Pleasant Hill Quilters and Dr. Richard Hackney to speak at Jacksonville College
Feb. 1—Jacksonville College will host the 45th annual Manley Distinguished Lecture Series at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, in Buckner Chapel on the college campus. This year the program, organized by the Barnwell Anderson chapter of the Walter Prescott Webb Historical Society, celebrates Black History Month. And features a program by the Pleasant Hill Quilters and lecture by Dr. Richard Hackney.
The Pleasant Hill Quilters, a group of women ranging in age from 63 to 96, travel the country visiting high schools, universities, concert halls, and churches from Texarkana to Tuskegee to showcase their patchwork. In their nearly two dozen performances per year, the quilters weave together the African American traditions of quilting and spiritual hymns like "Wade in the Water" and "Steal Away," songs associated with slaves fleeing to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Displaying a completed quilt onstage, the women explain how runaway slaves and their supporters used quilt patterns to communicate messages along the network of routes, sympathizers, and safe havens that helped the fugitives escape to freedom in the days before abolition.
Formed in 2004, the quilting club hopes to teach younger generations about their ancestry and help preserve a legacy that could otherwise be forgotten.
Dr. Richard Hackney is a retired pharmacist and founder CEO of Hackney & Associates LLC. Hackney was born and raised in Cherokee County and his 50-year career boasts many accomplishments. He continues to serve the East Texas Community as a member of the Cherokee County Historical Commission, President of the board of YOU!EMPOWER, board member on Area Agency on Aging of East Texas, board member of HOPE, Jacksonville and President of the Historical Cemetery Society of Texas (inactive).
Dr. Hackney has served on the deacon board at Corinth Missionary Baptist Church, Bullard, and along with his wife Theresa developed the Senior Fellowship Ministry. He is presently a member of Kingdom Christian Center Church, Jacksonville, Texas.
Hackney is involved as a community organizer in rural East Texas pertaining to issues of agriculture and founder of the Rural North East Texas Healthcare Task Force focusing on equity and disparity in healthcare and organizing COVID19 vaccination sites in communities of color.
He is also a team member of the Marvelous Monday Radio Blog Talk Show (wglro.radio.com) and a panelist on the Financial Literacy & Entrepreneurship Seminars. Dr. Hackney holds faith, character, and dedication to his life's purposes as the foundation for success.
His lecture, "A Part of the Master Plan," will discuss the role that Black Americans play in possessing knowledge of their history.
"I argue that as we gain knowledge of our missing pasts, Black Americans, particularly here in East Texas, may also begin to engage their God-given purposes and in faith press towards a new form of preparation and determination to build a better present and future as they fulfill their life's assignment," Hackney said.
The Nora Belle Manley Lecture Series, renamed as the Manley Distinguished Lecture Series, is a tribute to a well-loved instructor at Jacksonville College whose tenure was characterized by an unwavering dedication to the academic and cultural development of the JC community.
