Celebrate Shake Rag sensations: Ora F. Porter, Ernest Hogan, & More

Black History Month 2023

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – February is Black History Month, and to celebrate Bowling Green’s own African American influence, News 40 Reporter Meghann Stamps learned more about some of the trailblazers straight out of Shake Rag.

“There have been educators, war veterans, entrepreneurs, business people, some very famous people in terms of creativity that have come from Bowling Green, and many of these people had their roots in Shake Rag,” said African American Museum Chair of the Board of Trustees John Hardin.

One such legend was the very first African American to produce and star in a Broadway show.

“He had a national name. His first name was Reuben Crowdus, but he took the stage name of Ernest Hogan,” told Hardin. “He proposed a number of lyrics for Ragtime performances, so much so that he was, as I’ve heard, one of the first to go on Broadway to be successful.”

African American Museum Project Manager Wathetta Buford recalled, “His funeral was at my church at Taylor Chapel. And they said during that time during the funeral there were cars out lined up in the street, so it was a big to-do.”

Another Shake Rag sensation is Miss Ora Frances Porter – the very first registered nurse in Western Kentucky.

“She was somebody that I actually saw in my life,” reminisced Buford. “I was a little girl, but she was a member of my church, Taylor Chapel AME Church. And she would come in church and she’d have her nursing uniform and cap on. And now I know that she had to work a lot of Sundays.”

The list of Bowling Green’s black community leaders just continues on.

Hardin said, “You also had Dr. Jones and Dr. Porter: you had two local physicians who were always there to assist people. I understand that there were others, Dr. Bruton, Dr. Beckett. In many communities where there were African Americans did not have local doctors. But here you had multiple doctors.”

The African American Museum wants your help to keep the community’s rich black history ever-expanding.

“We have a lot of people from this area that have gone on and done wonderful things,” said Buford. “But we need to know those stories and that’s why we need families to come and tell us their story.”