Citrus’ Student Life and Leadership Development Office hosted the Black History 101 Mobile Museum on Feb. 19 in honor of Black History Month.
The Black History 101 Mobile Museum is a 35-year-old collection made up of 15,000 artifacts that are rich in Black history, and range from ancient Egypt to current modern times.
Khalid el-Hakim, the founder of the Mobile Museum, said he found the pieces of his collection through antique shops and flea markets.
The Mobile Museum set up an exhibit featuring their artifacts and put on a lecture, to connect the artifacts to past and current events.
A few of the antiques included photographs, letters, shackles, whips and trade beads from Nigeria and the Dogon Tribe from West Africa.
“Recognizing and acknowledging this valuable era of Black history would be the biggest take away someone could have from this,” El-Hakim said. “The government is erasing this aspect of history.”
The timeline starts at the 1800s, when African Americans were enslaved and the media portrayed them as genetically and mentally inferior to white people, to the Black community standing up in the late 1800s to early nineteen hundreds, leading into modern day.
“Pressure can make a diamond, but pressure can also turn a diamond into dust,” Duminie Deporres, director of communication outreach for the Mobile Museum, said.
Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Benjamin Baldwin were amongst the familiar names found in the authentic collection of antique letters.
The tables, which were set up in the East Wing of Citrus’ Campus Center, were situated to take the observer through a timeline of Black history.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.
The Mobile Museum was open to both students and faculty.
“This museum is extremely informative, and would educate both students and faculty at Citrus,” Student life superior Rosario Garcia said. “Black history is America’s history.”
Fox Soul, a television service that focuses on Black culture, created a documentary on El-Kalim’s Mobile Museum called Living Proof.
More information on the Mobile Museum and their next tour dates can be found here.
