The last of a three part series of articles about minorities who maintain museums. One huge minority group that is currently making its presence felt in the museum field are African Americans or Afro-Americans. To view the civil rights movement and black culture as an Afro-American in the United States is an unique position. This cultural view is not held by blacks in other countries in the same way to the same degree. For example,
once a fleeing slave made it into Canada, he (usually it was a male) would find his way to one of the forty odd settling areas that blacks settled in in Canada. There he would find whatever work there was available usually on one of the farms, generally marry and raise his family in the one location. It is a little known fact that slavery was not abolished by the British government until the 1830's. A black in Upper Canada could buy their way to freedom. The Guelph Museum has a Black History Exhibit that will enlighten you to the Canadian experience for Afro-Americans.
http://www.museum.guelph.on.ca/mission.h...
Currently there is an effort on the web to coordinate all information concerning the underground railroad. Some of these sites are museums and some are information sites only. This topic was dealt with exclusively in my April article "Underground Railroad Museums" so I won't go into it in detail here. It is important to mention the underground railroad because of its position in the history and culture of Afro-Americans. It historically is between bondage and the civil rights movement.
The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum has as its protector the spirit of the great voodoo Queen Marie Laveau presiding over it. http://www.voodoomuseum.com
African Art Museum of the Society of African Missions opened in the 1980's. Here you will see African Art which includes many marvelous masks. It is open all week and charges no fee. The Mission, Tenafly, NJ. Not open weekends.
The National Civil Rights Museum is located in the Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. It is open all week and tours are available Here you will see the historic moments in the civil rights struggle in the United States.
The Black History Museum is located Richmond, Virginia. Closed on Sundays and Mondays. This is in an 1832 home which saw many firsts for blacks in the United States. Here you will find information on the W.W.II Tushegee airmen and see business, and entertainment history of the area.
