FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  February 21, 2008
CONTACT:  Martyn Beeny (605) 773 8161 martyn.beeny@state.sd.us

Free program at Cultural Heritage Center to launch new book, focus on African Americans in South Dakota

PIERRE, S.D.—It is Black History Month and the South Dakota State Historical Society will focus on South Dakota’s African Americans when it hosts Joyce Jefferson of Rapid City as she portrays the lives of two African American women in the state in a free program on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 2 p.m. at the Cultural Heritage Center.

Jefferson will portray Sarah Campbell and Lucretia Marchbanks, two African American women who lived in the Black Hills during the late 1800s. Both Campbell and Marchbanks feature prominently in Forgotten Lives: African Americans in South Dakota, the latest book from the South Dakota State Historical Society Press. The women’s lives make for interesting stage performances and good reading. Both of them lived and worked in the tumultuous world of the gold rush and led well-respected lives.

To find out more about these women and African Americans in South Dakota in general, visit the Cultural Heritage Center on Sunday. To learn more about Forgotten Lives visit www.sdhistory.org and click on “Publications.”