The Good Shepherds: African American Museums

The Good Shepherds

by Henry Duncan

I have to thank Dr. Joanne Martin, co-founder of the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum and Mr. Ivan Henderson, curator of education & public programming of the African American Museum of Philadelphia for helping me with this article. Without their assistance this article would not be possible. Many of the names, dates and, statistics quoted in this article came from information given to me by Mr. Henderson and Dr. Martin. Many thanks for your help.

There are about 200 museums that specialize in the history of Black people here in America. However, these museums had very humble beginnings. Many of these museums started in the houses of their respective founders. For example, Dr. Margaret Burroughs who, along with her husband, founded the DuSable museum of African American History in Chicago on the ground floor of their house in 1961. Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin did the same when they founded the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, in Baltimore, MD in 1983. They only had 4 wax figures constructed with wax heads and mannequins as the body. Now these museums have evolved into institutions that have great exhibits that preserve our history. Though these museums have far surpassed there origins, they need our help before they are on par with museums that don’t specialize in Black history.

These museums have taken on the awesome task of gathering and preserving, not only our history in America, but our African history as well. The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum has over 135 wax figures and features the exhibit Into the Hold: The Slave Ship Experience which replicates the slave experience of the Middle Passage and includes a replica of a slave ship. The African American Museum of Philadelphia (AAMP) features an interactive exhibit called Audacious Freedom. This exhibit examines the history of Black people in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas from 1776 to 1876. African American museums also host many traveling exhibits like 381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story currently at the AAMP which features a timeline of events that surrounds a small seating area that shows a documentary of the Civil Rights Movement.

Dr. Joanne Martin sent me an excerpt of an article by her late husband Dr. Elmer Martin; written around 2001 entitled Black Museums that articulates the past and current problems that Black Museums face. In this article, Dr. Martin identifies the problems Black Museums faced in their early stages and the problems they face today. After reading Dr. Martin’s article, it is evident that there are three major problems that Black museums face 1.) generating interest in black museums, 2.) acquiring the necessary funds to maintain themselves and, 3.) fighting the invasion of larger institutions into the realm of Black history. Though this article was written nearly 10 years ago you still find examples of this today. For example, here in Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute, a museum that doesn’t specialize in Black history, is currently showing the Cleopatra exhibit which The Franklin Institute estimates will generate 1.5 million visitors. Cleopatra was the queen of Egypt which means she is a part of our history, but how many Black museums have the resources and connections to host such a grand exhibit? The cheapest ticket to view the Cleopatra exhibit costs $19.50, which means this exhibit will potentially generate $29,250,000 in revenue. Let’s compare those numbers of the AAMP. According to Mr. Henderson, the African American Museum in Philadelphia averages about 60,000 visitors annually. Adult admission into this museum is $10 which gives them $600,000 in potential revenue. In other words, it would take 25 years for the African American Museum in Philadelphia to match the visitors of one exhibit of the Franklin Institute and about 49 years to generate the equivalent revenue. There is no lack of effort and sacrifice on the part of the staff of these museums, as mentioned earlier, many of these museums were started in personal residences and with personal funds. With so much dedication on their part why don’t we show more support? With over 40 million Black people in America the least we can do is pay the $10 – $15 admission and help to support the institutions that have sacrificed so much to preserve our history.

Written by Henry Duncan

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