QuoteBy TONYAA WEATHERSBEE
The Times-Union
It's been said that it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes cultural pride to help children understand why they must do their village proud.
In the "village" called Durkeeville, just northwest of downtown, a new center is bursting with artifacts and ideas that feed that type of pride.
At the Durkeeville and Northwest Jacksonville Historical and Cultural Center, a shell-pink, one-story building nestled at Myrtle Avenue and 19th Street, children can find a laminated photo and article on Joseph Henry Durkee on the hallway wall. Durkee, a Union Army captain who was a pallbearer at President Lincoln's funeral, founded Durkeeville when he settled in Jacksonville after the Civil War.
Pictures of Sallye B. Mathis and Mary Singleton, the first black women and Durkeeville denizens to be elected to the City Council, also are on display.
And a rare treasure reposes in the exhibit room.
In there, the life and times of John Jordan O'Neill, also known as "Buck," is on full display in a traveling exhibit on the Negro Baseball Leagues. O'Neill, who once played for the Kansas City Monarchs as well as a number of other teams, was instrumental in getting recognition for the Negro Leagues, said Carolyn Williams, president of the Durkeeville Historical Society.
O'Neill got his education at Edward Waters College, as well as his other nickname, "Foots," because he had big hands and feet. O'Neill also made several friends in Jacksonville, as the city had its own Negro Leagues team - the Jacksonville Red Caps.
Many Negro Leagues players came through Durkeeville, where they played at what is now known as J.P. Small Park.
"We want the kids to know about all the role models who have come out of this community," Williams told me. "We want the center to be the cultural link to the community - using history as the vehicle."
The historical society, which was started nearly a decade ago in the Oaks at Durkeeville, has more leeway to do that in its new digs. The society moved from the Oaks so that the day-care center could be expanded.
Thursday, a grand opening reception will be held at the center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 620-1866.
Williams, who teaches American and multicultural history at the University of North Florida, said she has lots of plans now that the center is complete.
Many of the plans, however, involve kids in the community.
Already the center has worked with City Kids Art Factory, which is just a few blocks south of it, to paint fire hydrants to resemble players in the various Negro Leagues team uniforms, such as the Indianapolis Clowns, the Birmingham Black Barons and the Detroit Stars. Williams also said she hopes to partner with a black genealogy group to show youths how to do genealogical research.
There's still some of that left to be done in Durkeeville, she said.
"I talked to a woman in this community who was born in 1903," Williams said. "She's lived here since 1927. We'd like to get stories like hers told."
If the center becomes the beacon of cultural influence that it aims to be, maybe that can happen. Starting with the kids.
tonyaa.weathersbee@jacksonville. com, (904) 359-4251
This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080807/new_189444451.shtml.