During Women’s History Month, the African American Museum of Bucks County brought a pop-up exhibition to Bucks to help honor the contributions of women, namely those of color and those that helped especially in movements for civil and equal rights.
The exhibition from the museum showed many different women, each providing an important story.
The women included were Phillis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Martha Schofield, Hannah E. Myers Longshore, Ida B. Well-Barnett, Margaret Walker, Shirley Chisholm, Pearl S. Buck, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Ruby Bridges, Michelle Obama, Claire Smith and Stacey Abrams.
The Associate Vice President for Community and Government Relations and the Chief Diversity Officer for Bucks, Kevin Antoine, noted, “The significance of the pop-up was to show women in their rightful place as leaders of the anti-slavery movement. Women contributed significantly by leading enslaved people from the South to the North in the quest for freedom.”
Antoine added, “Women like Harriet Tubman, a spy for the Union Army, led hundreds of enslaved people via the Underground Railroad to freedom. Phillis Wheatley was a free African American female poet who people view as the Poet of the American Revolution. She was the first globally recognized African American female poet.”
American history is essential to remember, and Antoine believes that “the knowledge you learn is worth more than gold.”
Antoine continues, stating, “American history is complex because there were populations living long before the Europeans arrived on the continent’s shores. Giving Europeans’ credit’ for discovering America while millions were already living here is a narrative that needs correction, and having the Bucks County African American Museum exhibits on display here at Bucks County Community College is part of the correction necessary to tell the true story of the country’s history.”
Antoine and his office seek out community partners like the AAMBC to help educate students, and to show all the wealth of history and knowledge different cultures have.
He shares how “The goal of the AAMBC exhibit Building on the Dream: From Africa to Bucks County is to educate and pay tribute to the lives, culture, accomplishments, and contributions of African Americans in Bucks County from their origins in Africa through the 21st century. The exhibit features a timeline of events in African American history in Pennsylvania, including a memorial list of African Americans registered as enslaved people in Bucks County in the 18th and 19th centuries.”
You can also learn about the Bucks Underground Railroad and the role of Bucks County AME churches in helping African Americans transition from slavery to freedom.
There will be more exhibits on various cultures to educate the Bucks students and staff on the history of Bucks County. To find out more about future events, contact [email protected].
To learn more about AAMBC, visit their website https://infoaambc.org/ or the museum at 215 East Richardson Ave in Langhorne, PA.