Tomorrow, The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia will officially reopen its doors to the public at its new location at the Leigh Street A
Tomorrow, The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia will officially reopen its doors to the public at its new location at the Leigh Street Armory, featuring two floors detailing the history of African Americans in Virginia.
The 12,000 square-foot space at 122 W. Leigh St. spans two floors with interactive, permanent and traveling exhibits.
The first floor will showcase all permanent exhibitions such as artifacts and panels highlighting emancipation, Reconstruction and Civil Rights eras. It will also include 46-inch interactive touchscreens. The Woolworth Luncheonette booths and counter seats where protesters broke barriers of segregation in the 1960s can be found in the museum’s lobby.
The Civil Rights room covers Brown v. Board of Education, Massive Resistance and Desegregation.
One of its features will be an abstract interpretation of the Emancipation Oak found on Hampton University’s campus.
This will be the reopening of the Black History Museum, which according to Museum Director Tasha Chambers, served as a cultural institution for African American history to the community.
“For 34 years, the Black History Museum has been the only museum in Richmond focused on telling and preserving African American history in Virginia,” said Chambers in a release. “We are charged with telling that story as it was central in shaping America’s history.”
In a recent conversation, Chambers told RVA Mag the new museum’s use of interactive space to showcase exhibitions allow them to make stand out among the other museums in the area.
“The use of technology makes it unique,” she said. “Most of our information, our text is held on digital screens, 40-inch touch screen monitors.”
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia’s second floor will feature nationally recognized traveling exhibitions including “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution” when the museum opens which will showcase more than 50 vibrant pieces of 1970s animation art. The exhibition will run from May to August.
In September, a traveling Romare Bearden exhibition, “Vision to Activism,” will replace the Funky Turns 40 exhibition and runs through December. Bearden was arguably the greatest African American artist of the 20th century and his collages will attract visitors from Virginia and the east coast.
A multimedia research room opening later in the year will allow visitors to explore their genealogy.
“That’s coming later in the year, we’re still programming that,” she said.
Renovations to the Leigh Street Armory began in 2014 by developer The M Companies with Baskervill serving as the project’s architect.
The building was originally constructed in 1895 and served as the base for the First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Infantry, Richmond’s first African American regiments. Through the years, the property also was used as temporary housing, a recreational hall for African American troops during World War II and a school until the 1950s.
“I think the different type of uses have always been a community resource for Black Americans,” Chambers said.
Total cost of the renovations for the new museum were less than $8 million according to Chambers.
Established in 1981 by Carroll Anderson Sr., the original Black History Museum opened to the public in 1991, at its old location, 00 E. Clay St, in Jackson Ward.
Chambers said the new, bigger location at 122 W. Leigh St., will give them the opportunity to feature more exhibits and bring nationally recognized ones to the community.
“The old museum is about 5,000-square-feet,” she said. “The new museum will allow us more space to showcase exhibitions and attract high-profile exhibitions because of the additional space and the climate controlled galleries, which is unique to the new museum. Also, the new museum has a ramp and elevator for people with disabilities.”
She added the museum has included a cafe with Wifi for people to come and hang out.
With its interactive features on the first floor and traditional works on the second, Chambers said this museum is an institution that will attract younger and older audiences.
“This will be appealing to younger audiences who have grown up in a digital world,” she said. This will allow them to get up close and personal with the history. While most of the exhibitions are displayed using digital technology, the second floor is more traditional with actual hanging art work. It’s a happy medium for both audiences.”
She mentioned the museum will also host a jazz and poetry night which she hopes will bring in a new group of people.
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia will officially open tomorrow, Tuesday May 10th at its new location at the Leigh Street Armory at 122 W. Leigh St. The museum will be open 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday and on Sundays by appointment only. Admission costs $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students with IDs, $6 for children 3-12 years old and children 2 and under are free.
