Ohh the places you'll go...and the things you'll know...

Recently I had the opportunity to assist playwright, Mark Saltzman in researching African-American life in 1904 Little Rock, Arkansas. Fine tuning a play he had written I was to focus on social life, funeral traditions, foods, natural aesthetics like trees and vegetables that would be planted in a garden, and fun facts.

1904 was a very special time in the United States of America. Although the 13^th amendment was enacted in 1865, purportedly ending slavery, in Little Rock and many other communities throughout the country laws were being created to segregate blacks from whites. Lynchings were rampant and widespread and sundown towns, places where blacks were not welcome after dark, were on the rise.

Nevertheless, the rhythmic quake of ragtime ushered in by Scott Joplin was being felt throughout the south. In Little Rock, there were three black colleges, Shorter, Arkansas Baptist and Philander Smith. West Ninth Street in downtown Little Rock had African American businesses like The Children’s Drug Store, a pharmacy owned by African American Frank Barbour Coffin, who was also a poet and The Mosaic Templars of America which provided financial, medical and social aid to African Americans in Arkansas and throughout the nation. In addition to its mutual aid, insurance programs and self help programs the Mosaic Templars also established a nursing school. Like Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue and Harlem’s 125^th Street, African American beauty salons, pool halls, butchers, and restaurants were all found on Little Rock’s West Ninth Street.

Working on this project, the greatest boon for me was discovering the very special places and people who both documented and shared this information, this history with me. Here is a list of some of them:

Arkansas History Commission
a lot of their collection is available online

Arkansan, Griff Stockley’s book: Ruled by Race: Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present

Arkansas Studies Institute

Mosaic Templars Cultural Center

Philander Smith College
Gracie Carter, Librarian-Archives Department

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture

Black History Month

Rather than argue the merits of Black History Month it is important to note the accomplishments of blacks especially in this country where the observance began because it fixes us on the law of progress, resilience of love, and the radiance of soul. This law, quality, idea that is the basis for black achievement is universal and applicable to all which makes this annual observance especially meaningful.

In light of our first African American president, I was inspired to think about black history more deeply this year. Black History Month an enduring lesson written for spirituality.com was the result of that thinking. Working on that piece I discovered The Association for the Study of African American Life and History. It was started by Carter G. Woodson in 1915. According to its website, the mission of ASALH is to "promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history and culture to the global community." Mr. Woodson was the second African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University. He is known as the father of black history because he initiated the observance with Negro History Week in 1926. In 1976 Negro History Week was expanded to the month long observance we celebrate today.

In keeping with this theme I also published Stand up to racism for Associated Content.