History & Helping Hands Tours
An afternoon of local touring is always a highlight of the Going On Faith conference. Although the conference is still several months away, the Little Rock CVB recently confirmed that on Wednesday, August 8, there will be four three-hour tours around Little Rock that will show off the city’s outstanding attractions. Delegates will be able to choose the tour that interests them most.
One excursion is called the Civil Rights Tour and will feature a visit to a historic site in the annals of the U.S. civil rights movement. The Little Rock High School National Historic Site is where, in 1957, nine brave African-American students desegregated the all-white high school. But it wasn’t that simple. The Little Rock Nine, as they were called, had to endure ugly taunts and threats from a mob that had gathered in the streets around the building. The Arkansas governor had ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prohibit the students from entering the high school, but President Eisenhower sent the National Guard to the scene to protect the students and contain the hostile crowds. The nation and the world watched as the events unfolded. The high school, an architectural gem, is still operating and is open for history tours.
Little Rock is part of the emerging national Civil Rights Trail that spans multiple cities and states, mostly in the South. “Our Central High School was named one of the top 10 civil rights sites in the entire country,” said Mayner.
The tour will also include a stop at the Testament Monument on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol. It features life-size bronze statues of the Little Rock Nine and depicts them courageously walking into Central High School six decades ago. It was the first civil rights monument to be located on any Southern state capitol grounds. Also on this tour will be the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, a museum that explores the history, life and culture of African-Americans in Arkansas. The museum is in the Ninth Street business district, mostly black at the time of the civil rights movement, and visitors will see and hear firsthand accounts of life in the segregated South and the legacy of those who experienced it.
Another tour for delegates to consider is the History and a Helping Hand tour. “This tour is more of a focus on people doing good things in the world,” said Mayner. One stop will be at Heifer Village, part of the remarkable global outreach organization known as Heifer International. The tour will likely include education aimed at inspiring, challenging and engaging people to end hunger and poverty around the world and to care for the earth.
The Helping Hands tour will also include stops at some of Little Rock’s historically significant structures and neighborhoods. One, the Old Statehouse Museum, is the oldest state capitol west of the Mississippi and is now a history museum. Another part of the driving tour will be a stop in the city’s Quapaw Quarter Historic District.
