| News from Arkansas State University For Release: May 23, 2002 |
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| News from Arkansas State University For Release: May 23, 2002 |
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University Communications Office Jonesboro, Arkansas Staff: Tom Moore Straley Snipes Vic Nelson 870-972-3056 fax 870-972-3069 Send mail: ASUnews@astate.edu Links: List of News/Announcements Upcoming Public Events About ASU ASU Home Page |
Significant
grants awarded to restore recently acquired historic properties The Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council recently awarded two grants to properties owned by Arkansas State University, according to Dr. Ruth Hawkins, director of Delta Heritage Initiatives at ASU. The properties include the Lakeport Plantation and the Mitchell-East Building.  The grants, collectively valued at $1.24 million, will assist in restoration, archeology and research on these historic properties. The university acquired Lakeport Plantation, located in southeast Arkansas, in October 2001 as a gift from the Sam Angel family of Lake Village. Built in the late 1850s, the modified Greek revival home is the last remaining plantation house on the Mississippi River in Arkansas that has not been extensively altered, damaged by fire or swept away by the river. The gift to Arkansas State University will serve as a museum, educational classroom and on-site and distance learning laboratory for ASU students, particularly those in the newest doctoral program, Heritage Studies. Deterioration of this house is advancing rapidly, posing the threat of permanent loss, according to Hawkins. Thus, there are a number of tasks that must be completed with immediacy including protection of the structure from further deterioration; historical, archaeological and architectural research; and exterior restoration. The other property is the Mitchell-East Building, which will serve as the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum, in the eastern Arkansas town of Tyronza. Community leaders and Poinsett County officials contacted Arkansas State University because they were interested in preserving this important piece of property, a touchstone of a nationally significant agricultural labor movement. The building originally housed a dry cleaners run by H.L. Mitchell and a service station run by Clay East, two of the principal founders of the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union, according to Hawkins. The Union was established in July 1934 by 11 whites and seven blacks at Sunnyside School near Tyronza. The school no longer exists; however, much of the Union’s business was conducted in the Mitchell-East Building which still stands. The young organization faced violent opposition, causing Mitchell and East to eventually leave the area. Original holdings and records were confiscated and never returned, but many of the original papers of the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union are housed at the University of North Carolina. Arkansas State University has already obtained microfilm of these papers for study by scholars, according to Hawkins, who also serves as interim director of the ASU Museum. The university intends to operate the Mitchell-East Building as a museum focusing on the sharecropping system of agriculture, the farm labor movement in the South and its role as a forerunner to other Civil Rights movements. The grants will provide significant movement towards the advancement of each of these projects. The initial work completed through the grant monies will enable these programs to seek additional funds through private gifts, grants and other sources for their ongoing operation as branches of the ASU Museum, Hawkins said. "These projects are part of a greater effort taking place here in the Delta to preserve and promote the natural and cultural heritage of the region. These grants will undoubtedly help us in leveraging additional resources from federal, state, foundation, corporate and private sources. We believe that these projects are of a magnitude that will be of interest to potential national funding partners, such as the National Scenic Byway program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation," she continued. The impact of these projects will not only have a positive effect on the Delta and communities in which they are located, but also ASU students. "Both the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum project at Tyronza and the Lakeport Plantation project at Lake Village will serve as outstanding educational laboratories for our students," Hawkins said. "There will be numerous opportunities for research, as well as field experiences, internships and independent study related to the development of these projects. "Although Lakeport is more than four hours away, we expect that distance learning technologies will contribute to making the site accessible for a number of students." "We will need to raise additional funds to begin the interior restoration of the Lakeport Plantation, but we anticipate this to be an ongoing process. Once the exterior is restored and the building is stabilized, the interior restoration will be a work in progress and part of the visitor experience," Hawkins said. The interior and exterior restoration on the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum and the exterior restoration on the Lakeport Plantation are expected to be complete by the end of the 2003. # # # — This and other releases are online at
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