LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than 50 years after their arrests led to a week of protests and riots in the city's Parkland Neighborhood, the Louisville Black Six are being honored, along with a long overdue apology.

Parkland has been through a lot over the last 50 years. From structural and systemic violence, to social unrest and riots, the neighborhood has seen it all, including events that have spent decades in the dark.

"In May of 1968, a traffic stop of a Black school teacher, Charles Thomas, turned violent and into a local police officer's suspension, firing and the reinstatement," Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said.

Friday, the outgoing mayor unveiled a historical marker that will help remind some, and educate others.

"I wanted this official Metro Government acknowledgement of this history and this injustice and this recognition to be my last public act as mayor," he said.

The injustice happened to six young Black adults.

"Six Black Americans, who later became known as the Black Six, were scapegoated," said Fischer.

It started in May 1968, when Manfred Reid stopped to check on a Black teacher and friend, Thomas, who was being questioned about a robbery by police.

Reid was attacked and put in jail, but the arresting officer was eventually terminated for using excessive force and later reinstated by a Civil Service Commission.

"The victims of this tragedy look forward to reconciliation, reparation and economic growth throughout the area," Reid said.

After the officer was reinstated, Sam Hawkins helped to organize a rally in support of Reid at 28th and Greenwood, one month after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior.

"We were tired," said Hawkins. "We were tired of being turned down every time we turned around that we had to get out in the street and march."

But those protests led to the Louisville Black Six being falsely charged with conspiracy and inciting a riot.

"Members of the Black Six were Ruth Bryant, James Cortez, Walter "Pete" Cosby, Samuel Hawkins, Manfred Reid, and Robert Kuyu Sims," Fischer said Friday.

The court case against the six went on for two years before going to trial, where a judge ruled prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to warrant the charges.

In 1970, all six were acquitted, but by then, the damage was done. Not only to the Parkland neighborhood, but to their reputations, families, and livelihood.

"When they were, in fact, only reacting to official misconduct and discrimination by the city and powers to be at that time," said Fischer.

According to the mayor's office, Fischer asked in May if anyone from the city had apologized for the incident, which they hadn't, so he did.

"Until we acknowledge the harm that's happened in the past, it's hard to move on. I wasn't there then, but I'm here now. I represent the institution of city government. I apologize," he said at the time.

During a Juneteenth event, Fischer added that he acknowledged "the city's role in instituting and upholding racist systems that have oppressed" the city's Black community "for generations."

Former Metro Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton's mother was active in the community and one of the six, Ruth Bryant.

"My mother was just 45 years old," Bryant Hamilton said. "She had a seat at the table, and she was going to be heard."

Ruth Bryant was also an educator, and Bryant Hamilton believes her mom would celebrate the fact that there's now a permanent marker in the city to help tell the story of the Louisville Black Six.

"It's an opportunity to talk about the history, to make sure things like this don't happen again," she said.

Bryant Hamilton, Reid and Hawkins, as well as family members and some involved in their defense, were in attendance for the historical marker unveiling in front of Metro Hall in downtown Louisville on Friday.

Reid said the event "represents the transformation of Louisville city into a more diverse community, moving toward the social and economic advancement of the city at large." Hawkins thanked Fischer for "acknowledging the wrongs done in the past by Louisville city government."

Below is the text inscribed on the historical marker:

“In May 1968, a traffic stop of a Black schoolteacher, Charles Thomas, turned violent, leading to a Louisville Police officer’s suspension, firing, then reinstatement.

The reinstatement touched off days of civil unrest after a peaceful rally at 28th and Greenwood in the Parkland neighborhood. The National Guard was called in to restore peace.

Six Black Americans, who later became known as the “Black Six,” were scapegoated and falsely charged with conspiracy in connection with the unrest, and faced additional accusations of planning to blow up oil refineries in the West End and destroy private property.

Members of the Black Six were Ruth Bryant, James Cortez, Walter T. ‘Pete’ Cosby, Samuel Hawkins, Manfred Reid and Robert ‘Kuyu’ Sims.

Some of them barely knew each other, lost their livelihoods, and suffered irreparable harm to their reputations.

The criminal conspiracy charges against them were dismissed in 1970 when Judge S. Rush Nicholson directed a verdict of acquittal, citing a lack of evidence, and threw the case out of Criminal Court 2, which was then located on Congress Alley.

In 2022, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer issued an apology on behalf of the city to members of the Black Six and their families, for the harm inflicted upon them.

This marker is dedicated to the Black Six, whose struggle taught us to never give up the battle for dignity and justice.”

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