| | Carver Community Cultural Center | Hits 4 | | | | |
| | | | Site Information | | | Educating and strengthening the community through outreach programs, an education facility, and visual and performing arts. Includes schedule, box office, listing of sponsors and supporters, and history.
| At the turn of the century, when the public library system was segregated, the Colored Library Association was organized by eastside civic leaders to provide library services for the east side African-American Community.
In 1929 new facilities were constructed with a $75,000 appropriation from a city bond issue. Mayor C.C. Chambers dedicated the building as the Colored Library Auditorium at its opening in April 1930. The building was renamed the Carver library Auditorium, in honor of George Washington Carver, in 1938. Until the late 1950s, the center was a focal point for educational, cultural, political, social activities for San Antonio's African-American community. Nationally acclaimed artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Charlie 'Bird' Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Cab Calloway, and Billy Eckstein performed at the Center. The African-American community, prevented from joining San Antonio's mainstream social, cultural, and educational life by segregation, created its own cultural center.
Desegregation, changing housing patterns, and inadequate maintenance of buildings led to closure of the library in the late 1960's. During the next decade a number of eastside civic, social, and political leaders would appear before city officials to encourage restoration of the building. The city's attempt to demolish it in 1973 resulted in a group of clients and employees of the United Citizens Project Planning and Operating Committee (UCPPOC) led by its director, Ms. Nova Hill, to lie down in front of bulldozers until the mayor rescinded the demolition order. After negotiations, the building lease was awarded to Hill and the UCPPOC and renovation finally began.
The newly renovated building opened in 1976 as the Carver Community Cultural Center, with the City of San Antonio again assuming its ownership and management. City officials expanded the Center's mission, mandating that the Carver would be a multiethnic and multicultural performing and visual arts center with a primary focus on the artistic achievements of African Americans.
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| | | Contact Information | | | Carver Community Cultural Center 215 N. Hackberry San Antonio, TX 78202 , Tel: 210.207.7211 Fax: 210.207.4412 http://www.thecarver.org E-mail Carver Community Cultural Center | | | | If you're the owner or webmaster of this site then please Claim this Link Once you claim this link and we approve it you will be the only one who can modify the listing in the future. |
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| | Date Added: Wed Dec 07 2005 | | Last Updated: Wed Dec 07 2005 | | | | |
