Events — The Clarksville Community Development Corporation

Special Events in 2025

“Clarksville Community Conversations” Speaker Series

Sunday, March 9th, 2:00-3:00PM. Tara Dudley, Assistant Professor of Architecture at UT, Austin, will discuss Cumberland type homes in Clarksville and Austin's other freedom colonies/Black neighborhoods (The Haskell House is a Cumberland style home.) She will also talk about the Black builders/craftsmen who lived in Clarksville during its early years.

Saturday, April 12, 2:00-3:00PM. Floris Sorrells, an elder from Manchaca, will share her knowledge of the foodways of old Clarksville and other early Austin area freedom colonies: What people grew and why, how they prepared their food, and the historic origins of the food.

Event attendees will be invited to share memories of the food their great grandparents, grandparents and other elders in their lives, grew and prepared.

Born and raised in Manchaca, Ms. Sorrells grew up on her family’s farm learning how to grow vegetables, raise livestock, identify medicinal plants and herbs, and live off the land. She is committed to preserving the “old ways” taught to her by her parents, grandparents and other relatives and sharing this knowledge with current and future generations in hopes that these foodways and traditions will live on.

Stephanie L. Lang, a writer, organizer and community curator who uses the power of storytelling to explore concepts of Memory, Place and Resistance, will facilitate the discussion.

At the end of the event, Kurt Schmidt, a Clarksville Community gardener and creator of the new Hezikiah Haskell Heritage Garden, will briefly comment about the kinds of vegetables that will be grown there and his goals for the Garden.