Africa400 explores the topic “Diaspora Museums; The Return of Memory, Heritage, & Culture” on Wednesday, June 23.  Hosts Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty speak with several important directors and curators of African Diaspora Museums in the United States and the African Motherland.

JILCHRISTINA VEST, The Mini Museum of the Black Panther Party @ The Mural

Jilchristina Vest bought her home over 20 years ago in the heart of West Oakland to be surrounded by the revolutionary legacy of the Black Panther Party. Beginning in June 2020, Vest assembled a team to install a 2,000-square-foot mural on the exterior walls of her house to honor these Oakland humanitarians. Located on the corner of Center Street and Dr. Huey P. Newton Way, the mural is the first and only public monument recognizing the Women of the Black Panther Party.

Through the museum and mural, viewers are introduced to the fierce women of the Black Panther Party, the real story of who the Black Panthers were, and details on the over 60 Community Survival Programs they created – like free schools, free clinics, free food and free breakfast for children. This project celebrates Oakland’s history, the proud birthplace of these humanitarians. This project does not depict Black grief; it evokes Black Joy. It does not depict the oppressed; it celebrates our freedom fighters. It does not memorialize what has been done to us; it celebrates what we can do for ourselves.

The Mural, Mini Museum, and Community Center are unapologetically in honor of and for Black women. Because, like all things, anything that benefits and uplifts Black women automatically uplifts the entire community.

ERICKA HUGGINS, The Mini Museum of the Black Panther Party @ The Mural

Ericka Huggins, former Black Panther party member, served as a mentor on the mural dedicated to the women of the Black Panther party.

The mural memorializes the party’s creed, “Serve the People, Body and Soul”, as well as a quote from Huggins: “Love is an expression of power. We can use it to transform our world.”

The Mini Museum of the Black Panther Party @ The Mural opened on Juneteenth, June 19, 2021, at 831 Center St., Oakland, CA. It’s open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. https://westoaklandmuralproject.org.

DAVID I. MUIR, Island SPACE Caribbean Museum

David I. Muir is a photo artist, author, entrepreneur and community leader living in South Florida.

He is also co-founder and President of the Board of Directors at Island SPACE, a nonprofit organization that promotes excellence in arts and culture projects representing the Caribbean in South Florida and the extended diaspora.

The first Caribbean museum in the U.S., the Island Caribbean Museum SPACE is an acronym for the Society for the Promotion of Artistic and Cultural Education.

The museum takes visitors through the history of the region beginning with the indigenous Taino people. It explores the impacts of colonization and slavery on the Caribbean before diving into the region’s contributions to sports, music and even South Florida politics.

“We’ve come through the decimation of our indigenous people, we’ve come through colonialism, we’ve come through slavery to emancipation to all the different parts of what has developed our culture,” Muir said. “ It’s a fighting spirit. It’s a spirit of excellence.”

Island SPACE Caribbean Museum, 8000 Broward Blvd Plantation; 417-812 5663, https://islandspacefl.org.

ESTHER ARMSTRONG, Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures

Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures is a privately owned children’s museum in Baltimore. It was founded in 2016 in an effort to enrich and inspire Baltimore’s urban community’s cultural desert. Our permanent collection of African art complements changing exhibits on a variety of African countries, ethnic groups, and traditions.

Esther Armstrong has lived and worked in the Maryland area for over 30 years. Esther has always believed deeply in Marcus Garvey’s quote, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” She is respectfully known as “Mama Kiki,” in the cultural community.

The museum is the lauded as the first of its kind in the United States dedicated to educating and inspiring African American children—and their families—to reconnect with their past, as well as teach the public about an often forgotten and misunderstood history.

“The idea is to give people some fundamental information about Africa,” Armstrong says. “We want to let these children know about ancient civilizations, but also take them into modern Africa.”

The Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures is located at 4330 Pimlico Road, Baltimore, MD 21215. For information about museum hours and visits, call 443-708-7046, or visit https://sankofakids.org.

KOJO YANKAH, Pan-African Heritage World Museum

Kojo Yankah having grown up in Ghana during the Kwame Nkrumah era, and having been involved in Pan Africanist activities including chairing the PANAFEST in Ghana for 10 years, and having had the privilege of being Board Chairman of the Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust for another 10 years, Yankah considers it a sacred obligation at this time in world history to create and lead a team to spearhead the establishment of a Pan African Heritage World.

This Heritage World will include a Museum, a Herbal Plant Farm, an African Cultural Village depicting all great African Kingdoms, a Conference Center, and Grounds for African Festivals – indeed a rare space for historical enlightenment, a spiritual upliftment, and irrepressible inspiration, located appropriately in Ghana, the beacon of African liberation.

In establishing the African University College of Communications in Ghana in 2002, Yankah was reminded by some of the nuggets in our ancestral wisdom: ‘A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture are like a tree without roots’, and more pointedly ‘Until the lions have their historians, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter’.

The Pan-African Heritage World Museum will be opening in 2022. https://pahw.org/

Listen to the June 23 broadcast here:

Africa400 broadcasts live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the show airs, the audio is made available on the HANDRadio Podcasts Page, as well as the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).