Welcome to the Gordon Parks Museum/Center

You are invited to a "Lunch and Learn" Presentation:

Angela Bates, "African American Women Domestics: The Tale of Two Kansans"
Thursday, April 4, 2013, from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Gordon Parks Museum
Bring a brown bag lunch-coffee and tea provided!Ernestine and Charlesetta Williams of Nicodemus, Kansas, learned basic cleaning and cooking skills from their mother and grandmother who had been enslaved in Kentucky. When they moved to California in the 1950s, their domestic skills provided many employment opportunities, even in Hollywood. Bates will discuss the family legacy of domestic work and share mementos Ernestine and Charlesetta collected.

Angela Bates is the executive director of the Nicodemus Historical Society. She presents educational programs across the nation covering Nicodemus, Exodusters and black towns in the West, Buffalo Soldiers, and black women in the West.

"African American Women Domestics: The Story of Two Kansans" is part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s The Way We Worked Speakers Bureau, featuring presentations and discussions examining the theme of work and working in Kansas and how these stories help define us. The Kansas Humanities Council conducts and supports community-based programs, serves as a financial resource through an active grant-making program, and encourages Kansans to engage in the civic and cultural life of their communities.

For more information about "African American Women Domestics: The Story of Two Kansans" contact the Gordon Parks Museum at 223-2700, ext. 5850, email gordonparkscenter@fortscott.edu.