Recently, I drove by the 1300 block of North Ninth Street and realized that one of the oldest African-American landmarks, the Trent Fountainette, was being torn down. The local history of the city’s African history and historical landmarks is bleak.
In the early ’80s, we organized a group of community and historic preservationists to promote and bring tourism to the city and African-American economy, among the local black section of Fort Smith, including Dr. S.W. Harrison, Dr. Dennard House, along with the old church. Now, the landmarks are gone and only written in the minds of the traditional Fort Smith residents who knew the labor and history of the black community.
At one time, we had the oldest chapter of the NAACP branch in the state, which opened the housing for the black community lawsuit. The Lyman Street project led to the building of the Elm Grove Housing project. The Old Lincoln High School was torn down in the early ’70s. The old church Mallalieu building is still standing, and we will see what future it has for the community.
Fort Smith is the second largest city in the state. What has happened to the future Fort Smith African-American community? Leadership starts by following and investing in long-term planning of any major endeavor. All of our community leaders, investors and educators and those who believe in building up the black community are buried in Oak Cemetery. What a future it holds to think of our rich heritage and history bleak with the loss of a generation of history that could have been preserved and restored with support of a community. The falling of the black community will soon be forgotten.