The Delta Cultural Center in historic downtown Helena-West Helena is recognizing Black History Month 2007 with several events, including a photography exhibition, the public showing of an acclaimed multi-segment blues documentary, lesson plan additions at the DCC website, and a dramatic, musical interpretation of African-American history for area junior high and high school students.

On Tuesday, Feb. 20, the DCC Visitors Center at 141 Cherry Street will begin screenings of the acclaimed seven-part PBS mini-series “Martin Scorsese Presents ‘The Blues’ – A Musical Journey.” Premiering on public television in 2003, the series told stories and looked at the past and present of blues music, utilizing the talents of seven well-known directors: Mike Figgis, Wim Wenders, Charles Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Marc Levin, Richard Pearce, and Martin Scorsese, who also served as executive producer for the project.

Showings will be at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day. No admission is charged; the public is invited. The schedule will be:

-- Tuesday, Feb. 20: “Feel Like Going Home,” directed by Scorsese.
-- Wednesday, Feb. 21: “The Soul of a Man,” directed by Wenders.
-- Thursday, Feb. 22: “The Road to Memphis,” directed by Pearce.
-- Friday, Feb. 23: “Warming By The Devil’s Fire,” directed by Burnett.
-- Saturday, Feb. 24: “Godfathers And Sons,” directed by Levin.
-- Tuesday, Feb. 27: “Red, White & Blues,” directed by Figgis.
-- Wednesday, Feb. 28: “Piano Blues,” directed by Eastwood.


On Monday, Feb. 26, the DCC will present Acts III, a dramatic ensemble that offers an interpretation of African-American history through singing, dancing, music, poetry, and historical recreation. The one-hour production, presented in cooperation with the Arkansas Arts Council’s Arts on Tour program, will begin at 10 a.m. All area high school and junior high students from public and private schools, as well as home-schooled youths, are welcome, but seating is limited. Those planning to attend are urged to contact Jack Myers, educational curator, in advance at 870-338-4350.

The DCC is also adding two lesson plans to its award-winning website: “A Land Given: 19th Century African-Americans in the Arkansas Delta” and “A Land Promised: Immigrants in the Arkansas Delta.”

At the time its statehood was established in 1836, Arkansas’s black population totaled less than 600, but its slave population swelled to 19,935 by 1840, as planters recognized the abundant yields of cotton from the Delta soil. At the beginning of the Civil War, 25.6 percent of the state’s population was black (111,259) and located primarily in Arkansas’s Delta. Following the war and the subsequent passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution ending slavery, establishing their rights of citizenship and right to vote, blacks in Arkansas had greater opportunities in business, landownership, and education. “A Land Given” examines the lives of a few of the black men and women who became successful and contributed to the growth and development of their Delta communities.

A continuing stream of Irish, German, Swiss, Italian, Slovakian, Lebanese, Syrian, Chinese, Greek, Jewish, and other populations settled in the Arkansas Delta, beginning in the 1840s and continuing into the early 20th century. The reasons for their arrival were diverse; some came to escape war and economic depression and others were lured by the promises of cheap farms and high wages or the tales of relatives who had already arrived in America. Though set apart by language, religion, or skin color, many of these immigrants found useful roles in their new communities. “A Land Promised” tells the stories of some of these individuals and their determination to succeed in this new land.

The lesson plans can be found on the museum’s website at deltaculturalcenter.com.

A total of 20 photographic works are collected in “The Arkansas Blues: Photographs by Louis Guida and Cheryl Cohen,” a traveling exhibition from The Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, on display through Friday, April 6, at the DCC Visitors Center. The photos were captured as part of a Bicentennial project in 1975-76 sponsored by the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Music Department, and examine the state’s blues traditions and contemporary blues musicians of the time. A reception in connection with the Black History Month exhibition will be held Friday, Feb. 16, from 4:30-6 p.m. at the Delta Cultural Center. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

For more information, interested persons can contact the Delta Cultural Center at (870) 338-4350 or (800) 358-0972.

Delta Cultural Center is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

The Delta Cultural Center shares the vision of all seven agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage – to preserve and promote Arkansas heritage as a source of pride and satisfaction. Other agencies within the department are the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the Natural Heritage Commission.

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