved in for sale signs went up on every house in the next two blocks," Cunningham said. "When I reflect how things have changed and how progress has been made, from an all-white neighborhood and community now to an all-African American neighborhood and community, progress has been made. It was on these streets that formulated a desire to integrate the city of Louisville."

Cunningham recently retired after serving for over 20 years as president of the Louisville branch. He has spent more than six decades fighting for civil rights and continues to serve on the NAACP National Board of Directors.

"Whatever accomplishments we made, it was a 'we,' and not an I," Cunningham said. "For all the progress that has been made."

Councilwoman Donna Purvis unveiled the new sign during the event.

Cunningham, a Louisville native, first became involved in civil rights when he joined Louisville's NAACP chapter at the age of 14 in 1957. During that time, college students across the southern U.S. demonstrated for racial equality with "sit-ins." Cunningham and others convinced the NAACP that high school students could demonstrate, and they did in 1961.

In 1963, the city of Louisville passed a public accommodations ordinance, ending segregation in its theaters, diners and other places offering goods and services to all. That ordinance came in advance of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Cunningham continued his civil rights activities at Howard University. When he returned to Louisville, he managed the successful Kentucky Senate campaign for Georgia Davis Powers, who became the first African American and first woman in the chamber.

He then served as the senior assistant to the U.S. Senator Walter D. Huddleston for 12 years, working on civil rights legislation, immigration, school de-segregation and the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s national holiday.

Cunningham was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2003.

"Although we have made much progress, regression is before us all," Cunningham said. "We're facing rollbacks of the progress that we have made and that we cannot allow."

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