FRS SUPPORT INVESTMENT APPEAL AND MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Friends of the Forks of the Roads Society, Inc. (FRS) is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) educational and charitable organization dedicated to bringing about equal history commemoration and tourism democracy in the lower South, especially Southwest Mississippi and Central Louisiana.

MISSION OBJECTIVE:

Empower African Descendants to develop the collective ownership to rescue-resurrect-reconstruct, present and interpret their history, legacies and culture in ways that publicly achieves equality in history preservation/commemoration and tourism awareness/education.

METHODOLOGY:

Self-help volunteerism, advocacy, organization, research, documentation, publication, preservation, presentation, interpretation, education and economic development and maintenance of two standing action groups as follows: An Underground Railroad Association Group and Union Army Black in Civil War Freedom Fighters Commemorations Group.

MEMBERSHIP TYPES:

Regular Individual.                  Associate Individual.                  Associate Group.

q       Regular Individual Member: Voting rights. Attend meetings, Service Committees & Projects. $30 annual membership investment.

q       Associate Individual Member: No voting rights. Meeting Attendance & Service on Committees & Projects Optional. One time annual contribution investment from your heart.

q       Group Associate Member: Non-Voting. No Meetings Attendance or Service Required. One time annual membership contribution investment from your heart.

Yes! ____I or ____We want to be a member of FRS. Thereby helping to build the capacity of FRS to accomplish equal history commemoration and tourism democracy initiatives*** as stated in its dedication and mission objectives.

Attached/Enclosed is my/our check/money order in the amount of $________ for membership checked above. Please print out this application for your use.

Please: Print Your Name__________________________________________________________________________

 Address______________________________________ City_____________________ State_______ Zip__________

Phone________________ and E-Mail_______________________________________________

Please: Make Check payable to Friends of Forks of the Roads Society or FRS. Mail check and application to: P. O. Box 2188 Natchez, Ms. 39121

E-Mail FRS at: forksyaroads@aol.com Call FRS at: 601-442-4719. Visit FRS website at: www.forksoftheroads.net  Visit the Forks of the Roads in the National Park Service Network to Freedom website at www.cr.nps.gov/ugrr

***“Each initiative toward making public history in Natchez more racially inclusive represent another victory of the African American experience and, one might add, a victory for history itself.” Professor Jack Davis, author of: Race Against Time Culture and Separation in Natchez Since 1930. Published in 2001.

“History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is also a compass that people use to find themselves on a map of human geography. The role of history is to tell a people what they have been, where they have been what they are and where they are.

The most important role that history plays is that it has the function of telling a people where they still must go and what they still must be”…..Dr. John Henrik Clarke

FRS INCORPORATED “TO DO WHAT GOVERNMENT WILL NOT DO.” WE ADD WHAT OTHERS WILL NOT DO.

Your support is necessary, needed and appreciated. Your investment in FRS extends your presence here in the Deep Southwest and Natchez Mississippi even if you cannot actively do so.

If you are a grant developer and want to develop grants for our projects and mission objective consider doing so. Such help is also desperately needed.

5 yr plan Friends of Forks of the Roads Society Inc Projected Activities for 2007 at a Glance

1. Porta-EduVisuals = Development of portable visuals exhibits such as our USCT banner to be stationed around Natchez and exhibited elsewhere. They would include: Forks dealers’ ads, eyewitness descriptions of Forks activities, ads of dealers in Ky., Tn., Mo., Va., Md., elsewhere who operated at Forks. Ads of dealers and sale sites prior to markets at the Forks, Blacks in Civil War, Escapes, resistance and other items of educational value for public consumption.

Committed sites: Old South Trading Post (during Pilgrimage) The Killelea driveway at Clifton Ave. Potential site(s) Little Theatre lot.

2. Researching and recommending to Adams County and City of Natchez various funding sources to apply for funding for purchase of the Franklin and Armfield enslavement site at Forks. This site, its twin site at 1315 Duke Street in Alexandria Virginia, its and its relevance to Franklin’s Fairvue Plantation estate in Gallatin Tennessee, Angola Prison lands and other holdings, as well as those of Armfield provides a great deal of ready and accessible information, records, documentation and archives for presentation and interpretation on a national and international level exemplifying America’s domestic/internal enslavement trafficking understanding and education.

3. Gaining legislative funding support for purchase of same site and Mobilization of support for HR5216.

4. Production of products for self supporting income: Books >>>>Bound For Glory = escape stories of William Thompson, Henry Jacobs, Henry Watson and others from FRS Mississippi River Research; Blacks in Civil War at Natchez and up and down the Mississippi River from the same Research, Book in progress = Chattel Slavery on the Natchez Trace Retracing a Force Migration Route of the Overground Railroad, enslavement dealers’ ads; DVD of Slavery Meets Freedom; DVD of African/European Roots of UGRR; DVP presentations selected from Bound For Glory on the Bayou Gathering etc.; posters, Forks panels and so.

5. Olu Dara Forks Fund raiser performance as proposed by Edward Killelea.

6. Henry Turner and Flavor Reggae Band Forks fund raiser performance as proposed by Rasta Cate`, Henry Turner and Edward Killelea. The funds could be used to fund Battle of Vidalia commemoration.

7. Education forum/seminar centered around Eric James of Kentucky, descendant of the James brothers who operated the enslavement market site within the tri-angle landsite now owned by the City of Natchez.

8. Organize and carry out a Youth Multi-Culture Awareness Excursion Project with the objective of having participants achieve a sufficient level of “cultural competency” in order that they become better and progressive persons, citizens and leaders in the Miss-Lou area.

9. Promote and participate in race relations forums, seminars etc.

10. Make historical � cultural presentations or cause them to happen.

11. Solicit Porta-EduVisual sponsors.

12.     Research and Development of an African American History Trail brochure for FRS Vidalia members and FRS use.