From the Director

The mission of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (MTCC) is to collect, preserve, interpret and celebrate Arkansas’s African American history, culture and community from 1870 to the present, and to inform and educate the public about black achievement-especially in business, politics, and the arts. 

For those of us who had worked together for nearly two decades to make the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and Museum a reality, the Grand Opening last year on September 20, 2008, will always signify one of life’s most gratifying moments. A broad based coalition of citizens, wholly focused on a common vision, had last triumphed to create one of the most successful community projects of our time.

Central to the success of the project is the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council (ANCRC) and we owe them a monumental debt of gratitude. Without $9 Million dollars in ANCRC Grant funds, construction of the Center would have been in jeopardy.  ANCRC funds are derived from Arkansas Real Estate Transfer Tax funds, taxpayer dollars, which means that MTCC belongs to the public; this is your Cultural Center and Museum!

The engine of the Cultural Center, a small hard working staff, keeps the day-to-day business on course and the facility in top condition. They are the drivers who will ultimately lead the Center to even greater success. 

In the 16 months since the Grand Opening, the staff has welcomed more than 35,000 guests. On September 19, 2009, at the 1^st Anniversary Celebrations, hundreds of visitors stopped by to wish us Happy Birthday. What a joyous occasion, one of many more to come!

On the development side, it was a whirlwind summer and fall:

• the MTCC website had a makeover
• two hallmark programs Family Fun Saturdays and Each One Teach One Mentoring Series were instituted to distinguish the Center as a Saturday destination location-especially for families and youth. Check the website for details
• MTCC partnered with LifeQuest of Arkansas to launch adult lecture sessions. Pulitzer Prize winning author Douglas Blackmon and a panel of local dignitaries-Ms. Kathryn Fitzhugh, Judge Wiley A. Branton, Jr., and Mr. Howard Himmelbaum shared keen insights
• a new Dunbar High School Alumni Traveling Exhibit, now complete, is available for display in your school, library, or church. Call the Center to reserve
• enhanced research opportunities are on the horizon. The Bush-Remmel Genealogy Research Center and the Oral History Recording Studios, located on the
  2^nd Floor of the Center, are being outfitted; both are slated to open on in the near future and will be available by appointment
• MTCC added new works created by Arkansas African American artists Kevin Cole, Tarrence Corbin, Rex Deloney, Sylvester McKissick, Euneda Otis, Charly Palmer, AJ Smith, Marjorie Williams-Smith, Susan Williams, Ernest C. Withers, and Michael Worsham. The Collection debuts December 31, 2009. Acquisition made possible through an ANCRC grant.
• Friends of Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (FMTCC) formed this year to raise money in support of the Center and Museum. The group is in the process of applying for non-profit 501(c)(3) status, has set targets, and is moving on several fronts to help solidify the Center’s financial base while the staff continues to seek grants, and solicit public and private donations.
• The Highway Department authorized MTCC to expand guest parking and efforts are underway to build an additional lot south of the Center on the easement adjacent to the interstate. The lot is expected to be ready by July, 2010. Construction is made possible through an ANCRC grant

Events

We will be celebrating a legacy of perseverance and progress. A screening of the film Buried Treasures: The Stories of Bold Pilgrim Cemetery will kick off the month’s events on Thursday, February 4, 2010, 12 pm-1 pm. The film tells the story of African Americans who migrated and settled in Conway County. It is a poignant reminder of the rich heritage of African Americans culture. A panel discussion will follow the screening.

Coach Frank Broyles will be honored by former black athletes of the Arkansas Razorbacks for his legacy of racially integrating sports at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Coach Broyles will offer comments on the integration history of Razorback sports. The event will take place Wednesday, February 10, 2010, at noon.

Classical pianist Jimmy McKissic will perform at a public program during the month of February. McKissic is a native of Pine Bluff, Ark., and is an inductee in the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. His musical talent is world renowned. A program for students, teachers and the public will be held in the 3rd Floor Auditorium on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 10 am. McKissic will perform his classical piano repertoire and reflect on his life in Arkansas and around the world.

Education

Our education programs are designed to inspire, educate and promote awareness of Arkansas’s African American history. Museum tours for school groups are provided Tuesday through Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm by appointment only. During visits we invite students to explore, ask questions and enjoy our exhibits. The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center education tours are free of charge. 

The museum offers several education resources for teachers including lesson plans, teacher’s workshops, an interactive CD-Rom of a multimedia presentation featuring the personal stories of members of Little Rock’s African American community, Voices: A Century of Little Rock’s African American Community, 1870-1970, along with A Teacher’s Guide, and a loan box that focuses on African Americans and the Great Migration within the context of Arkansas’s African American history.

The museum currently offers classroom presentations to K-12 school and youth groups throughout the state. Programs focus on Arkansas’s African American communities, art, music, politics, and entrepreneurship. Educators are also welcome to bring students to the Cultural Center to experience specialized education programs inside the museum classroom. All programs are available to groups free of charge and meet Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks.

The education department recently held its 1st Heritage and History Day, with plans to hold it annually. Heritage and History Day is a program designed to create an environment where middle school students can learn about a variety of areas of Arkansas Studies in one easy museum trip. From history and plants, to native animals and music, this program has got it all.

In October MTCC invited several education specialists from around the state to participate with MTCC staff, including Historic Arkansas Museum, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Delta Cultural Center, Old State House Museum, Powhatan State Park, and the Department of Arkansas Heritage. Over 200 students attended from Fuller, Henderson, and Robinson middle schools.

The Arkansas Humanities Council awarded the Cultural Center $3,000 for a mini education grant. The monies were used to help fund Heritage and History Day 2009 at the Cultural Center. The monies help to cover lunch and books for all students who attend the program.

Teachers Workshop Offered in January

Join Economics Arkansas, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Little Rock Branch on January 26, 2010, as we present a workshop that showcases “entreprecation”—the development of appreciation for Arkansas’ rich African-American entrepreneurial history—and the role these leaders played in shaping Arkansas’ economy. In this workshop, we will explore the link between entrepreneurship and the economy, providing educators with the tools they need to communicate this connection to their students.

This workshop will feature:

• a tour of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, highlighting African-Americans who brought economic life to Little Rock’s Ninth Street;
• simulations and classroom programs for grades K-5 and demonstrations of other teaching materials related to the Cultural Center; and
• resources from presenters that will be distributed to workshop participants.

Workshop attendees will receive professional development hours approved by the Arkansas State Department of Education. Please contact Julie Kerr at 501-324-8296 or
julie.a.kerr@stls.frb.org for any questions.

Collections

         

The financial state of the cemetery began to decline in the 1920s and 1930s. By the time of the Great Depression, the majority of the members of the benevolent organizations who had supported the cemetery had died. In addition, many of the organizations as a whole that supported and maintained the cemetery had permanently closed. Without a source for constant financial support, the cemetery began a rapid deterioration. The total amount of land originally set aside for the cemetery equaled approximately 14 acres. However, over time, a little more than half of the land would be lost from the cemetery through sale or lease. Most of the money received from this would either go to the City of Little Rock or to the Oakland Cemetery.

Without adequate funding, the cemetery board could not purchase equipment for the regular maintenance of the cemetery. As late as the early 1970s, graves were still being dug by hand. In 1973, a movement began to unite Fraternal with the Oakland Cemetery. In 1974, the City of Little Rock allowed the Oakland Cemetery to provide assistance to Fraternal by digging graves and sharing equipment and rental income. In 1975, the two cemeteries merged and became Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery. Today the Fraternal Cemetery is administered by the Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery Board, a commission of the City of Little Rock. On December 4, 2009, the Arkansas Review Board of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program recommended the addition of the Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery to the National Register of Historic Places.

The pages of the ledger are not numbered, and the cemetery board only recorded lots on about one third of the ledger’s pages. The earliest recorded lot was dated July 30, 1900, and was sold to Mrs. I. M. Johnson. The last recorded lot was dated November 15, 1958, and was sold to Mrs. Florence Robinson. The ledger listed the total number of lots in the cemetery at 1,745 with 231 lots allotted and 36 lots sold. The ledger also recorded that in 1902, Little Rock City Ordinance 947 authorized the transfer of all 61 lots in Section A to the city for use as Barber Avenue.

While there were three major fraternal organizations that created the cemetery, the following organizations purchased lots in the cemetery: United Independent Pilgrims Friendship, United Sons and Daughters of Zion #1, United Brotherhood of Friends, Knights of Pythias, St. Paul Temple of the American Knights of Freedom, Independent Knights of Tabor, Knights of Tabor, Free Masons, Baptist Christian Relief #3, Mosaic Templars of America, Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, Sisters of the Mysterious Ten of the United Brotherhood of Friendship, First Baptist Church, United Daughters of Wesley Chapel, and St. Mary’s Temple No. 2 of the American Knights of Freedom.

This artifact is one of many that build a cultural connection between the present and the past at the museum. 

For More information:

Joe Neal, “Fraternal Cemetery: Reflections on a Southern Negro Graveyard,” Pulaski County Historical Review 1 (March 1977): 1-14. 

Lakresha Diaz, “A Brief History of Oakland-Fraternal Cemeteries,” Oakland-Fraternal Cemeteries: A Brief History and Tour, Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery: Little Rock, 2009, available on http://www.littlerock.org/Images/UserFiles/PDF/StatisticsReports/oakland%20frat0001.pdf, accessed 11 December 2009.

Bryan McDade, Curator of Collections

Research

Museum Store

Books you will find at the Museum Store include:

• History of the Mosaic Templars of America, edited by A. E. Bush & P. L. Dorman. It tells the story of a black fraternal organization founded by two former slaves in Little Rock, Ark., that grew to become one of the largest black organizations in the world.
• End of the Line: a History of Little Rock’s West Ninth Street, by Berna J. Love.  “The West Ninth Street” community was the social, religious and commercial center of activity for Little Rock’s vibrant African American residents during the early 20^th century until the late 1960s.
• Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery, by Anne Farrow.  The story of how the North helped create, strengthen, and prolong slavery in America.
• King Leopold’s Ghost: a story of greed, terror and heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild. reveals how the strange, greedy, cruel monarch Leopold, king of the Belgians, initiated a holocaust in Africa that left millions dead.
• Harlem Speaks, by Dr. Cary D. Wintz, showcases artists, writers, poets and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance.  Includes CD.

The Museum Store offers an assortment of children's and educational items:

• Hip Hop Speaks to Children, edited by Nikki Giovanni, includes audio CD
• Poetry Speaks to Children, hear great poets on accompanying audio CD
• Coloring & activity books about African Americans
• Animal bookmarks
• Books for teens on African Americans of achievement and inventors
• President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama keepsakes
• And much more!