Friends of SAAACAM is a volunteer auxiliary committee, whose members generously give their time and resources to help preserve San Antonio’s rich cultural history. Volunteers play a crucial role in SAAACAM’s heritage tourism development and are a vital component of collaboration with the community.
At this time, the organization is seeking volunteers to serve in the following capacities: Communications-PR Committee Vice Chair, Digital Content Creator, Education Committee Vice Chair, Fiesta Events Coordinator, Finance Committee Vice Chair, Grants Manager, Graphic Designer, Historian, History Harvest Coordinator, Juneteenth Programming Coordinator, Museum Events Manager, Programs Committee Vice Chair, Stewardship-Membership Committee Vice Chair, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Volunteer Engagement and Training Manager.
Submit letters of interest ahead of the application deadline of 5:00 PM this Thursday on February 28, 2019. Interested participants can review the complete position details and apply https://saaacam.org/volunteer/volunteer-roles-opportunities/ .
The organization is housed in the Historic Sutton Family Homestead in Dignowity Hill. The home has been visited by distinguished people like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Thurgood Marshall. Even more distinguished than it ’s legendary visitors was the Sutton Family themselves. Local literary icon, Cary Clack said, “ For [the] number of children, their range of interests, the scope of talents, levels of educational attainment, personal successes and societal contributions, the Suttons are the most accomplished family produced by San Antonio and [most] accomplished American family birthed by this nation… The marriage of Samuel J. Sutton Sr. and Lillian Viola Smith created a home that nurtured ambition and achievement. Their 12 children (three others didn’t live to maturity) would excel — and sometimes make history — in the fields of education, medicine, science, law, business, politics and social service. All of them would earn college degrees and 10 of them would receive postgraduate degrees.”
The Sutton family had a large impact on history: Oliver Sutton was the first African-American on the New York State Supreme Court. Garlington Jerome was the first black person in the South to win a metropolitan elective seat when he was elected to the San Antonio Junior College Board in 1948. Percy Sutton was the attorney to Malcolm X.
Tours of the Historic Sutton Family Homestead in Dignowity Hill occur on Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM and also by appointment.