A project of heroic proportions is under way to document the history of the Pine Street School and the presence of black life in Faulkner County.
The project, a joint undertaking of the Faulkner County Museum and members of the black community, will be unveiled in a fall presentation. Research in the form of a visual exhibit, and a compilation of definitive data, is expected to delineate the black experience in several towns in Faulkner County.
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Mike Kemp photo
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Linda Jones Paxton, left, and Faulkenr County Museum administrative assistant Kathy Sywalski look at photos and documents from the old Pine Street School during a recent reunion. The museum has undertaken a joint venture with members of the African-American community in Conway to document the school and black life in the area.
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The museum recently received a planning grant of $776 from the Arkansas Humanities Council to launch the project labeled "Faulkner County Black Facts and Acts, Phase 1."
This is the initial planning stage for a larger, more complete history project. A planning committee has been formed to structure oral interviews with residents of Faulkner County in the communities of Twin Groves, Damascus, Mayflower, Greenbrier, Friendship, Gold Lake, Caney, Mount Vernon, Salem, Saltillo, Lollie and Conway.
Many individuals from these communities attended the Pine Street School, commuting from their hometowns.
The research project will be accomplished in three phases, the planning segment now beginning, the taking of oral history interviews and the final presentation of the information in a written format.
Additional grants are to be written to support each phase of the project, says museum director Lynita Langley-Ware, who is offering the expertise of the museum staff in helping to prepare the history.
The grant proposal committee includes Dr. Alice Hines, Linda Paxton, Loretha Hendrix and Langley-Ware; the interview committee includes James Lasker, Lee Ethel Ealy, Joann Ealy, Elvin Credit, Albessie Thompson, Carolyn McCrae, Molly Smith and David Bowie.
From Paxton comes word that the planning segment of the project should be completed by the end of August.
"It is a large project and we are now getting people to do the interviews," Paxton said. "They will be done by local people and by people from out of state who attended the recent reunion of the Pine Street School class."
The planning group met Thursday to zero in on several aspects of Phase I, such as selecting stationery and letterheads, expanding the contact list and establishing a method to obtain a transcriptionist.
The group also examined a format for interviewers to use in compiling information germane to the project. The interviews will attempt to capture the educational, social, religious and economic history of the population, including the impact of segregation and integration of public schools in Faulkner County. Planning is expected to be completed by Aug. 30.
Already documented are snippets of information gleaned from Loretha Hendrix, who recalls fondly people in the community who distinguished themselves, like Faber Bland, the first black person on the Conway school board.
Or Theodore Jones Sr., who was the first black justice of the peace in Faulkner County.
Her fondness and appreciation for the Pine Street School is evident in a talk she delivered to a group of Conway teachers, in which she said the "Pine Street School (was a place) where the educators took special care of each child, being sure to nurture, encourage and educate us. Some of the educators were also active in our churches by being our Sunday School teachers and taking care of our souls, because the churches were the major foundation of the community."
From Hendrix' perspective, black people have always been industrious and proud people. "There was no such thing as welfare as we know it today," she said. "We were taught to earn our own way. Some were domestics; some farmed; some owned homes and businesses; and our fathers went to war. We were never exempted from war or taxes."
The fruits of such labor produced the likes of Dr. Joseph Manley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Manley, who was the first black person to attend and graduate from the University of Central Arkansas.
Dr. Gordon Morgan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt Morgan, was the first black graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
The Bland children, she notes, have made their mark: Faber Bland Jr. as a geologist for the Game and Fish Commission in Michigan; Robert Bland, the first black senior manager at the Arkansas Educational Television Network; Annie Bland, a computer system analyst for Stephens Inc.; and Rudy Bland, a lab technician at Baptist Medical Center.
And the list goes on, says Hendrix. "The Pine Street area is not dead. Maybe a bit relaxed, but still we rise. These people of color didn't know they couldn't do it, but they did it."
The history of black life in Faulkner County will be just as dramatic when it unfolds in the research that is being undertaken, committee members said.
