Black History Month: Stephen Bishop

A Mammoth Task: Stephen Bishop and the Bransford family

Illustration from Guide Book to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky: Historical, Scientific, and Descriptive by Horace Carter Hovey (published R. Clarke and Company in 1882) [Unknown illustrator] - Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51910499

African-Americans were among the first explorers and tour guides of the world’s longest cave system, Mammoth Cave. In fact, guide Stephen Bishop bravely navigated the caverns of the cave’s passages for years, and he documented the cave with a map he created, from memory, in 1842. Mr. Bishop also discovered the following Mammoth Cave features: Mammoth Dome, River Styx, Dismal Hollow, and Bandits’ Hall. Not only did Mr. Bishop make strides in exploration, he served as a Mammoth Cave tour guide. Mr. Bishop achieved these efforts while he was enslaved, using lanterns and ropes.

Mat Bransford

The Bransford family worked as explorers and guides of Mammoth Cave too, as contemporaries of Mr. Stephen Bishop. Several generations of the Bransford family worked supporting the cave economy including: patriarch Masterson (Mat) Bransford, Henry Bransford, Will Bransford and his wife Zemmie, and Jerry Bransford. Will and Zemmie Bransford became entrepreneurs, opening the Bransford Resort, which allowed African-Americans a place to eat and sleep near the cave.

To learn more about the Bransford family or Stephen Bishop come to the library to see The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia (R 920 K37), or visit the National Park Site dedicated to Mammoth Cave’s African-American explorers and guides (https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/black-history.htm). 
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Sources:
Black History at Mammoth Cave (n.d.). Mammoth Cave National Park. Retrieved from: https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/black-history.htm. 

Hudson, J. B. (2015). Bishop, Stephen. In Smith, G.L., McDaniel, K.C., & Hardin, J.A. (Eds.), The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia (pp. 47-48). Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.

Smith, G.L. (2015). Bransford Family. In Smith, G.L., McDaniel, K.C., & Hardin, J.A. (Eds.), The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia (p. 63). Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.