Black History Month Spotlight – Mt Zion Baptist Church

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Mount Zion Baptist Church, Little Rock, AR.JPGThe new Arkansas Civil Rights History Audio Tour was launched in November 2015. Produced by the City of Little Rock and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock allows the many places and stories of the City’s Civil Rights history to come to life an interactive tour.  This month, during Black History Month, the Culture Vulture looks at some of the stops on this tour which focus on African American history.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church was organized in 1877 and is one of the earliest black congregations in Little Rock. The church was rebuilt in its current location in 1927 under the leadership of Rev. Fred T. Guy. From the late 1800s to the present, local church leaders, their congregants, grassroots groups, civic organizations, fraternal societies, and black business owners fought for equal rights.

A warrior in the community and tireless human rights advocate, Rev. Fred T. Guy, Mr. Zion’s pastor, challenged Superintendent of Schools Virgil Blossom and the Little Rock School Board to desegregate schools in 1957. “Next to the law of God, the Constitution of the United States means the most to me. When you start to tinker with the Constitution, it becomes awfully important to us,” said Rev. Guy.

The app, funded by a generous grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council, was a collaboration among UALR’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the City of Little Rock, the Mayor’s Tourism Commission, and KUAR, UALR’s public radio station, with assistance from the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau

Super Bowl Sunday Little Rock Look Back: Copper Bowl

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Copper Bowl

A Little Rock police officer tackles a NLR player in one of the Copper Bowls.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, so it seems to be a good time to remember the five year series of football games in Little Rock known as the Copper Bowl.

From December 1959 through December 1963, the Little Rock Police Department played the North Little Rock Police Department in a series of football games.  The Copper Bowl games were fundraisers to help the LRPD provide food and presents for needy families during the Christmas season.

The agreement was that the teams would play for five years. The team with the most wins would permanently receive the Copper Bowl trophy.  The LRPD was outfitted with uniforms from Little Rock University and Louisiana State University (thanks to the efforts of Sgt. Harold Zook).  The games were played at Quigley Stadium.

Before the final game on December 1, 1963, the series was tied at 2-2.  The LRPD team won the game and permanently captured the trophy.  Over the five year period several thousand dollars were raised.

Black History Month Spotlight – Lynching of John Carter

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John Carter lynch victimThe new Arkansas Civil Rights History Audio Tour was launched in November 2015. Produced by the City of Little Rock and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock allows the many places and stories of the City’s Civil Rights history to come to life an interactive tour.  This month, during Black History Month, the Culture Vulture looks at some of the stops on this tour which focus on African American history.

On May 4, 1927, Little Rock witnessed its worst episode of racial violence in the twentieth century. Thirty-eight year old African American John Carter allegedly “assaulted” two white women on the outskirts of the city. A white mob hunted Carter down, hung him from a telegraph pole, and riddled his dead body with hundreds of bullets. The mob transported Carter’s body downtown and then dragged it through the streets tied to the back of an automobile.

Thousands of white onlookers gathered at West Ninth Street and Broadway, the heart of the black business district. There the mob tore pews from Bethel AME Church, one of the city’s largest and oldest black churches, and threw Carter’s body onto a makeshift funeral pyre. The mob only dispersed when Gov. John E. Martineau sent in Arkansas National Guardsmen because Mayor Charles Moyer, the Chief of Police, and Sheriff “could not be reached.” No charges were ever brought against any of the perpetrators.

During the Jim Crow era, white lynch mobs murdered at least 284 black people in Arkansas, the second highest per capita number of lynchings in any state outside of Mississippi.

The app, funded by a generous grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council, was a collaboration among UALR’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the City of Little Rock, the Mayor’s Tourism Commission, and KUAR, UALR’s public radio station, with assistance from the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Mardi Gras on South Main

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2016 Mardi Gras ParadeJoin in one of Little Rock’s most beloved festivals, the SoMa Mardi Gras Parade on South Main!

At noon today (Saturday, February 6)

Floats, bands, stilt walkers, puppets…the parade will have it all! Also featuring music and beer in the Bernice Garden, and of course the highly anticipated Root Cafe Beard Judging to be held after the parade. Special events will be going on all along South Main, so come celebrate Mardi Gras in SoMa!

SoMa Mardi Gras 2016 events:

The Bernice Garden will be hosting the Root Café’s 4th Annual Beard Judging and a Mardi Gras Biergarten featuring Stone’s Throw, Lost Forty, Flyway and Diamond Bear. The Lemon Cakery, Hot Rod’s Weiners and Kincaid’s Coffee will also be set up.

The Green Corner Store- free Mardi Gras face painting from 11-12
Customers in Mardi Gras outfits from recycled materials can register for a great door prize.

Loblolly Creamery- creating a special Mardi Gras ice cream flavor and will have Mardi Gras sundae specials. Also will have an ice cream photo booth.

Root Café- The 4th annual Little Rock Beard Contest judging after the parade at the Bernice Garden. Judges will be Mayor Mark Stodola, Capi Peck of Trio’s and Amber Brewer of Yellow Rocket Concepts. Renee Shapiro will emcee.

Boulevard Bakehouse- Mardi Gras cookies and king cakes for sale.

Sweet Home & clement- free Mardi Gras beads, hot apple cider and gingersnaps.

South Main Creative- free make-and-take recycled craft workshop from 2:00-3:00.

Midtown Billiards- beads and étoufeé.

Esse Purse Museum and Shop- Flyway beer on tap, sponsored by Tonic Media. 10-50% off select items.

Pianist to celebrate classic and contemporary in UALR recital Feb. 5

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University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor Linda Holzer will perform a piano recital, “Ear-Opener! A Celebration of the Known and the New,” at 7:30 p.m Friday, Feb. 5, in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Holzer enjoys presenting concerts that combine familiar repertoire with works that “deserve to be heard more often.”

Accompanied by baritone Ferris Allen, Holzer will open the concert with the premiere of a poignant new work, “Prayers and Blessings,” by composer Gwyneth Walker.

It is a setting of three texts: “Ubi Caritas,” “Lord Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace,” and “Gaelic Blessing.”

“We think this piece is a musical antidote for a turbulent world,” said Holzer.

The remainder of the program will feature solos by Holzer including the majestic piano Sonata in E Minor by celebrated composer and Little Rock native, Florence Price.

She will also perform selections by Scarlatti, Mozart, and Bach.

Holzer, a UALR faculty member since 1995, is an active soloist and chamber musician who has played in 30 states, and most recently, abroad in Melbourne, Australia. She was a featured performer at the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference held at the Victoria College of the Arts. An advocate for contemporary music, Holzer was featured in performance and as host on a special KLRE broadcast last summer, “A Celebration of American Music.”

For more information, contact the Music Department at 501.569.3294.

Mavis Staples in concert at new Pulaski Tech venue tonight

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mavisLegendary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mavis Staples is bringing her stirring brand of classic soul music to Pulaski Technical College on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. as part of the college’s week-long grand opening celebration of its new Center for the Humanities and Arts, located on the Main Campus at 3000 West Scenic Drive in North Little Rock.

Staples is known for her soul/gospel classics that she performed with The Staples Singers, such as “I’ll Take You There,” and “Respect Yourself.” Her thirteenth studio album, “You Are Not Alone,” won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in 2010.

She is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and a 2016 Grammy nominee. She has been named one of Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Greatest Singers of all Time. Her latest album, “Livin’ On A High Note,” features Neko Case, Justin Vernon, Nick Cave, Ben Harper and other guest artists. It will be released Feb. 19.

The concert will be in the college’s new theater. Doors open at 6 p.m. and a cash bar will be available. Reserved tickets are $65, $75 and $100 and are on sale now by clicking here: http://www.pulaskitech.edu/mavis/ – See more at: http://www.pulaskitech.edu/current_news/default.asp?ID=1851#sthash.EhoonNag.dpuf

Black History Month Spotlight – Taborian Hall and Dreamland Ballroom

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The new Arkansas Civil Rights History Audio Tour was launched in November 2015. Produced by the City of Little Rock and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock allows the many places and stories of the City’s Civil Rights history to come to life an interactive tour.  This month, during Black History Month, the Culture Vulture looks at some of the stops on this tour which focus on African American history.

Completed in 1918, Taborian Hall stands as one of the last reminders of the once-prosperous West Ninth Street African-American business and cultural district. West Ninth Street buildings included offices for black professionals, businesses, hotels, and entertainment venues. In 1916, the Knights and Daughters of Tabor, a fraternal insurance organization, hired local black contractor Simeon Johnson to enlarge an existing building to accommodate their activities, other offices and a ballroom.

During World War I, black soldiers from Camp Pike came to the Negro Soldiers Service Center here. In World War II, Taborian Hall was home to the Ninth Street USO, catering to black soldiers from Camp Robinson. By 1936, Dreamland Ballroom hosted basketball games, boxing matches, concerts and dances.

A regular stop for popular black entertainers on the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” Dreamland hosted Cab Callaway, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, B.B. King, Earl “Fatha” Hines and Ray Charles. Arkansas’s own Louis Jordan also performed here. Between the 1960s and 1980s, West Ninth Street declined, and many buildings were demolished. In 1991, Taborian Hall was renovated to house Arkansas Flag and Banner. Once again, Dreamland Ballroom hosts concerts and social events.

The app, funded by a generous grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council, was a collaboration among UALR’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the City of Little Rock, the Mayor’s Tourism Commission, and KUAR, UALR’s public radio station, with assistance from the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.