Marlatt, Abby
Birth Year : 1916
Death Year : 2010
Abby Marlatt was appointed director of the University of Kentucky (UK) School of Home Economics [now the School of Human Environmental Sciences] in 1956. Dr. Marlatt is not African American; she was a believer in equality and fairness. She was active in the UK student YMCA's counseling of students about civil disobedience toward nonviolent objectives for racial equality. Dr. Marlatt was a member of C.O.R.E. and participated in sit-ins and stand-ins at establishments in Lexington. KY. She and another faculty member were investigated for imprudent acts by a committee appointed by the UK Board of Trustees and demoted from director of the School of Home Economics. In 1985 Dr. Marlatt was awarded the UK Sullivan Medallion for service to the community and University. Dr. Marlatt was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2001. She is a native of Manhattan, KS, and a graduate of Kansas State University and the University of California at Berkeley. For more see articles in the Lexington Herald-Leader, 02/02/62, 12/20/62 and 06/05/63; the Abby Marlatt interview (text and audio) in the Kentucky Historical Society's Civil Rights Movement In Kentucky Oral History Project; the Abby Marlatt sound recording interview in the Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project,1900-1989 at Special Collections, University of Kentucky; and K. Bednarski, "Abby Marlatt, Central Kentucky civil rights activist, dies at 93," Lexington Herald-Leader, 03/04/10, Obituary section.



See photo image and additional information on Abby Marlatt at the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, Hall of Fame website.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights, Education and Educators, YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association)
Geographic Region: Manhattan, Kansas / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky