Fiber art is Elmer Lucille Hammonds Allen’s passion at this stage of her long life, but there is much more to her story. This versatile, talented Louisville woman has been a long-time leader in the arts community, and before that, she had to battle discrimination to establish a career as a chemist.

Born in 1931 during the Great Depression in Louisville to Elmer and Ophelia Hammonds, she was named after her father. The family lived in the Russell neighborhood, a historic area that was first settled by free Blacks in the 1830s. The West Louisville neighborhood prospered over the years with a variety of Black-owned businesses, becoming known as the city’s Harlem. The neighborhood was home to Thomas F. Blue Sr., the first formally trained African-American librarian in Kentucky, and Albert E. Meyzeek, a well-known educator and civil rights activist.