Fort Scott, Kan. Jan. 30, 2024 – The Gordon Parks Museum at Fort Scott Community College, will host “Tribute Panel Exhibit” to celebrate Black History Month. This consist of over 100 different posters, photos, and information of the some of the great and important Black innovators and Leaders throughout history. The exhibit also features some inspiring and moving quotes on display each day by different people.
The “Quote of the Day” provides a great opportunity to promote educational activities throughout the month to keep black history and diversity at the forefront along with encouraging opportunities to learn more.
The free exhibit will be on display throughout each day and evening hours from February 1 – 22, 2024 in the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center.
For more information about “Black History Month Tribute Panel Exhibit” contact the Gordon Parks Museum at 620-223-2700 ext. 5850, email [email protected] or visit http:www.gordonparkscenter.org/
Unsung Hero James Reese Europe and Black History Month
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes received a $300 grant from Humanities Kansas to celebrate the life and accomplishments of one of the founders of Ragtime and Jazz and a true Unsung Hero – James Reese Europe.
The grant will support a special presentation by Internationally renowned musician and historian Lem Sheppard.
Lem Sheppard. Submitted photo.
Sheppard will present “African American Musicians in Kansas 1860-1920. Particular attention will be paid to music and musicians in historic Fort Scott!
Also included are a soup lunch, music by the Fort Scott High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Justin Robinson, and a cakewalk just like 100 years ago!
The event will take place at the Ellis Center at FSCC on Thursday, February 15th, at 11:00 am.
The event is free, and all are welcome!
About Humanities Kansas
Humanities Kansas is an independent nonprofit leading a movement of ideas to empower the people of Kansas to strengthen their communities and our democracy. Since 1972, our pioneering programming, grants, and partnerships have documented and shared stories to spark conversations and generate insights. Together with our partners and supporters, we inspire all Kansans to draw on history, literature, ethics, and culture to enrich their lives and serve the communities and state we all proudly call home. Visit humanitieskansas.org.
About the Lowell Milken Center: The Lowell Milken Center is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) that works with students and educators within diverse academic disciplines, to develop projects focused on unsung heroes. The Center also works to educate the local community on its past, present, and future.
About the Gordon Parks Museum: The Mission of the Gordon Parks Museum is to honor the life and work of Gordon Parks, an internationally-known photographer, filmmaker, writer, and musician; and to use his remarkable life story to teach about artistic creativity, cultural awareness, and the role of diversity in our lives.
Fort Scott, Kan. – With inclement weather and severe cold in the forecast for Jan. 15, the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Fort Scott Community College is rescheduled to Wednesday, Jan. 17.
In making the announcement, Kirk Sharp, executive director of the Gordon Parks Museum noted that the “Day of Service” (in honor of King’s birthday) begins with a food drive for the Beacon Food Pantry of Fort Scott.
Canned goods and non-perishable, non-expired items can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the museum, located in the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center.
The celebration, with all events open to the community, features a free soup lunch at noon. The lunch, provided by Great Western Dining, includes soup, drink, dessert and birthday cake. The celebration lunch also includes a “I Stand for …” photo promotion, sponsored by the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes.
An afternoon of celebration and tribute through music, “Celebrating Every Voice,” begins at 1 p.m. in the theater and features choirs from the Apostolic Christian Church and the United Missionary Baptist Church, both of Fort Scott, and blues guitarist Lem Sheppard from Pittsburg. All events are free to attend.
For more information, go to https//www.gordonparkscenter.org/events or call the museum at (620) 223-2700, ext. 5850 or email [email protected]
All events will be held at the Ellis Fine Arts Center (2108 S. Horton St., Fort Scott, Ks.)
Monday, January 15th, 2024 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Events
1:00pm-6:00pm – Day of Service: Canned Food Drive – Join us as we will collect canned and non-perishable food items to donate to the Beacon in Fort Scott. Anyone in the community is invited to drop off canned and non-perishable food.
1:00pm-2:00pm – Showing of the PBS home video documentary “In Remembrance of Martin” in the Gordon Parks Museum. FSCC Ellis Fine Arts Center Theatre. This event is free to the public.
2:00pm-3:00pm – Showing of “Martin” – A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Gordon Parks. This is a ballet tribute to Dr. King written and directed by Gordon Parks. FSCC Ellis Fine Arts Center Theatre. This event is free to the public.
5:00pm-6:00pm – Soup Dinner – Come and join us for free soup followed by a music celebration performance at 6:00pm. Soup, drinks and dessert provided by Great Western Dining. Photo Promotion taken with “I Stand For Signs”. FSCC Ellis Fine Arts Center Lobby. This event is free to the public.
For more information, please call 620.223.2700 ext. 5850
Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce | 231 E. Wall Street, Fort Scott, KS 66701
Fort Scott, Kan. – The Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will be held Monday, January 15th at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College.
The day will begin with a Day of Service: Canned Food Drive. Canned and non-perishable (non-expired) food items for the Beacon Food Pantry in Fort Scott, Kansas, will be collected at the museum from 1:00p.m. – till 6:00p.m.
At 1:00p.m., A film showing of “In Remembrance of Martin”, a PBS home video documentary.
At 2:00 p.m., A film showing of “Martin”, a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Gordon Parks – This is a ballet tribute to Dr. King, written and directed by Gordon Parks.
Later that evening, the community is also invited to the Ellis Fine Arts Center for a free Soup Dinner that will be held at 5:00p.m. This includes soup, drink, dessert and birthday cake. Dinner and dessert will be provided by Great Western Dining. Also taking place that evening will be a Photo Promotion taken with “I Stand for Signs” provided by the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes.
Following the Soup Dinner at 6:00p.m. will be a music celebration performance in the fine arts theater, “Celebrating Every Voice”. This will be an evening of celebration and tribute through music. Performances provided by local choirs and bands. The Gordon Parks Museum will also be open 12:00p.m. – 6:00p.m. during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.
All events are free to attend and will take place at both the Gordon Parks Museum and Ellis Fine Arts center.
A full list of film showings and events can be found at https://www.gordonparkscenter.org/events. For more information call the Gordon Parks Museum at 620-223-2700 ext. 5850.
For more information call (620) 223-2700, ext. 5850, or email [email protected]
Fort Scott, Kan. Dec.7, 2023 – A portrait of Gordon Parks painted by Elliott Coke O’Neal of Lawrenceville, Ga., was donated recently to the Gordon Parks Museum.
O’Neal rendered the image in 2009 during an art class at Georgia State College in Atlanta, where he
was a sophomore. He had given the portrait to his great-grandmother, Laverne Person, in Fort Scott the year it was finished.
O’Neal’s grandparents, Arthur Greene and Janice Person-Greene, originally from Fort Scott, who now reside in Olathe, visited the museum on the campus of Fort Scott Community College to formally donate the painting on O’Neal’s behalf.
For information on the Gordon Parks Museum, contact Kirk Sharp, executive director, 620) 223-2700,
ext. 5850, or at [email protected].
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Janice Person-Greene (left) donating the painting on behalf of their grandson, Elliott Coke O’ Neal.
Photo take by Arthur Greene.
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The Gordon Parks Museum at Fort Scott Community College will celebrate the anniversary of Gordon Parks’ birthday on Thursday, November 30th with the showing of films throughout the day. The events are free of charge and the public is invited to attend.
The schedule throughout the day will include:
9:25 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. – Showing of the Criterion Collection film, The Learning Tree.
11:25 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. – Showing of the Criterion Collection films The Movie Makers, a featurette that shows Parks on location for The Learning Tree film. And My Father: Gordon Parks, (1969), a documentary made on the set of The Learning Tree, narrated by Gordon Parks Jr., and featuring on the set interviews with Gordon Parks Sr. and members of the cast and crew.
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Join us for Birthday Cake in the Gordon Parks Museum on the Fort Scott Community College Campus Center.
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.— Showing of the film Moments Without Proper Names.
Throughout the day, visitors will be able to receive a 25% birthday discount on all apparel items.
Parks, born in Fort Scott on November 30, 1912, would have been 111 this year. He died on March 7, 2006, at the age of 93. The films will be shown in the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center. For more information contact the Gordon Parks Museum at 620- 223-2700, ext. 5850, or by email at [email protected]
Gordon Parks Academy Stem Leaders in Applied and Media Arts
GoFundMe Page
Hello and welcome to the Gordon Parks Trailblazer Foundation GoFundMe page! For the past seven years, we have proudly partnered with A.R.I.S.E. Kansas African Americans Renewing Interest in Spirituals Ensemble Inc, an organization dedicated to renewing interest in Spirituals through music and spoken word, educating people of all cultures about the significance of Spirituals from the underground railroad to the Civil Rights Movement. .
Gordon Parks Museum Receives Fort Scott Area Community Foundation Grant
New Billboard Replacement
on North 69 HWY
A grant from the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation helped support the replacement of the Gordon Parks Museum Billboard on North 69 Highway outside of Fort Scott, Kansas.
Shane Walker, resident of Fort Scott, KS and longtime admirer of Gordon Parks, has donated one of the church crosses that was found in the African American Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.
Save the date for the 21st Annual Gordon Parks Celebration,
Oct 3 – 5, 2024. More details and information will be coming throughout the year.
We would like to thank everyone that was able to attend this last years celebration and we would like to thank all of the area business, organizations and individuals that helped to support the 20th Annual Celebration. We are looking forward to having you all back in 2024!
The new Gordon Parks Museum sign, located on north Hwy. 69, on the outskirts of Fort Scott. Submitted photo.
A grant from the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation helped
support the replacement of the Gordon Parks Museum billboard on North U.S. Highway 69 on the town’s outskirts.
The billboard, which sustained extensive wind damage last spring and summer, is completely different than the previous version with less text and more “eye-catching” graphics, said Kirk Sharp,
the museum’s executive director.
“The new billboard is a great attraction for visitors not only for the museum but also creates great attention and welcome to the community,” he said.
The Fort Scott Area Community Foundation hosts individual charitable funds created by donors who have a passion for giving back to their community. Grants from these funds assist people throughout Fort Scott and Bourbon County. Call the Foundation at (620) 224-6500 with questions about the Community Foundation or go to https://fsacf.com/.
“We are very thankful to be part of this grant,” Sharp said. “This grant allows us to not only replace and install the billboard, but to enhance it and make it easier to see and read while drivers are
traveling and coming into town.”
“We would also like to thank CDL Electric for help with the artwork and installation and replacement of
the new billboard.”
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Shane Walker, left, and Kirk Sharp hold the cross that Walker donated to the Gordon Parks Museum earlier this month. Submitted photol.
Shane Walker, a resident of Fort Scott, and longtime admirer of Gordon Parks, has donated one of the church crosses that was found in the African American Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.
The donation was held during one of the Gordon Parks Celebration events on Saturday, October 7, “History of the Hawkins/Plaza School and All-School Reunion.”
The wooden cross stands approximately, 3ft-by-5ft and has fixtures for a lighted bulb display.
“We are so very thankful to Shane for this wonderful contribution to our museum.” said Kirk Sharp, museum, executive director. “This cross is great addition with our other artifacts from the AME Church that includes a stain glass window, church pews, corner stone and much more.”
The AME church was located on the southeast corner of Third and Lowman Streets before it was torn down in 2001. Gordon Parks and his family attended this church regularly. The church was also used in a scene from Parks’ acclaimed film, The Learning Tree.
