African-American History in Amherstburg Freedom Museum

It is always a pleasure and scintillating experience to visit some interesting places or attend some memorable events in order to not only have a sense of relaxation but also to develop a thorough understanding regarding several aspects of mankind and its history. With regards to the current assignment, I visited the Amherstburg freedom museum. The museum is popular for offering evidence for educating and inspiring the visitors on the history of the Black people (African-Americans) of the country. The museum provides numerous texts and artifacts which are critical to understanding the history of African-Americans in the country. Furthermore, the preserved records, evidence, and texts help the African-Americans to develop a critical understanding of their own historical backdrop from socio-economic, socio-cultural, and educational perspectives (Amherstburg Freedom Museum, 2017). The experience of visiting this experience provided me with a great source of knowledge and understanding regarding the history of African-Americans both in USA and Canada.

Melvin Simpson and his wife Betty were the first individuals to incorporate the Amherstburg freedom museum in 1975 (Kotsis, 2015). This particular data along with several other critical information regarding the museum was found from the museum archives as well as different writings. The founders had an aim of promoting and glorifying the historical context as well as the development of the African-Americans in the scenario of Canada. The museum also includes a church named as the Nazrey A.M.E. Church which was constructed by numerous slaves as well as independent black people (Kotsis, 2015). The museum occasionally arranges several different kinds of events and programmes. Recently, on 4th August,  the museum organized a critically successful event named as the Emancipation Gala Friday night (River Town Times, 2017). The event was arranged in order to celebrate the abolition of slavery through the conceptual introduction of the Slavery Abolition Act on 1st August, 1833 and the actual enforcement of that act exactly after one year (River Town Times, 2017). The event was attended by over 180 people most of whom were from the African-American origins (Harris, 2017). However, a number of other notable individuals including the president and the vice-president of the museum, the former curator of the museum, and several scholars and experts. It should be noted that the celebration of emancipation day started in the region of Windsor during the 1830s and the Amherstburg was one of those primary communities that started such a tradition of celebration (Harris, 2017). Therefore, this event was indeed remarkable not only from the perspectives of the African-Americans’ historical contexts but also as per the revival of one of the earliest celebration of emancipation. The event reiterated the fact that the Amherstburg freedom museum is dedicated toward providing service to diverse groups of African-Americans who might have adopted different cultural prospects but still match with each other regarding their historical backgrounds. The lectures and speeches presented during the event helped in assessing why and how exactly the museum was created, the main purposes of establishing the museum, the validity and reliability of the preserved documents or artifacts, and the significance of those materials in evaluating the history of African-Americans in both USA and Canada.

References

Amherstburg Freedom Museum. (2017). About the Amherstburg Freedom Museum. Amherstburg Freedom Museum. Retrieved 10 August 2017, from    https://www.amherstburgfreedom.org/about-the-amherstburg-freedom-museum.html

Harris, T. (2017). ‘The spirit is still here’ as emancipation celebrated in Windsor 183 years later. Windsor Star. Retrieved 10 August 2017, from https://windsorstar.com/news/local-            news/the-spirit-is-still-here-as-emancipation-celebrated-in-windsor-183-years-later

Kotsis, J. (2015). Amherstburg Freedom Museum to mark the 40th anniversary. Windsor Star.       Retrieved 10 August 2017, from https://windsorstar.com/news/amherstburg-freedom-       museum-to-mark-40th-anniversary.

River Town Times. (2017). Emancipation Gala presented by Amherstburg Freedom           Museum. River Town Times. Retrieved 10 August 2017, from https://rivertowntimes.com/emancipation-gala-presented-by-amherstburg-freedom-            museum/