University Press of Kentucky title wins 2026 Kentucky History Award
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 4, 2026) — The University Press of Kentucky announces one of its titles, “American Bloodlines: Reckoning with Lynch Culture” by Sonya Lea, has received the 2026 Kentucky History Award (Publications — University Press category) from the Kentucky Historical Society.
The Kentucky History Awards recognize outstanding achievements in preserving, interpreting and promoting Kentucky history. Honorees represent excellence across categories including education, publications, public service and community projects.
Part memoir and part cultural history, “American Bloodlines,” published in 2025, explores the enduring legacy of lynching culture in the United States. Lea centers her narrative on Rainey Bethea — the last person publicly executed in the country, in Owensboro, Kentucky — while uncovering her own family’s connection to the event. Her grandparents were among the spectators, and she is related to the prosecuting attorney.
Through this deeply personal and investigative lens, Lea explores how historical narratives, silence and generational memory continue to shape communities and institutions.
The Kentucky History Awards will be presented Saturday, June 6, at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, kicking off Kentucky History Day. The event begins at 9 a.m. with breakfast and networking, followed by the awards ceremony at 9:30 a.m. A full day of programming — including exhibits, performances and demonstrations — will follow.
For more information, visit history.ky.gov.
The University Press of Kentucky has a dual mission — the publication of academic books of high scholarly merit in a variety of fields and the publication of significant books about the history and culture of Kentucky, the Ohio Valley region, the Upper South and Appalachia. The Press is the statewide nonprofit scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, serving all Kentucky state-sponsored institutions of higher learning as well as nine private colleges and Kentucky’s two major historical societies.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and healthcare. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $1.02 billion research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.