v Tuesday Tours – September 20, 2011 v
8:45am ~ 2:00pm

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
The Daisy Bates House ~ Dunbar High School
HBCU Arkansas Baptist & Philander Smith College
William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Park

Tour Cost - $20 ~ Tour of Presidential Library included
Can accommodate 46 passengers per motor coach.

An exciting tour full of Little Rock History begins Tuesday morning at 9am. Begin your tour by visiting the Little Rock Central High School and its Historic Museum Center which exists to empower, inform, enlighten and challenge people by documenting, interpreting, preserving and discovering the history of the 1957 crisis and its context. No better way to follow up the Central High Tour than a stop at The Daisy Bates House, a National Historic Landmark, the de facto command post for the Central High School desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was the first time a President used federal powers to uphold and implement a federal court decision regarding school desegregation. Mrs. Daisy Lee Gaston Bates, who, with her husband Lucius Christopher (L.C.) Bates, resided at this address during the Central High School desegregation crisis in 1957-1958. The house served as a haven for the nine African-American students who desegregated the school and a place to plan the best way to achieve their goals. As we leave the Daisy Bates House we will take a bus tour of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Junior and Senior High School and Junior College which is significant in four areas: African-American history, education history, legal history, and architecture/engineering achievement. From 1929 to 1955, Dunbar offered a comprehensive education for black students in Little Rock. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980and now serves as a middle school. Upon departure we will visit the campus of our HBCU’s in the Little Rock Area, Arkansas Baptist College originally known as the Minister’s Institute, was founded by both black and white religious leaders in 1884. Arkansas Baptist College is a private, historically black, four-year liberal arts college. It is the only Historically Black Baptist institution of higher education west of the Mississippi River. Philander Smith College is a small, privately supported, historically black, four year liberal arts, career-oriented college, related to the Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. Established in 1877 Philander Smith College is the result of the first attempt west of the Mississippi River to make education available to freedmen (former African-American slaves). It is Arkansas's oldest private historically black college (HBCU). A privately supported, four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The next stop on this tour is the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Park, where the Center includes a museum, the archival collection, and educational and research facilities. Following our scheduled tour of the library from 11:30am – 1:00pm please enjoy lunch (not included in tour price) at Café 42 from 1:00pm to 2:00pm in the Clinton Presidential Center - Enjoy a spectacular view of the Arkansas River while sipping soup or nibbling on a pastry at Café 42. Other menu items include sandwiches, pizzas and the Presidential Salad Bar.

vvvvvvvvvv

v Wednesday Tours – September 21, 2011 v
8:45am ~ 3:15pm/4:45pm ~ 8:15pm

The Wednesday Tours will include the same visits as the Tuesday tours with the exception of the time frame and a reception. Tour Cost - $20 ~ Can accommodate 46 passengers per motor coach.

Wednesday Tours will begin at 9am with the Central High School Tour until 10:30am. Followed by the Daisy Bates House and School Tours from 10:30am ~ 12:15pm. Lunch will be from 12:30pm to 1:20pm at Café’ 42 (lunch not included in tour price) followed by the Presidential Library Tour scheduled from 1:30pm ~ 3:00pm. Where upon you will return to the DoubleTree hotel, rest and prepare for the 5:00pm tour of the The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center which invites you to explore Arkansas's African American history, life, and culture in our new, state-of-the-art museum. Walk down Ninth Street and learn about black-owned businesses, explore the legacy of the Mosaic Templars of America, and learn more about black legislators in the 1890s. Listen to firsthand accounts of life in the segregated South from the people who lived the experience. Visit the Third Floor Auditorium and explore the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. The museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and celebrating African American history, culture and community in Arkansas from 1870 to the present, and informs and educates the public about black achievements – especially in business, politics and the arts. Through special events, education programs, and ongoing research, the museum celebrates African American heritage in Arkansas. The tour will be followed by a reception hosted by the AAHGS Arkansas Chapter and the MTCC from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.