The Arkansas Humanities Council will receive $97,620 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the annual statewide History Day in Arkansas and to expand the council’s efforts to preserve and document African-American cemeteries throughout the state of Arkansas.
History Day in Arkansas, held at the University of Central Arkansas, brings together secondary students from across the state to share and study history. The program allows students to express what they have learned through creative and original dramatic performances, media presentations, research papers, exhibits, or websites. The first and second place winners of History Day in Arkansas advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C.
The Arkansas Humanity Council’s long-standing African-American cemetery project works to preserve, document, and interpret not only cemeteries, but the histories of African-American communities throughout Arkansas. Grant funds will help with clearing cemetery sites and marking gravesites, in addition to connecting local communities with a humanities scholar or archeologist who can educate citizens about ways to maintain and protect cemeteries.
U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and U.S. Representatives Marion Berry (AR-01), Vic Snyder (AR-02) and Mike Ross (AR-04) recently announced the grant, which is funded by the national We the People program. We the People encourages and strengthens the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture across the U.S.