501-918-3025
calsfoundation@cals.org
calsfoundation@cals.org
Black Family Expo 2026: Cultivating Community
Now in its fourth year, the Black Family Expo was held this year in the recently renovated CALS Main Library, taking over the entire fifth floor. The expo took place over three hours on Saturday, February 7, and we had more than 300 participants throughout the event. Fourteen family and organizational tables were set up to share stories and resources with visitors, and fifteen individuals stepped into CALS’s new production studio to record their family stories. The day was a lively celebration of Central Arkansas’s Black history and the memory keepers who carry these stories forward generation to generation.
When the expo was envisioned by Jessica McDaniel, CALS community engagement coordinator, and Danielle Afsordeh, CALS Butler Center/Roberts Library community outreach archivist and programs coordinator, no one could have imagined the growth it would experience or how much our participating families and attendees would get out of it. From the beginning, the goal was to highlight the stories of Black Central Arkansans and their contributions to the state’s shared history. In just four years, the expo has expanded from a single room with seven participating families to a dynamic, multi-faceted event that centers these stories while celebrating Black culture more broadly.
This year’s event included an art demonstration with local printmaker Perrion Hurd, where patrons could make their own print to take home featuring the expo logo designed by Hurd as well as other designs.
A standout success of the day was the Family Storytelling component hosted in CALS’s production studio. Participants recorded personal family stories and left with high-quality digital keepsakes to share with loved ones for years to come. We also brought back our photo booth, encouraging attendees to take a family photo and craft a frame to hold it.
Attendees also had a chance to use the mobile DIY Memory Lab to digitize treasured family photographs. Each participant received a flash drive containing their scanned images, helping ensure those memories are preserved for future generations. A community memory wall invited guests to share copies of photographs along with short reflections. Watching the wall fill with snapshots and heartfelt messages was one of the day’s most powerful moments.
At the heart of the expo, as always, were the families themselves. Among them was the Smith family, whose relatives operated the Smith Brothers contracting company in North Little Rock for more than fifty years. Originally trained as masons by the federal New Deal program the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the brothers built a business that served the Black community during the years of Jim Crow segregation. This year, members of the Smith family participated in our newly added expo crafting day, using the DIY Memory Lab to print historic photographs and prepare a display honoring their family’s legacy.
We are grateful to every participant, volunteer, partner, and staff member who made this day such a success. These events remind us that when we come together to celebrate our history, we not only preserve the past, but we also strengthen our collective future.
By Danielle Afsordeh, Butler Center/Roberts Library community outreach archivist and programs coordinator
