America's Black Holocaust Museum

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America's Black Holocaust Museum

America's Black Holocaust Museum was re-established as a completely virtual museum [1] by ABHM's Board of Directors, after the bricks-and-mortar museum closed in 2008. The new format came online on February 25, 2012, in celebration of Dr. Cameron's birthday and Black History Month. This website is Phase I of what will be a cutting-edge, 21st century asset that carries Dr. Cameron's philosophy and vision into the future. Eventually a local presence will be re-established as well through temporary and permanent exhibits in public buildings, such as the Milwaukee Area Technical College and other educational institutions.

History

ABHM's facility, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the only memorial dedicated specifically to the victims of the enslavement of Africans in the United States. It was founded by James Cameron, America's only known survivor of a lynching

Cameron died in 2006; in 2008, the museum's board of directors announced that the museum would be closed temporarily because of financial problems.^[1][2] Its former building has not re-opened since, but ABHM was re-established as a virtual museum in 2012.^[3]

After surviving a lynching attempt and prison, starting at age 16, James Cameron became determined to change his life. He got an education, worked hard, and studied all his life about slavery and the African-American experience in the United States. He worked in civil rights, wrote independent articles, and collected materials having to do with African-American history.http://www.abhmuseum.org/2012/01/dr-james-cameron-museum-founder-and-lynching-survivor/.

After retirement, James Cameron and his wife visited Yad VaShem in Israel. He thought that the focus on the personal history of individuals and their stories, rather than on numbers and processes, led to a better understanding of the reality of the Holocaust. Then living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1988 Cameron founded the museum, with the help of philanthropist Daniel Bader. He had been collecting materials on the African-American experience in the US for many years.

Mission

America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) exists to educate the public of injustices suffered by people of African American heritage, while providing visitors with an opportunity to rethink their assumptions about race and racism.

Educational focus

While there is also a Black Holocaust memorial in Savannah, Georgia, the ABHM facility served as a center for education and scholarship related to the Black Holocaust and as a non-threatening forum for sharing thoughts about race and racism in America.

Exposing visitors to historical aspects of African American cultural identity was achieved through educational exhibits, special programming, and guided tours related to six distinct historic eras, which are replicated in the Virtual Museum:

• Before Captivity in Africa
• The Middle Passage
• Slavery in the Americas
• Reconstruction era of the United States
• Civil Rights
• Modern Day Injustices

ABHM welcomed visitors of all races and backgrounds, and encouraged community understanding of the nation’s history of racism, prejudice, social change and cross-cultural understanding.

See also

	Wisconsin portal
	African American portal

• List of museums focused on African Americans

External links

America's Black Holocaust Museum

Notes