By Garry Blanson
Today, as people in Monroe, Louisiana visit the Emily P. Robinson Center and the Henrietta W. Johnson Recreational Center, they can’t help but notice that some of the former “noticeable pictures” of individuals such as Emily P. Robinson, James “Shack” Harris, Andrew Harris, Rubin Jones, and other notable people who achieved great accomplishments in our Black communities, which once graced the walls of both community centers, seem to have disappeared.
If anyone in Monroe has any information about the whereabouts of these missing pictures, please contact the proper authorities immediately.
Speaking of the Emily P. Robinson Center, the facility is located just steps away from the subdivision known as the Prichard Addition, which spans nine blocks long and three blocks wide. In case everyone may not know, some of the Black pioneers who have lived in the Prichard Addition in Monroe include Frank Taylor, Eva Dyann Wilson, Bernie Dayton Robinson, Mrs. Emily P. Robinson, Mrs. V.O. Robinson Hester, Lasandra Robinson Starks, Patrick Robinson, Toussaint L. McCall, Isaac Barnett, who owned and operated his grocery store at 2800 Jackson Street for over 40 years, and Faye Brown Blackwell, who was the first Black female in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to own and operate her own radio station, just to name a few.
In closing, I am asking everyone in the Monroe area to be on the lookout for more information about the upcoming campaign to bring more attention and awareness to the annual events scheduled to take place in the Prichard Addition in Monroe.
