Black Museums: Keeping the Legacy Alive

From ancient African civilizations through the first landing of blacks on American shores to contemporary life in Black America, Black museums have chronicled the tragedies and triumphs of African-Americans. As repositories of African-American history, culture and art, Black museums offer a window on the African Diaspora and Blacks' subsequent struggle for freedom.

In recent years, there has been a flurry of activity in the museum field, including proposals for repositories or memorials in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Jamestown, Va., to honor the contributions of Black Americans.

While governor of Virginia, L. Douglas Wilder convened a blue-ribbon panel, including historian John Hope Franklin and philanthropist Bill Cosby, for preliminary work on a national museum honoring the strength and the wisdom of African-American slaves at the Jamestown site where the first Africans in English America landed in 1619.

Through the arts, history, academia, music and the like, the Jamestown Slave Museum will stand as a symbol for generations to come of perseverance in overcoming adversity, cruelty and man's inhumanity to man. The museum will be an important piece of American history that has previously been left unaddressed. Plans for the museum were initiated in …

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Publication information: Article title: Black Museums: Keeping the Legacy Alive. Contributors: Not available. Magazine title: Ebony. Volume: 49. Issue: 5 Publication date: March 1994. Page number: 36+. © 1999 Johnson Publishing Co. COPYRIGHT 1994 Gale Group.

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