LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There’s a new project in the state which marries history and technology.

“It is literally stories coming to life,” said Janette Marson, CEO and President of ShelbyKY Tourism.

It’s called Kentucky Black Trailblazers. It brings to life, through augmented reality, the stories of influential Black Kentuckians.

If it helps, Marson said, it’s similar to Pokemon Go but with history.

“Elijah P. Marrs was one of the very first Black school teachers here in Shelby County. He was also an amazing Civil War veteran,” Marson said.

With the help of a QR code that’s on a plaque, Marrs’ story comes to life in the middle of Veterans Memorial Park in Shelbyville.

“So we are highlighting 19 different people out of history, Black history that needed to be highlighted probably 100 years ago. Each of them, and their experiences, truly, it will immerse you into the history,” Marson said.

This project is a partnership of six Kentucky tourism agencies that also include Louisville, Oldham County, Bardstown, Elizabethtown and Shepherdsville.

“When you are doing augmented reality, a digital person, character will appear before the real world is going on around that character,” Marson said. 

The agencies received federal American Rescue Plan Act grant funds distributed by the Kentucky Department of Tourism to assist with the project funding.

“For this particular project, we got $1 million. So it was a $500,000 amount that we got at the beginning and then there was a phase two we were allotted because the project was deemed transformational and truly worthy of this money. We did get a second, $500,000 grant and then we did have to put as partners together, had to put in 10% also of our own tourism money,” Marson said. 

It’s an investment that brings the stories of unsung heroes to life.

More details on locations of the QR codes are available on the Kentucky Black Trailblazers’s website.