Black History Event Scheduled for February
Dr. George Henderson will be the guest speaker at the Oklahoma History Center on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. The program will begin at 6:30 p.m. and is free to the public.
Dr. Henderson is the Sylvan N. Goldman Professor Emeritus, David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus and Regents' Professor Emeritus of Human Relations,
Education, and Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, where he founded the Human Relations Program and served as Dean of the College of Liberal Studies. Dr. Henderson will discuss his latest publication, Race and the University: A Memoir and the significances of preserving and sharing African American history.
As part of the program Bruce Fisher will give the public its first glimpse of the plans for the new African American exhibit scheduled to open in the fall on 2011. The new African American exhibit will include an interpretation of cultural identity as seen through a visit to Lewis's Barbershop in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The jukebox music of the late 60', images of large Afro hair styles, dashikis, and conversations related protest movements and friend fighting in Vietnam will be part of the barbershop experience.
New civil rights history will feature the story of Carl Holmes and the first 12 
African American Fire Fighters in Oklahoma City. Holmes's fire fighter uniform and their success at manning Station #6 are important accomplishments to changing race relations in Oklahoma.
The Sanitation Strike of 1969 was a pivotal non violent protest that involved virtually every public official and civil rights leader. Resurrecting this historical event will add a new layer of civil rights interpretation that changed many practices that we see today and take for granted such as curb side pickup.
The Urban League of Oklahoma City played an integral role in advancing civil rights. Their role in the selection of the first twelve African American fire fighters, the election of F.D. Moon to the Oklahoma City Board of Education, efforts to
defuse tension in race relations by their early leaders are new subject areas that will be displayed on a video kiosk.
The original Gladys Lampkins exhibit on African American Beauty Culture 1900-1982 will be a new addition to the exhibit. The collection includes every known heating element used by African American women in beauty culture since it was begun by Pioneer Madame C.J. Walker.
The new exhibit will also feature the rare 1920's S. S. Jones video footage from the Currie Ballard Collect. This film footages shows moving picture images of the African American life style from throughout Oklahoma. Sporting events, baptisms, graduations, farming and much more were capture by Reverend Jones of Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Please contact Bruce Fisher at brucefisher@okhistory.org or (405)522-5049.
"This is an ongoing project, and we'll have more papers coming online soon," said Williams.