The Arkansas Heritage Sites at Arkansas State University will host a free professional development workshop this summer at Lakeport Plantation. The restored Lakeport Plantation home, built ca. 1859, is the only remaining antebellum Arkansas plantation home along the Mississippi River.  The workshop will provide six hours of in-service credit. All workshop themes and activities fit into the Arkansas Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks. The workshop is designed to feature the multi-topic and interdisciplinary educational opportunities available through a great and unique Arkansas Delta site.  

This workshop will focus on the role of African Americans during the Civil War and Reconstruction in Arkansas.  Guest lectures will be as follows: 

• Mark Christ, Community Outreach Director at the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and author of Civil War Arkansas, 1863: The Battle for a State, will discuss African American regiments in Arkansas during the Civil War.
• Rhonda Stewart, Genealogy and Local History Specialist for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, will present “The Legacy of Richard Toombs, United States Colored Troops: From the Civil War to Central High to the White House.”
• Blake Wintory, Ph.D., Assistant Director at the Lakeport Plantation, will discuss the history of Reconstruction and Redemption in Arkansas and Chicot County and the role African American legislators played during that tumultuous and interesting time. 

For a full agenda, click here.

For those who are interested in registering for the workshop, registration is available through the Arkansas Heritage Sites website on either the home page or the education page (the registration tool is located in the left hand side link menu): http://arkansasheritagesites.astate.edu/AHS/  OR interested individuals can register for the workshop by contacting Rachel Miller:rachel.miller@smail.astate.edu.