“This museum is not just about what’s on the walls, it’s about the souls of the people who come through here,” said the museum’s president and CEO.
DALLAS — Margie Reese combed through an Ebony Magazine from the 1960s.
“Much of this material is very old,” said Reese, African American Museum of Dallas Chief Programs Officer.
There’s a particular care when handling time. Reese took WFAA on a journey of what was, what is, and what can be.
“They couldn’t bring the spaces and the places and the tools that they used, but they could bring it in their memory,” Reese said.
They are memories such as an old picture of Booker T. Washington High School, originally called The Negro School. It’s what the museum wants to protect.
“I was thinking about how far we’ve come,” said Lisa Ross, African American Museum of Dallas President and CEO. “A certain faction of our country wants to erase our memory, we can’t be erased.”
They announced a $3M grant from the Texas Historical Commission and support from Google to digitize its collections.
“It’s hot in Texas,” Reese said. “Over time, the material gets fragile.”
The funding will go towards digitizing and preserving collections. The materials have been collected over the past 50 years.
“So, digitizing it to us accomplishes two things. It makes it available to a global audience, but it also keeps it safe in perpetuity,” Reese said.
“This museum is not just about what’s on the walls, it’s about the souls of the people who come through here,” Ross said.
The museum’s archives manager, Faith Golden, showed folklore art from artist, Mr. Imagination. The exhibition will soon be on display.
“We can also teach our children. Teach them not to fear, not to fear understanding how powerful they are, the mental capacities that we have as a people,” Reese said. “It’s in who you think you can be that launches you to use your imagination to become who you want to be.”