January 29, 2014

Remembering George Washington
Thursday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m.
Oklahoma History Center | Oklahoma City, OK
Join the Oklahoma History Center and interpretive staff from Colonial Williamsburg and George Washington's Mount Vernon as we remember George Washington and his life through the eyes of his physician and friend Dr. Craik and Lady Martha Washington. The museum will open at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 30 with the program beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Admission to the program is free. Seating is limited and reservations are required.  

 

For more information or to make a reservation, please contact [email protected] or call 405-522-3602. The performance is sponsored by SONIC, America's Drive-In, and is made possible through partnerships with Colonial Williamsburg, George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens and the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.

 

"It's a Celebration" Black History Month Kick-Off
Saturday, February 1 from 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Oklahoma History Center | Oklahoma City, OK

The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) presents "It's a Celebration" to kick off Black History Month on Saturday, February 1, 2014, at the Oklahoma History Center. Special guest speaker Governor David Walters will provide reflections of key appointments made during his administration. The celebration will include a preview of the new African American exhibit "Realizing the Dream," a performance of the 1938 Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Writers Project radio play "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and musical entertainment by the All Funk Radio Show band from Arlington, Texas. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 6:30 p.m. The new African American exhibit will be open for self-guided tours from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Admission is free.

 

The exhibit includes a reconstruction of civil rights leader Clara Luper's living room, complete with hands-on samples of the hundreds of scrapbooks that she kept, radio segments from her 40 years of broadcasting the "Clara Luper Radio Show" and her Scrabble board game. "Scrabble was her favorite pastime entertainment," said Bruce Fisher, administrative programs officer for the OHS.      

 

"We are fortunate that the Luper family decided to preserve this massive collection of Clara Luper's photos, documents and speeches and in 2012 place them at the OHS. Her home of nearly 40 years was destroyed by fire this past August, during the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington."

The Lewis's Barber Shop portion of the exhibit includes a barber's chair owned by the founder of the Northeast Retailers Association, Richard Lewis. The barbershop and his adjacent Soul Boutique fashion store were located near 23rd and Eastern and were the epicenter of the "black is beautiful" cultural transformation in Oklahoma City. The jukebox in the barbershop tells the story of the cultural revolution that swept across America during the mid-1960s and early 1970s.  

 

The celebration will also include the WPA Federal Writers Project play "Swing Low Sweet Chariot." Sharon Fisher, who first directed the play in 2004 at the OHS, was asked to direct a new, abbreviated version of the play. The Loving St. James Baptist Church Praise Team will provide the musical renditions. The celebration will culminate with two hours of continuous musical entertainment provided by the All Funk Radio Show band.

National Youth Summit on Freedom Summer
Wednesday, February 5 at 11 a.m.
Oklahoma History Center | Oklahoma City, OK

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, at 11 a.m., the Oklahoma History Center will participate in the National Youth Summit on Freedom Summer, an online outreach program organized by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Coinciding with Digital Learning Day, the event at the Oklahoma History Center will link middle and high school students from across the country in an engaging program centered on the history and legacy of the 1964 youth-led effort for voting rights and education known as Freedom Summer.

 

"We are excited to be an affiliate involved with the National Youth Summit, because it provides students in Oklahoma the opportunity that they may not otherwise have to ask questions directly to scholars and veterans of the civil rights movement," said Leah Craig, curator of education at the Oklahoma History Center.

 

While Freedom Summer is part of the nation's ongoing struggle to provide equal opportunities for all of its citizens, it is a story that began in Mississippi. As such, the Smithsonian has partnered with the Old Capitol Museum in Mississippi to present the National Youth Summit. Students will learn the perspectives of those living in the state five decades after the youth-led effort to end political disenfranchisement and to improve educational opportunities.

 

The Oklahoma History Center is one of 11 Smithsonian Affiliate organizations simultaneously hosting Regional Youth Summit Conversations with local Freedom Summer movement veterans, scholars and youth. Affiliate Summit sites enable young people from across the country to participate in the conversation, allowing them to submit questions for the national panel through the webcast's online chat. The event includes a panel with experts, scholars and activists such as Dr. Robert Moses, project director for Mississippi Freedom Summer.

 

To participate, teachers much register on the national website and with the Oklahoma History Center. Participants can visit http://americanhistory.si.edu/freedom-summer to register, and contact [email protected] to reserve spaces for their students, grades 8-12.

 

Immediately following the National Youth Summit, the Oklahoma History Center will hold a panel discussion with Charles McLaurin, a participant in the Freedom Summer movement, Dr. Jeanette Davidson, director of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma and Bruce Fisher, historian with the Oklahoma Historical Society.

 

The National Youth Summit is designed to provide students with an opportunity to share their views and debate an issue, and the program aligns with the Common Core Standards for Speaking and Listening. Panelists and the audience will explore the 1964 youth-led effort to end the political disenfranchisement of African Americans and race-based inequity in education in Mississippi. The program will also focus on the role of young people in shaping America's past and future. Classroom teachers and other participants will receive a conversation kit, designed to provide ideas for leading discussion topics in age-appropriate ways.    

 

This National Museum of American History program is presented in collaboration with AMERICAN EXPERIENCE/WGBH, which airs on PBS stations, and Smithsonian Affiliations. The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Verizon Foundation.

 

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Visitor Info  
From the Encyclopedia...

Civil Rights activist Clara Luper is featured in the Oklahoma History Center's redesigned African American exhibit.  Learn more about Ms. Luper here

Nicole Harvey, Editor

[email protected]
(405) 522-5202