Black History Month panel discussion of
Small Towns, Black Lives planned
The Center for Community Arts (CCA), the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC) and the Noyes Museum of Art present “Life in Whitesboro,” a panel discussion of Small Towns, Black Lives with photographer Wendel A. White and residents of the town featured in his exhibit and book. The discussion is slated for Sunday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. in the Carriage House Gallery at the Emlen Physick Estate, 1048 Washington St. This event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.
Included in the panel will be Audrey Lackey, Thomas Wise, and Vera Smith. Lackey moved to Whitesboro in 1981 and purchased a real estate office in 1988. At the time, she was the only African American real estate broker in Cape May County. White’s 1989 photograph of Lackey is part of the current exhibit. Thomas Wise is a member of the Male-Tones Gospel Singers. White’s 1989 photograph of him is included in the book that accompanies the exhibit. Vera Smith is a life-long resident of Whitesboro.
Those attending the panel discussion will have the opportunity to see “Small Towns, Black Lives: African American Communities in New Jersey,” an exhibit of photographs taken by White of African American communities in Cape May, Whitesboro and other towns in southern New Jersey. The exhibit runs through May 13 at the Carriage House Gallery and admission is free to those attending the panel discussion.
White is a professor of art at Stockton College, Pomona, N.J., and winner of a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship based on this project. “Small Towns, Black Lives” is a visual journal of White’s experiences as a fine art photographer and social documentarian. The exhibit features images of residents, businesses, historic landmarks, landscapes, interiors and exteriors of architecture, panoramic views of communities, and personal interviews which together transcend the specific locale and speak to the experience not only of a community, but of a nation.
Admission to the ongoing exhibit is $2 for adults, $1 for children (ages 3-12), or free with any tour of the Physick Estate. The Gallery is open weekends through March; call for hours.
These events are co-sponsored by MAC, CCA, and the Noyes Museum of Art.
The Noyes Museum of Art was founded in 1983 to collect, preserve and exhibit American fine art, crafts and folk art with an emphasis on New Jersey artists and folk art forms, reflecting the area's long traditions, history, landscape and culture. The Noyes Museum of Art is located one and a half miles south of Historic Smithville Village, off Route 9, on Lily Lake Road in Oceanville, NJ. For more information, please call (609) 652-8848 or visit
www.noyesmuseum.org.
The Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Cape May’s heritage. MAC also fosters the performing arts. MAC membership is open to all. For information about MAC’s year-round schedule of tours, festivals, and special events, call 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278, or visit MAC’s Web site at
www.capemaymac.org.
Center for Community Arts (CCA) is a multicultural educational non-profit organization whose arts and humanities programs foster creativity, community building, and appreciation for the rich diversity of our world. The Center’s Community History Program is dedicated to preserving, interpreting and celebrating Cape May’s African American heritage through exhibits, tours, and its John and Janet Nash African American History Archive. The Center is currently rehabilitating the Franklin Street School, a Cape May African American Historic Site, to house a community cultural center, and recently launched WCFA-LP 101.5 FM, a community radio station. For further information, call 609-884-7525.
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All three organizations receive operating support from New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and are supported by grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. MAC and CCA receive operating support from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of the Department of State.
For information about restaurants, accommodations and shopping, call the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May at 609-884-5508.
Above: (l-r) Sally Sachs, Linda Alboher, Hallie Butz, Dottie Rogers and Judy Austermiller at a planning meeting at Congress Hall's Harrison Room.
