The Kentucky School for the Blind commemorated its 184-year history while highlighting a painful chapter of racial segregation at its annual Founders Day celebration this week, awarding a longtime Nicholasville optometrist for his decades of service to the visually impaired community.

The 184th Founders Day Program featured exhibits and presentations exploring the history of the KSB Segregated Department, which operated from 1884 to 1957. The school educated African American students who were blind and visually impaired in a three-story structure on the northeast side of the KSB campus for more than 70 years, until the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954 mandated the desegregation of public schools. KSB was one of the first schools in the state to comply with this decision.

The exhibit, created with the University of Louisville, reflects ongoing efforts by the school to preserve and acknowledge this history. An archaeological dig conducted by KSB and UofL students in 2022 unearthed artifacts from the former segregated facility, with plans to create a memorial site where the building once stood.

The celebration concluded with the presentation of the Paul J. Langan Distinguished Service Award to Dr. John E. Musick, a co-founder of the Ditto and Musick Eye Care Center in Nicholasville. For nearly 50 years, Musick has provided exemplary low-vision services to countless Kentuckians of all ages and has trained ophthalmologists, optometrists and low vision professionals. He served as a consultant and provided low vision evaluations for KSB and the Charles W. McDowell Center for many years.