GODFREY – “Let the Church Say Amen: Rocky Fork Church in Voice and Vision,” a historical multimedia exhibit in Hatheway Cultural Center Gallery at Lewis and Clark Community College, will remain open for an additional six days.

The exhibit, which was scheduled to close March 21, is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until the new March 27 closing date. The exhibit has averaged 80 visitors a day since it opened Feb. 12.

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“We have had a tremendous response to this exhibit,” Exhibit Curator Jim Price said. “We are happy to be able to leave the exhibit open past the original closing date. I encourage everyone to experience this powerful testament to local history first-hand before it is gone.”

The Rocky Fork Exhibit is presented by the Mannie Jackson Endowment and Center for the Humanities and is a Lewis and Clark Arts and Humanities Project, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Lewis and Clark Community College Foundation.

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Secluded in an area of southwestern Illinois at the confluence of the Piasa Creek, the Rock Fork Creek and the Mississippi River, the Rocky Fork Community offered solace and a sense of permanence to African-American freedom seekers in the 1830s. This community grew as a network of people gathered to support each other and aid those seeking their way along the Underground Railroad.

L&C’s Rocky Fork Exhibit aims to shed light on this unique community by showcasing oral histories, the photography of L&C Faculty Member Jeff Vaughn, newspaper clippings, historical artifacts and more. The exhibit also features an adaptation of Rocky Fork New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. The AME church served as a focal point for the community and survives today.

To see more photos of the Rocky Fork exhibit construction and opening, visit L&C’s Rocky Fork Flickr set at www.goo.gl/1lqqxO. For more information on the exhibit, visit www.lc.edu/rockyfork. To view a video preview of the exhibit, please visit www.vimeo.com/88315045.

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