LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in downtown Little Rock is gearing up for its grand reopening Sunday.
I’ve been working here for 15 years so to see the space transform every day, and these little changes that I never thought was imaginable is pretty remarkable,” said Key Fletcher, executive director of the African American history museum.
Fletcher said throughout these past six months, she’s seen a transformation from something that “used to literally not have walls, not have the same life, not the same history, come to life.”
She said there were a lot of new things the $3.5 million renovations will offer, including the use of artificial intelligence to help bring history to life.
“Someone can come in and ask a question to a civil rights leader and they’ll respond in real-time to that question,” Fletcher said. “We’re one of the few museums of the country that has this. So we’re pretty excited to be debuting it here at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.”
Fletcher said aside from the history told inside the museum, the site itself carries a history that has withstood the test of time and adversity.
Back in the early 1900s, Ninth Street where the museum is located, was once an area where Black businesses thrived.
“This area of Ninth Street was the hotbed for entertainment for entrepreneurship, but also for everyday life,” the executive director said. “The Mosaic Templars of America, which was an organization formed by to pre-release previously enslaved gentlemen John Bush and Chester Keatts who started their business right here where the museum sits.”
Fletcher said after the Great Depression and “the onslaught of I-630” most businesses and buildings were torn down except for the Mosaic Templars and Taborian Hall.
At some point, Fletcher said there were plans to tear the museum down and build a Backyard Burger, but a group of preservationists would not allow it.
The building became part of Arkansas as a state agency and then right before work started to preserve the building in March of 2005, a fire burned the entire structure.
“The state of Arkansas and the Preservation Society did something really unique. They built a faithful facsimile in the same space where the original structure was, so it was almost like a phoenix rising from the ashes,” Fletcher said. “Once again, this building – this grand building – stood as a testament to the ingenuity and courage and strength of African Americans and Arkansas.”
With the reopening this weekend, Fletcher emphasized everyone is welcome to enjoy the museum and learn about history.
I think so often people: ‘oh, that’s a Black History Museum’,” she said. “We do tell the Black experience, but the Black experience is interwoven into the American experience in the Arkansas experience. My hope is that everyone walks in and can feel a sense of themselves and connect with the exhibits.”