Maryland's African American History Museum

I finally made it to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. The building is a beautiful modern structure with sleek lines, a matte dark gray finish, accented with yellow and a shiny vibrant red. It truly captured my attention and interest. More importantly it enhances the appeal of downtown Baltimore.

Once inside, a friendly and engaging woman greeted me. I purchased my ticket and I was on my way to the exhibits. The first stop was the second floor to see a 20-minute film on African American History sponsored by the History Channel. I appreciated the introduction, but did not stay for the entire film because I do keep up with African American history through documentaries, reading, special exhibits and cultural events. However, if you are someone that does not, the film is a must see.

The permanent exhibit space was on the third floor. It was chockfull of powerful words, statements, quotes, pictures and artifacts. In many ways it was overwhelming, but in an extremely positive way. There were not too many people at the museum, but I noticed how some just glanced at the exhibits or were intrigued more by the popular iconic figures. It was my goal to see and read every word. It is imperative that everyone read the quotes, the stories and captions next to each exhibit. It is amazing to be part of modern day history, but it is equally important to immerse oneself into the shadows of our past. That is probably what I liked most about the museum. Everywhere I looked there were powerful words to read and ponder. There were quotes I was eager to remember that conjured up deep emotion.

I was thinking to myself while walking through the exhibits that in everyday life we remember Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Billie Holiday and Ben Carson and countless other popular figures that shaped African American History, but we do not remember the names or talk about the many African American’s who were lynched or the names of the families that were separated during slave auctions and never united, not to mention the countless other people with heroic stories and challenging lives. We don’t talk about the woman who walked one mile to get a bus and then spent an hour on the bus to get to school. She eventually dropped out of school, but she and her husband raised three children, and they made sure that each one of their children was college educated. Do you know her name? It was my goal to read aloud every name on a list presented in an exhibit that documented some of the men who were lynched. Do you know any of their names?

African American history is everyone’s history. I can remember being a child in grade school. We celebrated “Black History Day.” By the time I got to high school is was “Black History Week.” And when I got to college it was “Black History Month.” Wow! a whole month. I was offended by the day, the week and now the month because black history is an everyday event. I can relate to and understand people’s resistance to learning about different cultures, especially when we present it in a “selective” manner. We must strive to learn, appreciate and respect each other’s cultures and life experiences. If we do not, we will never be able to co-exist.

It is not my goal to down play this extraordinary museum, nor the efforts of the people involved in its development, but there were some things that caught my eye that were not appealing. When you enter the building there are pictures of our current governor, lieutenant governor and mayor. These pictures take away from the museum. They are in cheap picture frames and they just look tacky. My intentions are not to disrespect these talented public figures, but using their names in footers of documents handed to the public should suffice.

At selected times you get the feeling that The Maryland African American History and Culture Museum is a shrine to Reginald F. Lewis. I appreciate, respect and admire this amazing man’s contributions. Nevertheless, at times it appears to be pomp and circumstance.

Lastly, some of the video screens were impaired. The museum is too new to be showcasing defects in equipment. The video screens should have a button that can be selected by the viewer. Why not conserve electricity. The guards walking the floor need to be mindful of their actions, especially as it pertains to their conversations. Two guards were hanging out and talking by one of the windows near an exhibit. It was very distracting to me and a few other patrons. I also think the “Take the Journey – A Self-Guided Tour” brochure should be handed to each patron when entering the museum. We discovered the brochure at the end of our journey.

I want my final words in this post to be “I love the museum!” You can see the time, energy, care, love, most importantly, the heart and soul that people put into this powerful, uplifting and emotional museum. I look forward to my next visit, which I know will be very soon. - paerki