DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - An exhibit with material dating to the 16th century has opened at the African American Museum at Fair Park. The Kinsey African American Art and History Collection has been touring across the country, including the Smithsonian.
Other stops have included Disney World and museums in Chicago, Cincinnati and Los Angeles.
The exhibit includes paintings, pictures, journals, and sculptures covering more than 400 years.
"For me, I would love for people to come in and leave with being educated, motivated and inspired," says co-founder Shirley Kinsey.
She says people from all races may have forgotten their ancestry, but she says the inspiration targets African American children who may not know much about their family history prior to being brought to the United States.
"We all have a hole in our heart, and that's because we don't know, really, who we are," Kinsey says. "And that's not just Black folks. It's white people, too. The more you begin to know that and understand that the more you can begin to stand a little taller, become more empowered, more confident, and it shows."
She says the exhibit represents the "intersection between art and history" and shows a narrative that lets people track African American history from the 16th century through slavery, emancipation and the civil rights movement.
Kinsey says African Americans were ironworkers, artists, and storytellers, but she says their contributions were written out of history. She says she hopes the exhibit helps African Americans learn their history and can show all races that some people are still treated differently based on how they look.
"Privilege is here whether you want it or not," she says. "It's like being born on third base and thinking you hit a home run because you didn't have to go through the steps to get that far."
The exhibit includes bills of sale and legal papers dating the slave trade, early copies of the Dred Scott decision and Emancipation Proclamation, art and literature from the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, and items from the civil rights movement and March on Washington in 1963.
The exhibit will remain at the African American Museum in Dallas until March 1, 2020.
