The Sons & Daughters of the Shop
By Maxine Payne and Arthur Trickett-Wile
Produced by Tyrone Jaeger with AV Arkansas
With the national Homestead Act of 1862, freed African-Americans settled in the Ozark Foothills, forming the communities of Solomon Grove and Zion Grove. Discouraged, but not defeated, by Faulkner County’s refusal to pave their roads, the two towns incorporated and formed Twin Groves. In the Solomon Grove Smith-Hughes building, created by visionary stone mason Silas Owens Sr., was the Shop. At the Shop, the young people of the community learned vocational skills, including agriculture and stone masonry. After falling into disrepair, the building was renovated and now houses the Twin Groves Public Library. Neighboring the library is the Twin Groves Community Center and the Ozark Foothills African-American History Museum. The Sons & Daughters of the Shop features Twin Groves community members past and present, and the portraits were made in a garden behind the Shop.
AV Arkansas thanks Mayor Wesley Tyus and all the good folks of Twin Groves for their support of this project. We are especially grateful to Albessie Thompson, Project Director of the Ozark Foothills African-American History Museum, for including these photographs in the museum’s collection.
