July 2010
From the Interim Director2010 is off to a wonderful start. In February, we had our most successful Black History Month thus far, and in May, Heritage Month highlighted genealogy and photograph of rural Arkansas. We are now half-way through summer. Juneteenth was a big hit and we are already planning for next year's celebration, which will be bigger and better. Summer camp days for kids have been very popular - find out more in the Education Section of this newsletter. And as always, family reunions are scheduling group tours weekly and keeping up busy in the weekends.
 Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, visited Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in March with a group from the University of Virginia. Dr. Bond was very impressed with the Center and signed copies of NAACP: 100 Years in Pictures for visitors. Dr. Bond found out about MTCC through an article in The Crisis written by Little Rock’s own Ryan Davis. I’d like to thank Ryan for writing such a wonderful article about MTCC. It was thrilling to have a Civil Rights icon in our museum. The MTCC staff is launching an exciting new project about Civil Rights in Arkansas. For many Arkansans, the Civil Rights Movement in Arkansas begins and ends in 1957. In an effort to fill this void, the staff will hold public meetings around the state to collect stories of the Civil Rights Movement from the Arkansans who were on the front lines of the struggle. We will start with town hall-style meetings in Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and Brinkley next fall. Please let us know if you live in these areas and know of a church or other civic space where we can hold the meeting.
The Civil Rights in Arkansas project is more than just town hall meetings. Once we have collected the stories, we plan to develop several traveling exhibits that highlight both the known and unknown stories of Arkansas’s Civil Rights legacy. We plan to provide training for teachers in the form of teacher workshops, lesson plans, and other educational materials. We hope that this project will be comprehensive and provide enriching educational experiences for Arkansans of all ages. I hope you will be a part of this new and exciting MTCC endeavor. The Arkansas Black History Commission funded the planning and research phase of the project.
Volunteers Needed We need volunteers! We are looking for volunteers who would be willing to commit several hours a day, 2 to 3 times a week at the museum. Opportunities are available Monday through Saturday from 9 to 5. Staff members need help in every department including education, museum store, collections, and building maintenance. Please contact Pam Johnson Watson, our volunteer coordinator, at 501-683-3593 or pam@arkansasheritage.org for more details.
Heather Register Zbinden, Interim Director
|
Upcoming EventsThe Rep Comes to MTCC
The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is excited about a new partnership with the Arkansas Repertory
 Theatre. MTCC will host Voices at the River II -- performance readings of 5 plays by African American and Latino playwrights. Seating is first come, first serve and the Auditorium doors will be open 20 minutes before showtime. Take this opportunities to visit the museum exhibits, shop in the Museum Store and experience the best theatre Arkansas has to offer. Voices at the River II is made possible with funding from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts. FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2010 6:00 p.m. | Free Public Reading of Liddy’s Sammiches, Potions and Baths by Tearrance Chisholm Liddy’s Sammiches, Potions, and Baths is a play about the daughter of a sorceress who seeks to realize her identity through her deceased mother’s spell book. Teaching herself through her mother’s words, Liddy journeys to find the truth about the mother she never got a chance to know. This play lives in the south, on the border between reality and the fantastic, and explores how one begins to put together the ingredients to concoct the truth. Tearrance Chisholm is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and a graduate from the University of Missouri Columbia with a degree in Fine Arts. A playwright and graphic artist, he feels that the theatre is a synthesis of both his passions. His works have been featured in the Mizzou New Play Series and Endstations Theatre’s New Playwrights Initiative, and he has worked closely with the Kennedy Center’s Playwrighting Intensive. 8:30 p.m. | Free Public Reading of Weback by Elaine Romero Tensions arise on the U.S./Mexican border as the Minuteman Militia hold rallies in the park and lobby to deny citizenship to the American-born children of undocumented workers. The play charts the intertwined fates of a privileged Latina high school principal and the Mexican undocumented worker she fires to protect her job. The irrevocable consequences of her choice force her to question her position in the community and herself. Elaine Romero is the Playwright-in-Residence at the Arizona Theatre Company and has taught at Linfield College and the University of Arizona. Romero’s plays have been developed and produced at such theatres as Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Magic Theatre, the Ford Amphitheatre, New Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Curious Theatre Company, Bloomington Playwrights Project, Kitchen Dog Theatre, Urban Stages, INTAR, the Playwrights’ Center, Women’s Project and Productions, the Working Theater, Su Teatro, the Lark Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Borderlands Theater, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Miracle Theatre. SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2010 2:00 p.m. | Young Playwright Selection: Free Public Reading of Waking Up to You by Michael Chavez Michael Chavez’s Waking Up to You is a comical view into the short-lived relationship of a college aged couple. The classic story of boy meets girl is turned upside down as the romance dissipates into a fog of memory. 6:00 p.m. | Free Public Reading of Solterona by Augusto Federico Amador Maria is a solterona. A spinster. Unmarried and quickly becoming middle-aged, she struggles to find an independent life of her own while caring for her repressive mother, Delores. Augusto Federico Amador was born in the San Francisco Bay Area. In Los Angeles, his work has been presented at the Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater Projects, the Ricardo Montalban Theater, the John Anson Ford Theater and Playwrights Arena. In New York, his work has been presented at the Ensemble Studio Theater, Terra Nova Collective Theater, Repertorio Espanol and INTAR Theater. Currently, he is a member of the 2010 Emerging Writers group at the Public Theater in New York City. 8:30 p.m. | Free Public Reading of Roses in the Water by La’Chris Jordan Life in the New Orleans Desire Housing Projects is not easy for Clarice. The dead end job, the drive-by shootings, and the constant struggle to pay the rent have all taken their toll and she wants out. With no other options, Clarice enlists in the U.S. Navy against her mother’s wishes. But will life in the military be any safer than life in the streets? A challenging and timely drama with sharp humor, Roses in the Water touches on the tough choices we are sometimes forced to make. La’Chris Jordan is an award-winning playwright who was named one of the ‘50 to Watch’ by the Dramatists Guild of America. Roses in the Water recently received a staged reading at the award-winning off-Broadway theatre Urban Stages in New York as part of their New Works for a New Season reading series. Jordan is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and the Northwest Playwrights Alliance. MTCC Summer Arts & Crafts Camp
The summer is off to a great start at MTCC. The camp is open to all youth pre-k thru 5th grade and will be held through July 21st. We meet every Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Each week, the arts & crafts project is geared towards a certain subject. For example, the first week we learned about Isaac Scott Hathaway, a nationally recognized African American artist who depicted notable black Americans (and Arkansans) through life and death masks. After viewing his masks, as well as other examples of life masks, the youth created and designed their very own cardboard “life masks.” Come join us.
Upcoming Activities:
Three weeks remain so sign up your kids today!
FREE ADMISSION! Call 501-683-3610 for more information!
|
EducationThe Education Department has been busy since January. School groups, classroom outreach and teacher workshop were in demand throughout school year. Black History Month was a great success for MTCC. Over 300 students attend Music at the Museum with James Mckissic; a wild, wild, west good time at Family Fun Saturday: Outlaws and Cowboys with Tommy Terrific and Bass Reeves living history character; and top winners for the Arkansas Black History Quiz Bowl hosted by Frank Bateman.
Every Picture Has A Story! - New Education Program  The Education Department celebrated Heritage Month 2010: Roads Less Traveled, The Enduring Heritage of Rural Arkansas with a road trip! On Saturday, May 22, 2010, MTCC Staff launched a new program for children at the Blytheville Public Library. Kids learned about notable Arkansas black photographers and Photography 101 with professional photographer, Steven Johnson. Children became amateur photographers as they traveled throughout the town taking photos and learned what makes rural landscape special. All who participate received FREE digital disposable cameras.Charlie McCracken of Little Rock won the photo contest. His photograph of a red rose with trees and a cloud-filled blue sky was chosen because of its excellent composition. Congratulations, Charlie.
K.I.D.S Volunteer Day
On Saturday, August 7th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center will hold a K.I.D.S. Volunteer Day. Bring your child out to Cultural Center to make dog treats for the Jacksonville Animal Shelter. This event is free and open to the public. Please note peanut butter will be used for this project. Contact Pam Watson at 501-683-3593 or pam@arkansasheritage.org to register your child. Quantia "Key" M. Fletcher, Director of Education
|
CollectionsThe Collections and Exhibits Department has been hard at work on processing new artifacts into the collection and preparing for future exhibits. In May, we added six new pieces to the Creativity Arkansas Art Collection, including works by Henri Linton, Larry Wade Hampton, George Hunt, Latoya Hobbs, and AJ Smith. The new pieces will be officially unveiled during the annual Creativity Arkansas ceremony in December.
The Fine Art of Jazz: Photographs by Dan White
 The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is proud to present The Fine Art of Jazz, a traveling exhibit produced by Exhibits USA and the Mid-America Arts Alliance. The exhibit highlights the phenomenal sounds of the modern Kansas City jazz scene in photographs by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Dan White. The exhibit will also showcase Arkansas jazz greats in images, objects, and sound. The exhibit will run from September 1, 2010, to January 7, 2011. For more informaiton, contact the museum at 501-683-3593. Dunbar High School Exhibit Closed The last day to view our first changing exhibit, "YOUR GUIDING HAND": Little Rock's Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, 1929-1955, was June 30. The Dunbar High School traveling exhibit is still available for institutions to borrow. Please contact Bryan McDade at 501-683-6278 or via email at bryan.mcdade@arkansasheritage.org for more information.
World War II Exhibit Postponed
MTCC is postponing an exhibit on World War II to give us more time to collect oral histories and other information from black Arkansans who lived through the World War II experience. If you are World War II veteran, worked in a homefront defense plant or lived in Arkansas during 1940 - 1946, please contact Jajuan Johnson at 501-683-3620 or via email at jajuan@arkansasheritage.org.
 The collections staff is looking for original artifacts from World War II (1941- 1945) to help document the story of African Americans in Arkansas during that period. ALL ARTIFACTS MUST HAVE A CONNECTION TO AN AFRICAN AMERICAN ARKANSAN. Examples of artifacts include but are not limited to: Military:
Uniforms, unit patches, insignia, helmets, goggles, accouterments (canteens, mess kit, knapsack), personal items (pocket knife, housewife, razor, Bible, hymn book, prayer book, deck of cards, board games, books) dog tags, rifles, bayonets, knives, military ribbons and decorations, flight jackets, field glasses (binoculars), maps, unit/crew photos, maps, discharge papers, orders, phonograph recordings (audio letters), blankets, art (sketches, drawings, “trench art”).
Original photographs, phonograph records (music), phonographs, musical instruments, newspapers, journals & diaries, USO memorabilia including posters, tickets, dance programs, games, letters, telegrams, posters, flags, banners, pennants, scrapbooks, end of the war memorabilia.
Draft cards, “Double V” pins and other memorabilia, sweetheart jewelry (pins, brooches, necklaces, etc.), coins & money, toys, sweetheart pillowcases, ration cards, employee ID badges, radio sets, war bonds, war savings bond stamps, uniforms (Red Cross, Salvation Army, nurse, other service organizations), clothing patterns (reduced fabric and Red Cross), Red Cross posters, knitting kits, campaign & drive memorabilia (blood, scrap metal, rubber, knitting, victory garden, etc.), ration recipes (recipes using substitute and/or reduced ingredients), church sermons.
Artifacts may be donated or loaned to the museum for consideration to be included in the exhibit. Any donation or loan will be subject to the museum’s collections policy. For questions or if you have artifacts owned or used by an African American Arkansan between 1941 and 1945, please contact Bryan McDade at 501.683.6278 or via email at bryan.mcdade@arkansasheritage.org.
Bryan McDade, Curator of Collections
|
ResearchInternationally Recognized Genealogist Conducted Workshop  Mosaic Templars Cultural Center celebrated Heritage Month with an exciting 2-day genealogy workshop. Internationally known genealogist and author Tony Burroughs hosted an all-day genealogy workshop on Friday, May 21, 2010, in the Auditorium. The Afro-American Genealogical Society of Arkansas offered lectures on the black family history in Arkansas communities such as Wrightsville and Hoxie. The educational program was in partnership with the Arkansas Afro-American Genealogical Society and sponsored by the Curtis Sykes Memorial Grant Fund. Burroughs, author of Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree, discussed how to process family records. He also talked about the basics of African American genealogy research. Ancestry.com Day!  Saturday, May 22, 2010, was Ancestry.com Day. Ancestry is the world’s largest online resource for family history documents and family trees. In conjunction with the Genealogy Workshop, participants learned the latest online genealogical research techniques with Ancestry.com content manager Lisa Arnold. Over 150 people participated in this two-day event. Arkansas Literary Festival Events Held at MTCC
Poetry Slam Held at MTCC
The Seventh Annual Arkansas Literary Festival hosted events at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center including the ever successful Spoken Word Live, a contest featuring local word-slingers and the winners of a city-wide poetry competition. MTCC was pleased to be a part of this wonderful literary event. The event was held Thursday, April 8, 2010, at 7 pm and Power 92’s Afternoon Drive Host Tre Day emceed the event. Spoken Word Live is a partnership between Little Rock Central High Historic Site and Museum, Power 92, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Arkansas Literary Festival.
Arkansas & Oklahoma: Parallels in Racial Histories
Hannibal Johnson grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He graduated from the University of Arkansas and Harvard Law School. Johnson's books include: Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District, Acres of Aspiration: The All-Black Towns in Oklahoma; Mama Used To Say: Wit & Wisdom From The Heart & Soul; IncogNegro: Poetic Reflections on Race and Diversity in America.
Grif Stockley spent his youth in Marianna, Arkansas. He has written groundbreaking history books dealing with race relations in Arkansas. Stockley has authored Ruled by Race; Blood in Their Eyes:The Elaine Race Massacres of 1919; Race Relations in the Natural State; and Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas.
The Forum on African American Fiction
Daniel Black, Alice Randall, and RM Johnson combined for a powerfully entertaining panel about their works Perfect Peace, Rebel Yell, and The Million Dollar Demise. The forum was moderated by Dr. Patricia Washington Mcgraw, scholar and retired professor of comparative literature and Founder of the Washington-Heritage House.
Daniel Black grew up in Blackwell, Arkansas in Conway County. Black is an African American history professor at Clark Atlanta University and discussed his new release Perfect Peace, which is a story about gender, love, and family life in the rural South.
Alice Randall is a New York Times best-selling novelist, award-winning songwriter, and a popular essayist. She first came to public attention with "The Wind Done Gone," her parody of "Gone With the Wind." Rebel Yell is her recent work. It is a novel of resilient love, political intrigue, and family secrets, steeped in our country’s racial history and framing our unique political moment.
Romance novelist and Essence bestselling author RM Johnson talked about his new work The Million Dollar Demise. The book is part of Johnson’s Million Dollar trilogy dealing with tensions in love relationships.
Jajuan Johnson, Director of Research
|
Museum StoreThe Museum Store offers a wide selection of African American-themed books, art, jewelry, and other items. We carry an impressive collection of Children's Literature, including hardback picture books, fiction, nonfiction, coloring books and board books. It is never too early to start shopping for Christmas.
The Museum Store is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9am to 4:30 pm. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is located on the historic corner of 9th Street & Broadway.  Here is a list of some of our most popular selections. Collaborations: Two Decades of African American Art is a livre d'artiste, or a multi-arts publication, of the world’s most sought-after African American artists. Collaborations contains the work of 57 artists including Arkansans Rex DeLoney, A.J. Smith, Sylvester McKissick, Susan Williams and Euneda Otis. Featured artist Frank Frazier states, “I am a Black artist first. My concerns will always be about the movement of Black artists. I am in no way trying to blend in with society or be part of a mainstream. I love being what I am, a Black artist in America.” Mama Dearest by E. Lynn Harris E. Lynn Harris attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and became the first black yearbook editor and the first black male Razorback cheerleader. Unable to launch a book contract at a commercial publishing house for his first manuscript, he successfully self-published Invisible Life and sold copies from the trunk of his car. He became a ten-time New York Times best selling author. E. Lynn Harris died at the age of 54 in 2009, just months before the publication of his final novel, Mama Dearest.
Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction by Henry Dumas
Henry Dumas was born in Sweet Home, Arkansas, a rural racially segregated community. Fable in style, Dumas’ poetry and fiction developed themes of the Black Aesthetic movement. Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas brings together all of his short fiction, including several previously unpublished stories. Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver Eldridge Cleaver, born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas, was an African American social activist and best-selling author of the timeless 1968 classic, Soul On Ice. This book is a testament of black alienation in the United States. Cleaver was Minister of Information for The Black Panther Party which achieved international fame through involvement in the Black Power Movement. The Black Panthers were perhaps the vanguards of the 1960s socialist reformism. Soul On Ice is based on autobiographical essays Cleaver wrote while in prison.
They Tell Me of a Home and Perfect Place by Daniel Black
Daniel Omotosho Black spent the majority of his childhood years in Blackwell, Arkansas, 50 miles northwest of Little Rock. Many black settlers in this region migrated to Arkansas from South Carolina. Racial violence, Jim Crow and disenfranchisement caused hundreds of black Arkansans to return to the African motherland in the Liberia exodus movement. They Tell Me of a Home is a juxtaposition of Daniel Black’s life in rural Arkansas. The protagonist Tommy Lee Tyson returns home to Swap Creek, Arkansas to reconnect with his roots, similar to exiled black settlers in Arkansas who migrated back to the African motherland in the Liberia exodus movement. They Tell Me of a Home is a literary ventriloquism, a penetrating gothic of family and self discovery. Black‘s second novel, The Sacred Place, is a living history of racial strife in America and symptomatic of the horrific true story of Emmett Till. The newly released novel, Perfect Peace is a caricature of disjointed family life.
Cotton Field of Dreams by Janis Kearney
Janis Kearney chronicles her life experiences from Gould, Arkansas, the delta region of southeastern Arkansas to The White House in her debut autobiographical Cotton Field of Dreams. In 1987, Kearney purchased the Arkansas State Press, the award-winning weekly black newspaper, owned by L.C. and Daisy Bates. Following the 1993 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign, Kearney moved to Washington, D.C. In 1995, Kearney became President Clinton’s diarist, the first-ever presidential personal diarist.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou’s best known autobiographical literary composition, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, focuses on her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas and young adulthood experiences. Throughout six other autobiographies, Angelou’s life story is continued from Arkansas to Africa. Her body of work includes 30 bestselling titles. A trailblazer in film, producer, actor, playwright, and social justice advocate, Angelou became the first black woman director in Hollywood. Angelou was the first female and second poet to deliver a poem at a presidential inauguration. On the Pulse of Morning, is a poem she wrote and recited for President Clinton's inauguration on January 20, 1993.
Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon
Arkansan Douglas Blackmon wins Pulitzer Prize! Slavery by Another Name stalwartly documents the neoslavery system in America that imprisoned thousands of black boys and men into involuntary servitude from the Civil War to World War II. Blackmon identifies U.S. Steel, Georgia Power Company, Wachovia Bank and dozens of corporations that profited from ‘convict leasing’ and how those events relate to the present. Turn The Page and You Don't Stop by Patrick Oliver Patrick Oliver is founder of Say It Loud! Readers and Writers Series, a literary project that brings students and community residents together in a dynamic culture of words. Turn The Page and You Don’t Stop is a valuable how-to book designed to inspire youngsters with an interest in reading and writing. Oliver has organized and promoted literary events in Little Rock and throughout the country featuring award-winning authors. Beyond Little Rock: Toward Acceptance Beyond Little Rock: Toward Acceptance is a ‘Sojourn to The Past’ of preserved living history narratives from two of the Little Rock Nine, Minnijean Brown Trickey and Thelma Mothershed Wair, and other Central High students and residents who witnessed the Crisis at Central High era. Beyond Little Rock started as a class assignment for 9th graders at Central High by teacher George West. Those essays became an anthology of personal stories of those whose lives were impacted by the desegregation of Little Rock Central High in 1957 and beyond.
Phyllis Brown, Museum Program Assistant
News from Friends of MTCCFollowing the planning for the grand opening of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, September 18-19, 2008, it became evident that the Center would need support beyond that provided by the State in order to fully carry out its mission to preserve, interpret and celebrate Arkansas’s African American history and culture. Four volunteer members of the original Opening planning group, along with the MTCC director as consultant, met over several months to organize a “friends” group that was later officially incorporated as the independent, non-profit FRIENDS OF MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER designed specifically to develop and implement strategies to raise funds in support of the MTCC and its mission. A Membership Drive was held on September 17 in conjunction with the MTCC’s first anniversary celebration. The FRIENDS hosted “Ninth Street Revisted: Pure Jazz from the Good Old Days” featuring James Leary and other guest artists. On December 30, 2009, FRIENDS of MTCC were hosts to “Unveiling of Art by Arkansan Artists.” Currently, the group is planning its 2010 signature event, “An Evening with the Ramsey Lewis Trio” to be held Friday evening, September 17, 2010 in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center. The evening begins with a VIP reception followed by dinner catered by Café 42 and entertainment by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Reservations are $200 per person. Corporate reservations may be secured for $5,000, $3,500 and $2,000. The FRIENDS OF MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER board of directors includes Dr. Erma Glasco Davis, president; Morris S. Arnold, vice president; Jay Hartman, secretary; Marti North, treasurer; John Bush IV; Tamika Edwards; Herb Rule and Dr. Beverly Divers-White. Information regarding membership and/or An Evening with the Ramsey Lewis Trio may be obtained by calling (501) 978-2234 or (501) 922-4841. |
Do you have a child between the ages of 10-15? If so, enroll them in the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center’s Kids Involved in Dynamic Service (K.I.D.S.) program today. They will have the opportunity to volunteer for various community service projects organized by the museum once every two to three months. 
Hannibal Johnson and Grif Stockley, natives of the Natural State, delved into the complex and similar racial histories of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Jajuan Johnson, Director of Research at MTTC moderated. 
Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
501 W. Ninth Street | Little Rock, AR 72201
Main Phone: (501) 683-3593 | Fax Number: (501) 682-5866
Email: info@mosaictemplarscenter.com
Copyright © 2009 Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. All Rights Reserved.
Photos may not be reproduced without written permission from the director.
Funded in part by the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council.
