Locals can celebrate National Reading Month by helping raise funds to promote literacy both locally and abroad through Lit Tee, a tea party fundraiser being held at The Chattanooga Event Center off of Lee Highway on Saturday, March 30.
The event benefits the Mary Walker Historical and Educational Foundation and literacy programs in Cameroon, Africa.
The foundation was founded in the mid-70s by local pastor and civil rights leader the Rev. John Lloyd Edwards.
Mary Walker, a former slave who learned to read at age 117, reads in her literacy class with teacher Helen Kelley. Walker is the namesake of the Mary Walker Historical and Educational Foundation, for which a tea party fundraiser is being held March 30 at The Chattanooga Event Center. / Photo contributed by John L. Edwards IIIWith racial tensions high at that time, his home in Fort Wood was firebombed. The story was featured on the front page of the Chattanooga Times - which also ran a story that day on the passing of Mary Walker. This is how Edwards' interest began in the story of Walker, a Chattanooga resident and former slave who learned to read at age 117.
Edwards founded the foundation to promote literacy through historical exhibits and programming. Past examples include an exhibit on African-American soldiers in the Civil War at the Chickamauga Battlefield, and an exhibit on African-American inventors at the Chattanooga African-American Museum, said John L. Edwards III, who now runs the foundation, which became a nonprofit organization in 1983.
Funds from the Lit Tee event will be used to continue the foundation's exhibits and programming. Future plans include building a new facility to house exhibits focused on local African-American history related to literacy and education, he said.
The organization would also like to replace its mobile museum, which it has used since the 1980s to bring its programs to students who otherwise wouldn't have access. The new mobile museum would include fiber-optic technology, computers and books and would be designed for kids of all abilities, said Lit Tee organizer Leslie Smith.
"Lit Tee" has multiple meanings: "Lit" is short for literacy, along with being a slang word for something exciting, upbeat and fascinating. "Tee" refers to a T-shirt - a snazzy version of which attendees are asked to wear for the laid-back event - and is slang for having a conversation with or communicating with others, she said. It also represents what attendees will be drinking: tea donated by local business Cheiman Tea.
There will also be a menu of "delectable delights," and women are encouraged to wear their best tea party-style hats.
"We welcome anyone and everyone from the community to come out and enjoy themselves, eat and have tea," said Smith.
In addition to the Mary Walker Historical and Educational Foundation, the event is also a fundraiser for #GiveWomenandgirlseducation, an initiative to support literacy for women, and underprivileged and orphaned youth in Cameroon. To that end, some of the event's proceeds will be used to purchase books.
Chattanooga resident Linda Murray Bullard will travel to Cameroon this October, bringing along books donated by the Mary Walker Foundation and other sources. Author and owner of LSMB Business Solutions, she was invited to speak at a wives' empowerment conference being hosted there by the Rahel Randy Foundation, which has a mission of empowering women through education.
Along with providing women with financial assistance for college and other social services, the organization's goal is to build a secondary school in the country where women and girls can receive a free education. The books Bullard will bring will help start a library for the school.
Lit Tee attendees have the option to have their name put on a plaque in the library for a $100 donation, she said.
Bullard, who has ancestral roots in Cameroon, said many women there are illiterate and lack job skills, and must marry elders for support.
The Chattanooga Event Center is at 2193 Park Drive. The fundraiser runs from noon to 2 p.m. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling 316-5319, or online at Eventbrite.com by searching for "Lit Tee."
To make a donation, visit the Mary Walker Historical and Educational Foundation's Facebook page.
To learn more about Rahel Randy Foundation, visit rahelrandy.org.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.
Bessie Smith Cultural Center visitors check out an exhibit created by the Mary Walker Historical and Educational Foundation currently on display at the museum. A tea party fundraiser March 30 will support the foundation's historical exhibits and programming, as well as an education and literacy initiative in Cameroon, Africa. / Photo contributed by John L. Edwards III