Pryor Center Presents 'Revealing Fayetteville's Hidden Cultural Landscape'

B. Watts Photography

The Pryor Center Presents lecture series continues with Sharon Killian and Dr. Jami J. Lockhart at 6 p.m. today as they present "Revealing Fayetteville's Hidden Cultural Landscape" at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The program will describe current research revealing a remarkable culture of Black survival in 19th and 20th century Northwest Arkansas and the urgency to change this paradigm from one of surviving to thriving in the 21st century. The objective of this multidisciplinary project is to reveal the vital, lived Black experience and contribution to the development and sense of place in Fayetteville. Killian and Lockhart will discuss the partnerships and methods being used to fill gaps in the knowledge of African American history in Northwest Arkansas.

Killian is an award-winning artist, community advocate and educator. She is passionate about filling in and correcting the historical record of Black history and heritage in Northwest Arkansas, where she visited for 14 years before relocating in 2005 as an "empty nester." Killian understands that Black history and heritage in the region has suffered the system of erasure immediately set into place in 1865, that it is challenging work to undo or mitigate and that it must be done by everyone with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind. Her work as president of both NWA African American Heritage Association and Art Ventures NWA melds culture with art and promotes culturally and historically informed conversation and creative engagement locally, regionally and nationally.

Lockhart directs geophysical remote sensing and geographic information systems research for the Arkansas Archeological Survey. He serves as research faculty in the U of A Department of Anthropology and cooperating faculty for the Environmental Dynamics Ph.D. program. His work integrates geophysical remote sensing, high-accuracy mapping, aerial photo interpretation, image processing, LiDAR analysis and GIS data development for archeological projects and cultural landscape studies through time.

The Pryor Center is located at 1 E. Center St., Suite 120. The event is free and open to the public, and parking is available on the Fayetteville Square. A recording of the presentation will be available on the Pryor Center Presents web page the following week.

Upcoming Pryor Center Presents

Thursday, April 13, 6-7 p.m.
Pryor Center Presents "An Oral History of TheatreSquared" presented by Alessandro Salemme and Honors College Research Team students Ethan Brown, Janna Morse, Sarah Wilson, Ella Scurlock, Sydnie Smith and Miceala Morano

Thursday, April 27, 6-7 p.m.
Pryor Center Presents "Searching the Archive: The Photographic Legacy of Geleve Grice" presented by Aaron Turner and Robert Cochran

About The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History: The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History is an oral history program with the mission to document the history of Arkansas through the collection of spoken memories and visual records, preserve the collection in perpetuity, and connect Arkansans and the world to the collection through the Internet, TV broadcasts, educational programs, and other means. The Pryor Center records audio and video interviews about Arkansas history and culture, collects other organizations' recordings, organizes these recordings into an archive, and provides public access to the archive, primarily through the website at pryorcenter.uark.edu. The Pryor Center is the state's only oral and visual history program with a statewide, seventy-five county mission to collect, preserve, and share audio and moving image recordings of Arkansas history.

About the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with three schools, 16 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the majority of the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.