[This past
weekend, I had the opportunity to attend my first Southern Historical Association
annual conference, in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thanks to a We’re History piece of mine, I was invited by Elaine Frantz
Parsons to take part in a wonderful panel on the Reconstruction-era KKK. In
this series I’ll follow up both that panel and other takeaways from this great
conference!]
Three layers to
how the city remembers race, and the fragile significance of the third.
1)
Central High
School: The story of Little Rock and race is of course inextricably tied to
Central High School, and I’m very happy to say that those histories and stories
are very well captured in the city. That happens at the National Historic Site, which
features a wonderful short film on the voices and lives of the Little Rock Nine, and many other
compelling exhibits about those histories. But it also happens at the high
school itself, which remains open and which features the amazing student
endeavor that is The
Memory Project. I had the chance to attend a Saturday special event at
Central High on the Memory Project, and came away deeply impressed and inspired
by how these students, like these sites, are carrying forward the histories and
meanings of civil rights.
2)
Mosaic
Templars Cultural Center: Public memory also has to evolve as our
communities do, and this museum of African American history, which opened within
the last decade in a reconstructed version of the Mosaic
Templars of America national headquarters (which was tragically lost in a
2005 fire), exemplifies such evolution. Alongside exhibits on local and
regional artists, figures, and histories (such as the Arkansas
Black Hall of Fame), the museum is also becoming more and more prominent on
the national stage, as reflected by its forthcoming
role as one of the few American spaces to feature the Kinsey Collection II exhibition.
I had the chance to meet and chat at length with museum staff member Maggie Speck-Kern at the conference,
and can testify that this up and coming Little Rock site is in very good hands.
3)
Historic Homes: History isn’t and can’t be
captured solely in historic sites and museums, however, and the neighborhood
around Central High School is full of historic homes and buildings that
represent more than a century of Little Rock and African American history. These
historic buildings not only offer a vital, intimate complement to more official
and formal sites of public memory, but continue to serve the city’s families,
businesses, and communities. Yet as is the case in so many less wealthy
neighborhoods around the nation, these homes are
in significant danger of being demolished, and both their histories and
current roles endangered. Such destruction represents both a cultural and a
contemporary crisis well worth our attention as we work to remember and
preserve African American history and community in Little Rock.
Special NeMLA
preview post this weekend,
Ben
PS. What do you
think?
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