America’s Black Holocaust Museum re-opens as virtual museum - Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper
February 25, 2012
America’s Black Holocaust Museum, shuttered since 2008, will re-open as a virtual museum on February 25, 2012, in honor of the birthday of its founder James Cameron, the only known survivor of a lynching. The opening website is only the first phase of what will be a cutting-edge 21st century online museum geared to the general public, scholars, teachers, and students aged 13 and up.
The interactive museum will tell the seldom-told stories of Africans brought in chains to America, their descendants, and the freedom-loving whites who tried to help. The story, stretching from before Africans’ captivity by European slave traders to the present day experiences of African Americans, will be told through dozens of scholar-curated exhibits.
These will include text, photographs, videos, art, original documents, learning games, user-generated content and other forms of interactivity. ABHM will contribute to scholarship about the Black Holocaust; provide a safe place for cross-racial dialogue; and promote the highest ideals of American democracy.
On opening day, visitors to www.abhmuseum.org will be able to:
Reggie Jackson, ABHM Board Chair, observes, “Dr. Cameron envisioned our country as ‘one single and sacred nationality.’ He believed that racial equality and reconciliation depend on a thorough, accurate understanding of our history–and a safe place to dialog about it. We are excited to provide access to these for people around our nation and world.”