The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (MTCC) was founded as the Mosaic Templars of America Center for African American Culture and Business Enterprise under Act 1176 of 2001. MTCC was created as a museum of Arkansas Heritage to honor the story of the Mosaic Templars of America and all of Arkansas's African American history. In April of 2020, after a multi-year process, MTCC became the third Black history institution in the South to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
The museum is dedicated to telling the story of the African American experience in Arkansas. The Center’s name is taken from the Mosaic Templars of America, a black fraternal organization founded in Little Rock in 1883 whose headquarters sat on the prominent West Ninth and Broadway location. Like many businesses throughout the United States, the Mosaic Templars of America organization was forced out of business during the Great Depression. Originally, the Center planned to restore the 1913 Mosaic Templars of America National Grand Temple, but the original building was destroyed by fire in March 2005. The new 35,000-square-foot interior is a state-of-the-art museum complex with exhibits, classroom, staff offices and an auditorium that seats 400 people. The façade of the new structure is a facsimile of the 1913 building complete with the Annex building façade, which burned in 1984.
MTCC Advisory Board
The mission of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is to preserve, interpret and celebrate African American history and culture in Arkansas. The museum's exhibits highlight fraternal organizations, African American entrepreneurs as well as integration.
View our five-year strategic plan.