Fifteen years after the Carter Center opened its doors, it continued to thrive with a massive enrollment total: 465 families, and 611 youth between the ages of 4 and 18.
Peoria
A digital companion to the biography Becoming Richard Pryor
Carver Center Reports 2,558 Enrolled
Date: 09/29/59
Citation:
"Carver Center Reports 2,558 Enrolled." Peoria Journal-Star, Sept. 29, 1959
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1. A Community Center Is Born
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Push Plan for Negro Center
–11/13/1942–As Peoria's black population surged in the 1940s, plans for a new community center were laid
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Center Fund Drive Opens
–12/02/43–The Center Fund Drive launched with hopes of raising $15,000 in a week.
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Carver Center Is Dedicated
–12/11/1944–For its founders, the Carver Center promised to inaugurate “the postwar of tomorrow”
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Pursuit of Freedom
–11/1949–The mural, a mix of uplift and militancy, that faced Richard onstage at the Carver Center
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Unveil Mural At Carver Center Today
–11/13/1949–“We must help each other” was the theme of the Carver Center's mural, “The Pursuit of Freedom”
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Mural At Carver Center Unveiled Sunday
–11/14/1949–The Carver Center's mural was taken to be a significant work of public art in Peoria.
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2. Mecca for the Black Community
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Red Feather Agency Builds Useful Life
–10/15/1952–The Carver Center was thriving in 1952 — and would-be juvenile delinquent “Bob” was proof
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The Carver Center’s 10th Anniversary
–1954–Celebrating ten successful years, the Carver Center released a report on its progress.
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A Gallery of the Carver Center’s First 10 Years
–1954–Modern dance and checkers, jazz and basketball — all were on tap at the Carver Center
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Carver Center Steps Toward Expansion
–08/21/56–Pryor's time onstage at Carver was the era of its greatest expansion
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Harper Known Nationally For His Work
–4/17/1957–Carver Center director Henry Harper was a gentle man with bulldog tenacity
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270 Sign Up For Carter Program
–09/20/1957–The 1957 Center curriculum ranged from baton-twirling and canasta to scenery building and choir
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Carter Center Given ‘Once Over’ By Student
–10/20/1957–Reportage on the Carver Center, from the point of view of a suburban high schooler
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Carver Center Reports 2,558 Enrolled
–09/29/59–A quarter of Peoria's black population were enrolled in Carver Center activities in 1959
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Churches, Businessmen, Aid Negro Cause Here
–11/17/1960–Local churches and businessmen organized the first Trade Fair for black high school and college students
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Richard Pryor Returns To Peoria Stage
–03/09/1969–A benefit for the local Afro-American Black Peoples Federation brought Richard Pryor back to the Carver Center stage
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City’s Woes Reflect Budget Conflict
–2/17/1984–A portrait of Peoria's economic struggles during Reagan's first term
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3. The Magic Realm of Miss Whittaker
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Blues in Cuba
–04/27/1950–Juliette Whittaker's first original work for the Carver Center -- a lively musical set in the Cuba of 1950
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‘Hopalong Hamlet’ Will Ride At Carver
–1950s–Shakespeare's classic re-imagined by Whittaker in an original Carver Center Youth Theater production
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Children’s Theater of Carver Center
–3/15/55–A review of “Rumpelstiltskin,” Richard's first stage appearance.
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She Lends Many Talents to Corn Stock
–06/11/1957–A closer look at the Carver Center's resident playwright, director, stage manager, and set designer
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Swinging Into Action
–11/08/1957–Presenting the Silicons - a doowop group featured in a Carver Center talent show that Pryor may have emceed
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Billy Smiles
–1961–A story of Juliette Whittaker's mentorship — and one of her paintings — grounded this Carver Center fundraising appeal
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The Enchanted Cage
–11/27/1962–Carver Center teens, including later Black Panther Mark Clark, rehearsed a scene from “The Enchanted Cage”
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Carver Variety Show Satire Provides ‘Touch’
–12/06/1963–From the imagination of Juliette Whittaker, a Dixiecrat senator's tour of Hell
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I, Too, Sing America
–02/1966–A glimpse of a musical number from Whittaker's Civil Rights inspired pageant, “I, Too, Sing America”
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Matt Clark Recalls Richard’s Early Love for Performance
–12/18/2005–A portrait of the young Richard, courtesy of his childhood friend Matt Clark
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4. Juliette Whittaker: Profiles and Tributes
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She Lends Many Talents to Corn Stock
–06/11/1957–A closer look at the Carver Center's resident playwright, director, stage manager, and set designer
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If You Shoot For The Moon…
–03/08/1981–An in-depth profile of the remarkable woman who first mentored Richard Pryor as an artist
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Whittaker’s Expressive Arts
–11/27/2002–“The artist part of me has always chosen a storytelling style,” explained Whittaker
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Juliette Whittaker
–05/04/2007–After 80 years of living creatively, Whittaker peacefully passed away in 2007
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A Quiet Storm
–05/08/2007–At her funeral service in the Carver Community Center, Whittaker's gift for nurturing talent was fondly recalled
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Remembering Juliette
–2010–Juliette Whittaker was “my angel,” wrote Richard's childhood friend Matt Clark
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