Activist and Preservationist Angela Wilburn to Present Webinar Wednesday

Join Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts for a conversation with Angela Wilburn from 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 19. Wilburn and web series host Lauren Willette will discuss Wilburn's involvement in important historic preservation work happening in Forrest City and the surrounding St. Francis County. This webinar is free and open to the public, and registration is required. 

Wilburn serves as director of the St. Francis County CARE Center in her hometown of Forrest City. Her love of local history and preservation inspired Wilburn and her husband, Freddie, to create MaxMo's Properties, LLC, through which they purchase and restore properties with historical significance. Wilburn is the founder of Forrest City's Juneteenth CommUnity & Heritage Festival and chairperson for St. Francis County's history book, which will be published later this year. Some of the boards she's served on include Arkansas Preserve, Forrest City Downtown Revitalization and the St. Francis County Historical Society. 

Wilburn is currently working with local historians to restore a forgotten historical African American cemetery in Forrest City. These efforts lead to the Forrest City Colored Cemetery being put on the historical registry.  Some of Arkansas' most prominent African Americans are buried in the cemetery, including Josiah Homer Blount, the state's first Black gubernatorial candidate. Markers date back to the early 19th century.  

Questions about the 2023 Arkansas Folklife Web Series may be directed to Willette at willette@uark.edu. Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts is a statewide program of the University of Arkansas Libraries dedicated to building cross-cultural understanding by documenting, presenting and sustaining Arkansas' living traditional arts and cultural heritage.