Writing our World Publishing of Arkansas announces the publication of Remembering Wolfe Project: the Burnett Family’s Memories of an Historical Arkansas Community.
The Burnett family will share their stories at a book launch and signing at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23, at St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church at Tillar, where most Burnett family members attended for many decades, according to the news release.
The public is invited. A question, answer and memory-sharing period will follow the event.
“The Burnett family’s stories and memories transpose readers to a time and place that most Arkansans never realized existed,” according to the release. “Written as a memoir, the stories chronicle one family’s memories of a unique homesteading initiative that was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.”
“While Christine, Vera and Willis Burnett remember the Project as simply ‘home,’ a village that helped root them in values and love for their community; the original mission of this federally funded homesteading project was something grander — to help transform poor and struggling black tenant farmers and sharecroppers into proud land and home owners, who would willingly contribute to their communities and the state. The Burnett family, along with nearly 100 other black families, fit perfectly into that mission,” according to the release.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Wolfe Project and the New Deal
“In the early days of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Administration, a number of initiatives were implemented to give poor and struggling Americans the opportunity to work toward the American Dream. These included programs such as the Reforestation Relief Act, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Tennessee Valley Authority. During the second phase of the New Deal, the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act set up the Works Progress Administration (May 6, 1935), the Resettlement Administration (May 1, 1935), and the Rural Electrification Administration (May 11, 1935),” according to the release.
“The Resettlement Administration (RA) was charged with improving conditions of farm families, promoting resettlement to more productive lands and the establishment of subsistence communities,” according to the release.
In Arkansas, there were approximately 16 Resettlement Projects — some were for black farmers, others for white farmers, and several included both, although the neighborhoods within the Resettlement project were segregated.
“Some resettlement projects were communities like the Wolfe Project. One was a new town complete with retail and service buildings, and, still others were individual farms or a cluster of a few farms. Country-western artist Johnny Cash and his family grew up in one of the now, most renown resettlement communities – Dyess, Arkansas,” according to the release.
The Burnett family’s stories represent more than 80 years of life on Wolfe Project.
“The authors of Remembering Wolfe Project are Christine Burnett Grandy, who yet resides in southeast Arkansas, Vera Burnett Jenkins of California and Willis Burnett, also of California. The stories are intergenerational: the authors’ children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren’s memories of Wolfe Project are included in the book,” according to the release.
Books will be available at St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church at Tillar on Sept. 23.
Details: Janis F. Kearney, Writing our World Publishing, janis@wowpublishing.org or 501-772-2930.