America's Black Holocaust Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
America's Black Holocaust Museum located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is the only memorial dedicated specifically to the victims of the enslavement of Africans in the United States. It was founded by James Cameron, America's last living survivor of a lynching.
In 2008, the museum's board of directors announced that the museum would be closed temporarily because of financial problems.[1][2]
Contents |
[edit] History
After surviving a lynching attempt and prison, starting at age 16, James Cameron became determined to change his life. He got an education, worked hard, and studied all his life about slavery and the African-American experience in the United States. He worked in civil rights, wrote independent articles, and collected materials having to do with African-American history. After retirement, James Cameron and his wife visited Yad VaShem in Israel. He thought that the focus on the personal history of individuals and their stories, rather than on numbers and processes, led to a better understanding of the reality of the Holocaust. Then living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1988 Cameron founded the museum, with the help of philanthropist Daniel Bader. He had been collecting materials on the African-American experience in the US for many years.
[edit] Mission
America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) exists to educate the public of injustices suffered by people of African American heritage, while providing visitors with an opportunity to rethink their assumptions about race and racism.
[edit] Educational focus
While there is also a Black Holocaust memorial in Savannah, Georgia, the ABHM serves as a center for education and scholarship related to the Black Holocaust and as a non-threatening forum for sharing thoughts about race and racism in America.
Exposing visitors to historical aspects of African American cultural identity is achieved through educational exhibits, special programming, and guided tours related to six distinct historic eras:
- Before Captivity in Africa
- The Middle Passage
- Slavery in the Americas
- Reconstruction era of the United States
- Civil Rights
- Modern Day Injustices
ABHM welcomes visitors of all races and backgrounds, and encourages community understanding of the nation’s history of racism, prejudice, social change and cross-cultural understanding.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 43°03′36″N 87°54′57″W / 43.06°N 87.91583°W
 |
This article related to a museum in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This Wisconsin-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
