With Black History Month giving way to Women’s History Month, one Christian Countian can embrace both.
Magaline Ferguson, District 1 representative of the Christian County Fiscal Court, wasn’t trying to be a full-blown trailblazer back in 2018 — when she followed up a year’s worth of attending meetings before entering the magisterial race.
Upon her election, she became the first African-American woman in the state’s history to obtain these responsibilities, and just the second woman in county history to serve the court — following the late successful Sherry Jeffers.
A graduate of Hopkinsville High School with more than 20 years of banking and teller experience, Ferguson said her biggest goals in this political pursuit weren’t race related, but gender related.
She wanted to help represent Christian County and beyond as one of the eight — who just happened to also be black.
Ferguson said she was “really serious” about wanting to be the woman on the panel, and that’s a desire that will continue into 2022 — as she’s opted to once again run for Christian County Fiscal Court, District 1.
She doesn’t demand respect, but she expects it — just as anyone would — and even now the concept of race doesn’t enter her mind.
A Democrat, Ferguson notes being “one of the eight” is far more important to her than the potential for partisan ideas.
The work of the people for Hopkinsville and Christian County, she says, requires collaboration, friendship and compromise.
An active member of the NAACP, the Kentucky League of Women Voters, the Human Rights Commission, the United Way of the Pennyrile and the Board of Directors for the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County, Ferguson has higher aspirations in local politics.
She can’t rule out an eventual run for Christian County judge-executive or something at the state level — something she’s discussed with incumbent Steve Tribble and her fellow magistrates.
But for now, Christian County has her complete focus — as a woman, and as an African-American.
