'Fortune Tellers' To Be Guides For Black Press Exhibit In Red Bank

RED BANK, NJ - When the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center opens its new permanent exhibit on pioneers of Black journalism, a select group of students will be ready to inform and guide visitors as the first class of the center's Fortune Tellers.

The opening Oct . 7 of the new exhibit - "Black Press: Stewards of Democracy" - will coincide with the 167th birthday celebration of T. Thomas Fortune on Oct. 3.

Fortune was a major figure among journalists and for many years of his life, beginning in 1901, made his home in the very house that is now the Fortune Cultural Center in Red Bank, which he called Maple Hall.

The creation of the center in the refurbished historic home on Drs. James Parker Boulevard was the result of the vision and hard work of many people over many years, and it is a National Historic Landmark.

And the mission of the center is to foster the legacy of journalism, in particular the inroads made by Black pioneers of the field, said Executive Director Gilda Rogers. Rogers is a longtime Red Bank resident who has been proactive in the saving of the house and its evolution.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the Cultural Center has created the Fortune Tellers Docent Training Program, and is now working with several students who will become tour guides for the upcoming exhibit, Rogers said.

And Rogers is totally impressed with the students in the program:

"They are really good. They were the perfect candidates," she said. "They possess charming personalities - and all are very bright."

That combination is a winning one for young people who will be called upon to educate others in this area of journalism history.

The training program started on July 10 and runs until Aug. 10, Rogers said. The selected students will be paid a stipend of $400 when the program ends, and will be hired as employees of the Cultural Center when the exhibit opens this fall, she added.

The participating students come from different schools throughout Monmouth County and beyond: Red Bank Regional High School (Saeed Ellis), Ranney School in Tinton Falls (Ava Deady, Priscilla Michel, Kaylee Godfrey), Academy of Allied Health and Science in Neptune (Precious Ogunsakin, Joseph Capuno), Colonia High School in Colonia (Sydni Scott), and Brookdale Community College (Xavier Reid), Rogers said.

"I told them they are setting the tone for the program," said Rogers, who interacts often with students in her other role, that of an adjunct professor of history at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. She teaches African-American history, she said.

The exhibit and the journalists

The exhibit will open in two phases. The first will focus on the pioneers of Black journalism. In February, as part of Black History Month, the second phase will open, focusing on the shaping of Black identity through mass media, Rogers said.

Rogers said the exhibits will be permanent on the first floor of the center - all part of its mission not only as a National Historic Landmark but as a National Historic Journalism Site, as designated by the Society of Professional Journalists.

T. Thomas Fortune was one of the most prominent and influential journalists and newspaper publishers of his time, Rogers noted. As part of their training, the students are learning about the impact that the Black press had on American history.

Fortune (1856-1928) was editor of The New York Age, and his tenure there for over 20 years "established him as the leading African American journalist of the late- 19th and early-20th centuries," according to the Fortune Cultural Center website.

"Under his editorial direction, the paper became the nation’s most influential black paper, and was used to protest discrimination, lynching, mob violence, and disenfranchisement. He was an American orator, civil rights leader, journalist, writer, editor and publisher," the site says. The site has much more detail on all aspects of Fortune's personal biography and career.

Rogers provided some history about the figures in Black journalism:

From the founding of the first Black owned newspaper in 1827 by Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, Freedom’s Journal, "the Black press chronicled the contributions and illustrious history of African Americans," she explained. "The Black press gave voice to the wide range of Black experiences and the issues that mattered in the development of a true democracy."

In addition to T. Thomas Fortune, the students are learning about influential leaders of the Black press such as Ida B. Wells, a significant figure in the women’s suffrage movement who led a vigilant anti-lynching campaign.

Ethel Payne, often called the “First Lady of the Black Press,” was one of the first Black women to join the White House Press Corps, along with Alice Dunnigan, in the 1940s. Both women left a significant impact on modern day media, Rogers said.

The students were also introduced to A. Philip Randolph, a civil rights activist and labor unionist who organized the first successful African-American led labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. His independent magazine, The Messenger, discussed many important economic and political views and opinions that related to the prosperity of African-American people, she said.

"A Civil Rights icon and the brainchild behind the 1963 March on Washington, A. Philip Randolph is a name most high school students have never heard of," Rogers said in further background about the themes the exhibits will explore.

Monmouth Medical Center involvement

There is a connection with Monmouth Medical Center, too, in the docent program, Rogers said.

The Fortune Tellers Docent Training Program is sponsored by Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, she said.

Recently, the members of the program visited the medical center to view the exhibit "Black Firsts in Medicine in Monmouth County." The exhibit will be permanent in a public space that can be reached by escalator from the main lobby, Rogers said.

It was developed exclusively for Monmouth Medical Center and in partnership with the T. Thomas Fortune Foundation and celebrates the contributions of Black Americans in the health care industry, Rogers said.

It is the companion exhibit to Ancestral Ascension, about the Dr. James Parker Family of medical professionals who have given decades of service to the Greater Red Bank community, she said.

The Parker Family Legacy Room at the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center was also sponsored by Monmouth Medical Center, Rogers said.

Stan Cain of Stan Cain Design, the exhibit designer, met with the students to show them how an exhibit goes from a thoroughly researched topic and evolves into a visual presentation.

Rogers and the Cultural Center’s Research Assistant Suubi Mondesir are the curators of the exhibit and have been working with the students throughout the program.

Architect Mark Fitzsimmons, a Fortune Foundation Board member, shared with the students the architectural importance of the time period of the home and the importance of historic preservation.

Dr. Carol Penn has been an ongoing presence with the group, teaching the students the importance of creating balance in their lives and how to alleviate stress, Rogers said.