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In 1961, David Jones and another young lawyer borrowed $1,000 each to build a nursing home. That modest investment turned into Humana, which grew first into the largest nursing home company in the U.S., then the largest hospital corporation, and today one of the nation’s largest health insurance and integrated care companies. David A. Jones, Always Moving Forward is the autobiography of the Humana co-founder, depicting his profound impact on American healthcare as well as his love and engagement for his hometown.

And it is an entrepreneur’s account of seeing things that are not there yet, adapting to change that has not begun yet. In a conversation led by University of Louisville professor and futurist Dr. Nat Irvin, David A. Jones, Jr., will discuss his father’s seemingly unparalleled capacity to assess and make decisions with great rapidity … often with an innate sense of anticipation.

And ultimately, they will explore how David Jones’ unflinching ability to innovate translates into the business and entrepreneurial spirit – and challenges – of 2023.

Recognizing that entrepreneurs “between the coasts” are too often overlooked by venture capitalists, David A. Jones, Jr., co-founded Chrysalis Ventures in Louisville in 1993. That same year, his father’s company Humana exited its industry-leading hospital business, reinventing itself as an insurer, and David joined Humana’s board to help guide the transition. He served on the board for 30 years, until the spring of 2023, and was chair from 2005 to 2010.

Author, innovator, futurist, teacher, composer and former radio and television commentator, Nat Irvin, II, serves as Assistant Dean of Thought Leadership and Civic Engagement, and Woodrow M. Strickler Chair, Professor of Management Practice, University of Louisville, College of Business. He teaches graduate courses in the future of management, executive leadership, team dynamics, and Spirituality & Principles of Self Discovery.

More than 70,000 books about the Civil War have been published since 1861, and almost every one of them quotes from letters exchanged by family and friends, but there has never been a book about how those letters were delivered — until now.

Absalom Markland, a native of Kentucky and a Special Agent of the U.S. Post Office Department, was the man who delivered the most valuable ingredient in U.S. soldiers’ fighting spirit during the four terrible Civil War years—letters between the front lines and the home front. At the beginning of the war, at the request of his Kentucky childhood schoolmate, Ulysses S. Grant, Markland created the most efficient military mail system ever devised, parts of which are in use today. He met regularly with President Abraham Lincoln during the war and carried important messages between Lincoln and Generals Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman at crucial points in our nation’s peril.

When the Ku Klux Klan waged its reign of terror after the Civil War, Markland’s decisive action was the tipping point that President Grant needed to combat the Klan. Nearly every biography of Lincoln, Sherman, and Grant includes at least one footnote about Markland, but his important, sometimes daily interaction with them during and after the war has escaped modern notice, until now. Delivered Under Fire tells his amazing story.

Candice Shy Hooper served on the editorial advisory board of The Journal of Military History and on the board of directors of President Lincoln’s Cottage at the National Soldiers Home. She is a member of the Ulysses S. and Julia D. Grant Historical Home Advisory Board. Hooper is author of Lincoln’s Generals’ Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War - for Better and for Worse, which won three national awards.

Lecture Only: Free for members, $15 for non-members
Lecture and Dinner: $60 for members, $75 for non-members

Sponsored by Blue Grass Motorsport, Dinsmore, and PNC Institutional Asset Management.

Award-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796–1833), the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US Vice President under Martin Van Buren. Johnson never freed Chinn, but during his frequent absences from his estate, he delegated to her management of his property, including Choctaw Academy, a boarding school for Indigenous men and boys. This meant that Chinn, while enslaved, had substantial control over economic, social, financial, and personal affairs within the couple’s world, including overseeing Blue Spring’s enslaved labor force. Chinn’s relationship with Johnson was unlikely a consensual one since she was never manumitted.

What makes Chinn’s life exceptional is the power that Johnson invested in her, the opportunities the couple’s relationship afforded her and her daughters, and their community’s tacit acceptance of the family—up to a point. Outliving Chinn, Johnson was ruined politically by his relationship with her, and Myers compellingly demonstrates that it wasn’t interracial sex that led to his downfall but his refusal to keep it—and Julia Chinn—behind closed doors.

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers is the Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of History and gender studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She is the author of Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston.

For those who purchase a Lecture and Dinner ticket, a three-course prix fixe meal at Buck’s restaurant will follow the lecture.

Due to the chance of rain, this event has been moved indoors at Oxmoor.

Advance Tickets: $15 for members, $18 for non-members
Day of: $20 for all
Kids 12 and Under are free

Join the Filson Historical Society for a haunting storytelling event at Oxmoor Farm. Participants will enjoy stories in the Oxmoor library and light refreshments will be provided. With the increasing chance of rain, the event will move indoors to the Oxmoor library.

Octavia Sexton is a vibrant and engaging professional storyteller specializing in the oral traditions of Appalachia. She weaves tales derived from a number of Appalachian roots, including folktales and the haunted “haint” tales from Eastern Kentucky that will chill you to the bone.

Thomas Freese is a professional storyteller, author, artist, teaching artist and musician. Mr. Freese has authored 11 books including 9 books of ghostly tales. His spooky repertoire for performances includes true tales of invisible friends, Civil War ghosts, witches, and final visits from loved ones.

Cost: Free and open to the Public; Registration is required

Mark Bird, nephew of St. James Court Art Show founder, Malcolm Bird, and C. M. “Sonny” Whittle, designed and released the first official St. James Court Art Show poster in 1981 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. This was the first of seven limited edition screen prints, spanning the years 1981-1987. Taking a break from the 20-year run of the St. James Court Art Show Poster Competition, Mark Bird was commissioned to produce the 60^th anniversary print. St. James Court Art Show is honored to gift both original prints to The Filson Historical Society, so that these pieces of Art Show history can be enjoyed by future generations.