Tag Archives: UA Little Rock Institute on Race and Ethnicity

Celebrate Juneteenth at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center

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Juneteenth logoAs part of the local Juneteenth celebration, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center hosts a day long event featuring activities, vendors, food and entertainment for the entire community. Events run from 11am to 5pm.

This year’s music line-up includes Ricky Howard, Delya Russell, Foreign Tongues, Steven Young – Artists United, Butterfly featuiring Irie Soul, Epiphany and the Big John Miller Band.

The museum will also celebrate an opening of a new exhibit on Arkansas African American legislators.

At 1pm, MTCC, in partnership with AETN, PBS and the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity, presents this free documentary film premiere of American Experience: Freedom Summer.

FreedomSummer-PosterCMYK for webThe screening is in advance of the national broadcast premiere. This 2014 Official Sundance Selection from acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson will premiere at MTCC in conjunction with the Annual Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom. This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Freedom Summer.

As the campaign launches, 700 student volunteers are trained to register voters, teach in Freedom Schools, and help establish an alternate political party to represent the rights of those previously disenfranchised.

After learning of these impending summer activities, the white establishment in Mississippi prepares to fight off an invasion. Young activists, students, and local citizens work through their fear together, hoping to make a difference in black communities. As the summer wears on, many of their fears are realized.

A panel and Q & A will follow the premiere.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas, origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.

Today, Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings. It is a time for reflection and rejoicing. It is a time for assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future. Its growing popularity signifies a level of maturity and dignity in America long overdue. In cities across the country, people of all races, nationalities and religions are joining hands to truthfully acknowledge a period in our history that shaped and continues to influence our society today. Sensitized to the conditions and experiences of others, only then can we make significant and lasting improvements in our society.

LR Look Back: Fifty Years of Desegregated Downtown Little Rock

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widget_2013commerationThe UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity is partnering with the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce to mark the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of downtown Little Rock businesses from 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, at the Chamber.

This event is part of the Chamber’s 31st Annual Minority Enterprise Development Week and will include a public unveiling of the markers, reception, and the seminar, “Developing Future Leaders: How Strong Mentors Can Increase Diversity in Leadership Positions.”

Eleven  individuals from the Council on Community Affairs, Downtown Negotiating Committee, and Philander Smith College, will be honored with bronze markers placed on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail in front of the Chamber. This will mark the third year of the Civil Rights Heritage Commemoration.

In 1963, this diverse group made up of members from COCA, DNC, and students from Philander Smith College worked together to plan a peaceful integration of downtown retail and restaurant establishments. Because of their efforts and others, by the end of 1963 most of the downtown retail businesses and restaurants had integrated.

2013 Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail Honorees
The following individuals will be honored:

    • Dr. Garman P. Freeman, COCA
    • Dr. Morris A. Jackson, COCA
    • William Starr Mitchell, DNC
    • James H. Penick, DNC
    • Arthur Phillips, DNC
    • Rev. Negail Riley, Pastor, Wesley Chapel at Philander Smith College; COCA
    • Bert Strauss, Philander Smith College student; DNC
    • Ozell Sutton, COCA
    • Dr. William H. Townsend, COCA
    • Dr. Evangeline Upshur, COCA
    • B. Finley Vinson, DNC

Public Commemoration Ceremony – 10:30 a.m.
Civil Rights Heritage Markers Unveiling

Reception – 11 a.m.

Racial Etiquette and Civil Rights Struggle focus of UALR talk tonight

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NashvilleWayDr. Benjamin Houston of Newcastle University and author of the new book, “The Nashville Way: Racial Etiquette and the Struggle for Social Justice in a Southern City,” will give a lecture on racial change at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 5, at the Historic Arkansas Museum.

Houston’s talk, “A Manner of Segregation,” is an opportunity for dialogue about how people in the South reacted to the dismantling of segregation as a way of life in the 1950s and 60s.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the museum and the UALR Department of History.

Houston is a lecturer in modern U.S. history. His research interests include civil rights, the African American freedom struggle, history of the U.S. South, 20th century U.S. history, and oral history.

For more information, contact Dr. Barclay Key, professor in the UALR Department of History at 501.569.8782.