Mosaic Templars Cultural Center

VISIT MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER
@mosaictemplarscenter on Instagram and Facebook, in person at 501 W. Ninth St. Donations. 

First, let’s all agree that designating one month out of the year to educate ourselves about the impacts Black people have made on society is pretty paltry, yeah? Or, at the very least, that confining our Black history education to a 28-day slice of the calendar risks homogenizing Black peoples’ stories into one sanitized and monolithic narrative, to be addressed in the middle school syllabus under the “February” tab and then brushed aside, likely leaving out names like Raye Montague, Claudette Colvin and Marsha P. Johnson in the process.

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Fortunately for Central Arkansans, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center does this work year-round, and February is as good a time to visit as any, virtually or in person. Museum Director Christina Shutt will hold readings from selected children’s books every Thursday at 7 p.m. on MTCC’s YouTube channel and Facebook page, and over the course of the month spoken word poet Marquese McFerguson will perform a signature series of poems inspired by MTCC exhibits and figures like Bayard Rustin, Sue Cowan Williams, Pharoah Sanders and the North Little Rock Six. Check out, too, MTCC’s series of downloadable Black History Month posters featuring Arkansans like George W. Stingley and savor the museum’s ice cream collaboration with Loblolly Creamery, whose “Maple Leaf Ragtime” flavor pays tribute to Texarkana-born composer Scott Joplin. For details, follow Mosaic Templars on Instagram and Facebook or visit mosaictemplarscenter.com.