An Evening of History & Jazz

In an effort to raise scholarship funds for its 4th Annual Youth Business “Shark” Tank event, the nonprofit organization Evolving Excellence, Inc. has on loan an entire collection of rare African and African American related artifacts and periodicals that date back to the 1600s! The collection curator Tracy Rookard-Shaw stated, “My family and I feel privileged to be surrounded in our home by hundreds of years of history that directly impacted the evolution of our family. It was our honor to lend our private documents to this very worthy organization. They do phenomenal work with youth and this is our way of giving back.” The collection also contains an extremely rare 1876 centennial newspaper publication of one of the drafts of the Declaration of Independence. This newspaper copy gives us a rare look at the handwritten markups and strikethroughs of this country’s founding fathers. Curator Tracy Rookard Shaw says she added this item to the collection because as the law of the land this was the document that African Americans relied upon to gain freedom in this country. Live jazz will be provided by award-winning recording artists, The Gary Motley Trio. Tickets are $20.00 and can be purchased online at Eventbrite.com or at the exhibit location during the event.