WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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The City of Bloomington will host the Black History 101 Mobile Museum from 9 a.m. to noon on September 11th at City Hall at 401 North Morton Street.
The museum will feature a collection of 7,000 artifacts of Black memorabilia dating from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era to hip-hop culture. This collection was founded and curated by Dr. Khalid el-Hakim, a keynote speaker at the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
WFHB News spoke with James Sanders, chair of the City of Bloomington Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. Sanders describes the artifacts as “jarring” and “polarizing,” but he still believes it is important for our community to acknowledge this difficult history.
“That’s important to display,” says Sanders. “That’s important for people to see where things came from, how they progressed, contrasting to how things are now.”
Listen to the full interview to hear Sanders outline his view of the importance of having a museum in this community dedicated to Black history, Covid-19 safety measures the museum will put into place, event partners and sponsors and more.
