The Delta Cultural Center provides visitors with changing exhibits which expand on the topics stated in our mission. Changing exhibits rotate on a regular basis with new and fresh exhibits every 1 to 6 months. Exhibits vary from modern art and photography to historical artifacts. Many changing exhibits are developed by Center Staff while others are traveling exhibits created by outside organizations.

For exhibit openings and programs, access our Calendar of Events.

Building For Tomorrow: E.C. Morris, Centennial Church and the Black Baptists During Jim Crow

This extraordinary new exhibition explores the role of the Baptist Church in the lives of African Americans during the turbulent period of Jim Crow, as they navigated the difficulties and hardships of a segregated country.  Visitors, as they enter the South Gallery of the Delta Cultural Center, will first notice the large replica stain glass window that symbolizes the church. It is if they have been reborn in the past and are looking into this window to see what is happening in a church of that era. From that point, guests will be able to read and study numerous historical panels that depict the expansion of the Baptist Church throughout the Arkansas Delta and into the lives of African Americans. 

Activists such as Booker T. Washington and others used this religious awakening to further the cause of reform, but it was through the tireless labor of one Arkansan that the church rose to new levels of importance. That Arkansan was the Reverend Elias Camp Morris, who rose to national prominence through his work with the National Baptist Convention. In addition to his work in politics, Morris was the pastor at Centennial Baptist Church in Helena, Arkansas from 1879 to his death in 1922. Centennial was an example of an early megachurch with nearly a thousand members and was a beacon of light for all African Americans in the area. E.C. Morris was also president of the Black Arkansas Baptist State Convention for 35 years and helped start a seminary in Little Rock that eventually became Arkansas Baptist College.  There is a life size replica of Morris at his podium and interactive displays which feature a number of his speeches that visitors may listen to. In addition to the church, there are also displays and information panels dealing with the role of fraternal organizations like the Knights of Pythias and the Masons. 

DCC is an agency of Arkansas Heritage that is responsible for researching, documenting, collecting, interpreting and presenting the heritage of the people of the Arkansas Delta. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas National Heritage Commission, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Historic Arkansas Museum and the Arkansas State Archives. Arkansas Heritage is a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.

Transforming with Life and Times: Mercantile Stores in the Antebellum and New South Delta

Affectionately shortened to "Mercantile Stores," this exhibit describes the evolution of mercantile general stores and their far reaching importance as fundamental economic engines to communities throughout the Arkansas Delta from 1819 onward.

The exhibit is made possible in part by support of E. Ritter & Company, which is the oldest privately held corporation in the state. Included in the exhibition are numerous display panels and artifacts associated with mercantilism in Arkansas. One artifact of note is a hand-forged lumber branding iron with letters "E.R." or the initials of Ernest Ritter, founder, and owner of E. Ritter & Company of Marked Tree, Arkansas. 

Transforming with Life and Times: Mercantile Stores in the Antebellum and New South Delta will be on display through March 31, 2023.

DCC is an agency of Arkansas Heritage that is responsible for researching, documenting, collecting, interpreting and presenting the heritage of the people of the Arkansas Delta. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas National Heritage Commission, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Historic Arkansas Museum and the Arkansas State Archives. Arkansas Heritage is a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.