Hannah Drake a Louisville poet and activist is now part of women's history at a Kentucky museum. The Frazier History Museum confirms it has commissioned one of Drake's poems for an exhibit.
The poem, “We Were Here," is part of the commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment and the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
Drake said the poem is about women suffrage as well as Black women who have lost their lives to police brutality like Breonna Taylor.
Drake said she wrote it before COVID-19 restrictions and after Taylor was killed she reached out to the museum and asked to make changes.
"I wanted to tie in what happened to Breonna Taylor presently to what happened historically," she said.
Drake said she also looked at deeper parts of Kentucky's history to include in the poem.
"When I started writing the piece I started thinking about being in Kentucky and Kentucky traditions and of course the derby is coming up. I started looking at all these Kentucky traditions that just are not my tradition. I started thinking about the Black women and how I'm always looking for and searching for a home here. Kentucky and particularly Louisville was a city that sold slaves on the Ohio River. Through my work, I started discovering these unknown names throughout history. It's the same thing with women's suffrage," Drake said.
Listen to the full poem here:
Drake said she got emotional while reading the poem. She showed the same emotions during her interview with WHAS11.
"All of these hidden stories. You can't keep erasing them, they existed. It's so important to uplift them and speak about them. I think for too long in America our stories are always hidden and we have to search and discover. Why not tell them all. That's what makes America and Black women helped build American so why hide those stories. It's important for them to be known," Drake said.
The museum said Drake's poem is featured in the What is a Vote Worth? Suffrage Then and Now exhibit.