Thursday, May 10, 2018

Missouri: Arrow Rock Camping, Part 3: A Fuller History



Never Been Beat by Artist Joe Don Brave, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.


The Arrow Rock State Historic Site's Visitor Center is very, very attractive. It is a space easy to miss, abutting the village, but tucked behind trees and a boardwalk. There's an expansive parking lot accessible from the rural highway that serves both the village and the state park.


Joe Don Brave exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.


Given the diminutive size of Arrow Rock and its rural setting, it surprised and pleased me to see the permanent exhibit called Slavery, Racism, Violence: Justice and the Constitution -- the African-American experience in the Boone's Lick from Emancipation (1865) to the beginning of the Civil Rights Era.



History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.


For healing to occur in our society, it is imperative for us to look at our shared history, to gaze on it, to see it and to see the women, men, and children - our ancestors - who lived it.


History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.

The exhibit impressed me with its straightforwardness in presenting facts and the effect of slavery and post-slavery times on residents, both black and white.


History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.


History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.


History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.



History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.

The visitor center featured a beautifully-lit room of art work by Joe Don Brave, an artist of Osage and Cherokee heritage.







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