Lauren Willette of Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts and Pat Johnson, director and founder of the Eddie Mae Herron Center in Pocahontas, Arkansas, will co-host a Juneteenth celebration beginning at 6 p.m., Friday, June 17. The event, which is free and open to the public, will have a virtual component for those who are unable to attend in person at the Rendezvous Event Center in downtown Pocahontas.
Attendees will celebrate cultural heritage by learning about Arkansas history from Heritage scholars Shanita Sanders and Donna Shelton of Arkansas State University. Sanders will present on the history of Juneteenth and tie that history directly to the Arkansas Delta. Shelton will share about her work to preserve the history of the African American community of Garrett Grove, Arkansas, through oral history and other preservation projects.
The celebration will also include a multicultural fashion show with designs from Little Rock resident Marsha Vault and Marshallese Islanders D. Heine and Stephanie Kisno. Vault is a retired education specialist who previously worked for The Centers for Youth and will show 10 of her original fashion designs. Heine and Kisno have been developing fashion for a few years here in Arkansas and will bring eight outfits to be modeled by teens and children.
Willette notes, “We’re including fashion in our event to celebrate creativity and diversity in Arkansas and in hopes of bringing new people to our event where they will meet others and find a place to gather in their community.”
It is the mission of the Eddie Mae Herron Center to help individuals, communities and organizations to identify, protect and preserve history and to foster the widespread appreciation of and respect for African American culture. The center preserves and displays a portion of nearly 200 years of African American history in Randolph County. The center hosts regular events to bring people together for fun, fellowship and education.
Johnson says she is “excited to host this event and so happy to be continuing to work closely with the Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts program.”
Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts and the Eddie Mae Herron Center are able to host this event thanks in part to contributions from the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections Division. Questions may be directed to Willette at 479-575-4664 or willette@uark.edu.