In 1900, a woman by the name of Mary Church Terrell began honoring Fredrick Douglass on his birthday, Feb. 14, in Washington, D.C.

In 1909, a man named Carter G. Woodson witnessed this yearly celebration for the first time, and in 1926, chose the second week of February as Black History Week. This particular week was chosen because it contains the birthdays of two influential men: Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Fifty years later, in 1976, Black History Week was expanded into Black History Month.

Milwaukee has a very special relationship with Black History Month. It is the home of America“s Black Holocaust Museum, the only museum in the nation dedicated to the Black Holocaust (a term that refers to 500 years of suffering of Africans and African-Americans through slavery, oppression and exploitation). The museum was founded by James Cameron, the nation“s sole survivor of lynching.

Located 2243 N. 4th St. (just off North Avenue), it is easily accessible from campus by bus (route 21) or car (there is free parking on the south side of the building). Ticket prices are $3 for students (with ID), $5 general admission and $4 for senior citizens.

Once inside, the journey through black history begins immediately with a permanent exhibit of a replicated cargo hold, complete with a large mural that tells the story of the passage from Africa to the New World.

The trip through black history continues with an exhibit depicting the enslavement of the African people, as well as their emancipation. The struggle for freedom was not over for African-Americans, and the exhibits move into the Civil Rights Movement. These exhibits document the struggles and hardships blacks went through fighting for equality, such as bombings, cross-burnings and lynching.

An entire exhibit is dedicated to a central figure to the movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and features excerpts from his famous speeches. The journey concludes with an exhibit explaining Cameron“s significance in black history, and his subsequent work to help fellow blacks.

The museum“s mission is to “educate the public of the injustices suffered by people of African-American heritage, while providing visitors with an opportunity to rethink their assumptions about race and racism.”

To learn more about the museum, visit its Web site www.blackholocaustmuseum.org, e-mail them at info@blackholocaustmuseum.org, or call 264-2500, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

> Comments