One way the Black History Commission of Arkansas promotes the
history of black Arkansans is by administering the Curtis H. Sykes Memorial
Grant, which funds
preservation and public programming projects related to African American
history.
The grant program is taking applications for projects, like
one awarded last year to memorialize a forgotten, tragic fire that killed 21
children.
On May 5, 1959, a fire broke out in the boys’ dormitory at
the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville. The “school” was actually a juvenile detention
center holding 69 children whose low-level crimes ranged from petty theft to
truancy. As the fire spread into the dormitory, the boys inside couldn’t get
out because the doors were padlocked on the outside. Forty-eight children
managed to escape by prying open windows, but the rest perished in the blaze.
Their bodies were so badly burned they were unrecognizable.
Fourteen of the children were buried in an unmarked mass
grave at the Haven of Rest Cemetery. There was no marker commemorate their
deaths until Kwendeche, a local architect, and Constance Sarto, the first
director of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, applied for a Curtis Sykes
Grant last year helped fund one.
The commission approved their plan to erect a marker for the
final resting place of children who were buried in the cemetery and awarded a
$3,500 grant. Additional funding for the
marker came from the Friends of the Haven of Rest Cemetery. The marker, which lists the names of the fire
victims, was placed at the cemetery during a ceremony this past April 21. Families
now have a place to come to mourn the loss of their loved ones.
People interested in applying for the Curtis H. Sykes
Memorial Grant Program are encouraged to review the Sykes Program presentation
and to attend one of the quarterly grant workshops sponsored by the Black
History Commission of Arkansas and the Arkansas State Archives. The next
workshop is scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 1 at the Arkansas State Archives
at One Capitol Mall in Little Rock.
Registration for workshops is required. Contact Tatyana
Oyinloye, African American history program coordinator, at 501-682-6892 or tatyana.oyinloye@arkansas.gov
to reserve a seat.
Deadline for this round of applications is Jan. 2. To apply or for more information, visit http://archives.arkansas.gov/about-us/bhca/curtishsykesmemorialgrantprogram.aspx.
