Black Shakers (Pleasant Hill, KY)

In 1995 a celebration of the African American contributions to the Shakers, "Dark Angels - The Story of African-American Shakers," was held at the Shakertown Meeting House at Pleasant Hill in Mercer County, KY. There had been 19 African Americans at the village, including Alley Hyson, the first to arrive, in 1807, and two slaves whose freedom was purchased by the Shakers.

For more see L. Stafford, "Event Puts Spotlight on Black Shakers," Lexington Herald-Leader, 2/8/1995, COMMUNITY section, p. 7; and contact Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, KY. See also the Hancock Shaker Village webpage "African American Shakers: in the Berkshires and beyond"; and Rhorer, Marc Alan, Believers in Dixie: A Cultural Geography of the Kentucky Shakers, Disssertation, Florida Atlantic University, 2007.