By Lorrie Irby Jackson – Dallas South News Contributor
For anyone, having the entire wing of a building dedicated in their honor would be a lofty tribute to their accomplishments. But for a cultural icon and tireless advocate like Emma Rodgers, it’s simply an extension of her desire to expand education and the arts.
Emma Rodgers
“I found out (about the library) at my birthday party in September,” she laughed shortly after cutting the ribbon inside the Emma Rodgers Learning Laboratory. The learning lab is located on the second floor of the Bishop Arts Theater Center on Tyler Street in Dallas, which opened to the public last year.
The wing is covered with original artwork from students who benefit from TeCo’s outreach programs across the metroplex and a portrait of the honoree created by local author and artist Cameka Spencer. Rodgers is best known for her avid volunteer work and for being the face of Black Images Book Bazaar, a popular bookstore in Wynnwood Village that prominently featured local and nationally-known African-American authors before closing in 2007.
Ms. Rodgers, who sits on the Board of Directors for TeCo Theatrical Productions Inc. (a lauded multi-cultural theater company that moved to Dallas in 2000 and is committed to cultivating the arts), said the laboratory will ultimately lend to her efforts to keep youth enthusiastic about learning. “It fits because I’ve always been diadactic, so this wing will help in training students in various programs and the arts. I want everybody of every age to continue to learn.”
Another function of the Learning Laboratory will be a meeting place for a book club born out of the ashes of Black Images called Black Pearls Keeping It R.E.A.L. (Reading and Evaluating African-American Literature). The members will meet next month to discuss The Douglass Women, by Jewel Parker Rhoades. One their members, Kerren Dennise McNeal, stated that Ms. Rodgers earned the tribute due to her tireless support of the arts and love of learning. “She is constantly giving back to the community and one thing she’s always stressed is that a book is the best best gift you can give anybody, even a baby, and that you’re never too old to learn something new. And with all that she’s done, it’s well-deserved.”
Photo from of Ms. Rodgers dallasnews.com
Edited by Shawn Williams
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