True Black History Traveling Museum offers insight to the role of African Americans in U.S. history

 

[February 07, 2020] 

February is Black History Month across the country, and a perfect time to pay tribute to the contribution of black Americans who played key roles in our nation’s history. To that end, Lincoln College on Wednesday of this week hosted the True Black History Traveling Museum at the student center on campus.

The large display according to young Fred Suffold is a reflection of not just the life of black Americans but also a look at the civilization prior to slavery, and to the societies of Africans prior to being brought to America in bondage.

The collection also looks at some of the lesser known figures in black history, as well as the well-known and those who have achieved greatness in a variety of venues.

The collection came to Lincoln from Detroit, Michigan. It is part of a large private collection belonging to the Suffold family. The senior Fred Suffold started collecting many years ago and the display is now being offered to the public through the work of his son Fred and daughter Janay Craft.

According to the junior Fred Suffold, the museum has visited 24 states and been viewed by more than 50,000 visitors. He said that sharing black history was quite important to his father, and now the son and daughter are working to deliver their father’s message through the artifacts and memorabilia of their ancestry.

The collection begins with some beautiful pieces of functional art from Ghana and Mali. The Kente and Mudcloth according to the display notes are pieces that “communicate a sense of African Pride and esteem.” Suffold said it was important for people to see that prior to slavery, the African people had their own civilizations and a sense of community.

The next array on the table was an item from the late 1700’s. A set of slave shackles spoke to the bondage of African people when they were brought to America and forced to serve as the workforce on southern plantations.

The museum displays go on to show historical figures of the slavery era including Fredrick Douglas, a well-known historical figure and two lesser known individuals.

Carter G Woodson authored the Journal of Negro History in 1916.

Blanche Kelso Bruce was born a slave in 1841 in Missouri. Kelso fled to Kansas in search of his freedom and then after the civil war returned to Missouri to found the first African American School in the community of Hannibal. Bruce was also the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate.

The display includes other notable historical figures, such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcom X.

But it also includes the teacher certificate for Willa Mae Robinson, who was granted the right to teach in the state of North Carolina in 1927.

The display also includes the Wilma Doll, a doll endorsed by Norman Rockwell and modeled after his painting “The problem we all live with.”

That painting, done in 1964 by the famous artist reflects a young girl Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old African American girl, on her way to William Frantz Elementary School, an all-white public school, on November 14, 1960. Because of the threats on her life for attending an all-white public school, Ruby was escorted to and from school by U.S. Marshals.

Along with the doll is a photo of Ruby Bridges exiting her school being escorted by the marshals.

Other displays included items from the Black Panthers, Oprah Winfrey and Aretha Franklin. A Tuskegee Airman doll is also on display along with a singed photo of Charles McGee an Airman and career officer in the U.S. Air Force who holds the record of 409 combat missions flown across three wars, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

There is also photos of Robert Lawrence, Jr., the first African American astronaut.

Local connections within our black history were also reflected in the display as Langston Hughes is featured, including a photo of the author at his typewriter and a release agreement between Hughes and Metro-Goldwyn-Myer MGM Records Division, signed by Hughes.

Throughout the four hours that the museum was set up at Lincoln College, several visitors stopped including students, members of the community and Lincoln College staff.

The museum was brought to Lincoln College by the Lynx Activity Board. Members of that group visited with guests as they arrived encouraging everyone to enjoy the displays.

Black History Month offers us all an opportunity to celebrate the achievements by African Americans and their role in U.S. history. The month-long celebration held each year in February is the successor of “Negro History Week,” an observation brought to us by the same Carter G. Woodson mentioned earlier as the author of the Journal of Negro History published in 1916.

[Nila Smith]