Indian, Black heritage fair set
A Jefferson County native is inviting the community to the third annual Black Indian and Native American Heritage Month Fair at 10 a.m. Saturday, at GT Ashley McAlmont Community Park, 5700 Arkansas 161 at North Little Rock.
“We will conduct an announcement and ground-breaking ceremony for the placement of a Trail of Tears Interpretative Panel within the McAlmont Community Park,” said organizer Jason Irby, an author and native of Wabbaseka.
“The Trail of Tears (Bell Route) is noted part of Arkansas State Highway 161, which was traveled between Jacksonville and Little Rock,” according to a news release. “Groups of Choctaws, Muscogees (Creeks) and Chickasaws traveled the route before the Cherokees, which were directed by John Bell.”
To commemorate its third annual acknowledgment of the relationship among people of African descent and Native Americans, the Black Indian and Native American Heritage Month Fair will conduct the groundbreaking activities for the placement of the interpretative panel.
Irby spearheaded the fair in spring 2018. The project’s completion was directed by Irby and Daniel Littlefield of the Sequoyah National Research Center in November 2018.
Irby says he coordinated the event because the relationship among people of African descent and American Indian is vast and sometimes complex.
“Whether the relationship was of friendship, family ties or slave holding, this story is a story within American history. This story is America’s history,” Irby said.
Irby and Littlefield have partnered with the Community Voices of McAlmont and Black History Commission of Arkansas. Ty Wilson of Cherokees for Black Indians History and Preservation will also participate.
“This project is part of the mission stated by the Arkansas Chapter of the National Trail of Tears Association to share awareness about aspects surrounding the forced removal of Native Americans from their homeland particularly concerning the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole),” according to the release.
Details: Jason Irby Innovation Foundation at jasonirbyinnovationfoundation@gmail.com, www.jasonirby.wordpress.com, Sequoyah National Research Center at www.ualr.edu/sequoyah/ or Arkansas Trail of Tears Association at www.artota.org/.