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New street name honors late Louisville photojournalist Charles 'Bud' Dorsey

The new Bud Dorsey Way street sign was unvieled Tuesday afternoon.
The new Bud Dorsey Way street sign was unvieled Tuesday afternoon.

Late Louisville photojournalist Charles “Bud” Dorsey, died in July. He had a long history of documenting local and national news events.

“My dad was a historian, and he loved to capture the voice of the voiceless. I think he, in a lot of ways, considered himself one of the voiceless,” Kim Anderson, Dorsey’s daughter, told WFPL.

Dorsey’s legacy in the city is now cemented with a street named after him.

After a dedication ceremony Tuesday, a sign at the corner of 18th Street and Burwell Avenue reads “Honorary Bud Dorsey Way.”

District 3 Council Member Keisha Dorsey, a Democrat, was one of the leaders in the effort to honor Bud Dorsey with a street.

“When I think about what a street sign is, you’re gonna drive down the street, it’s the motion, it’s the life, it’s the heartbeat of the community, and Bud’s pictures were a way of capturing the life-blood of the community,” Council Member Dorsey said. 

The decision to place the street sign outside of the offices of “The Louisville Defender” was intentional to commemorate the work Dorsey did with the publication for much of his career. 

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and representatives from the publication were also in attendance as well as community members. 

Anderson said she hopes that the sign will remind people that they can be in the background and still be remembered. 

“A lot of photographers they don’t see, they’re always behind the camera and never in front of the camera,” Anderson said. “And so this sign being here says to those people, who don’t often have the opportunity to speak or be out front to say that you can be the humble one, you can be the quiet one.”

Breya Jones (she/they) is the Arts & Culture Reporter for LPM. She is excited to begin her journalism career in her hometown. She studied political science and journalism at DePaul University in Chicago. Audio is a new frontier that they are excited to bring into their work. While her main interest is in reporting on historically under-covered communities, she is excited by a variety of topics. When not reporting, they can be found stocking their desk snack drawer, knitting and most likely of all, watching Bob's Burgers.

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