Page 12 The Skanner January 11, 2017
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Museum
cont’d from pg 9
was Black, White, young,
older men and woman
who were there. But,
there was one young
woman, whose name was
Eileen, and she was very
important.”
Elliot said that Eileen
was just over 50 and she
really helped museum
staffers connect with the
elders in the community.
“It’s a hard history and
sometimes people don’t
want to talk about it, but
she helped us to get the
stories out,” said Elliot.
“She was a real dynamic
person.”
After taking the cabins
to Virginia for conser-
vation work and hosting
a listening session that
included Eileen and Ei-
leen’s grandmother, El-
liott learned that Eileen
died.
“She was younger than
the elders that she helped
get the stories from. Ei-
leen had so much ener-
gy and spirit and was so
passionate about the fact
that the story was being
told and correctly,” El-
liott said. “She may not
be here on the 24th when
this museum opens and
that’s heartbreaking, but
I smile because her spirit
will definitely be here.”
It’s been a long, ardu-
ous and incredible road
to get to the September
24 grand opening and
Elliott has helped to re-
search,
conceptualize
and design the “Slavery
and Freedom” inaugural
exhibition.
She also contributed
to the exhibition script,
consulted with expert
scholars, and identified
and secured collection
donations including the
antebellum slave cabin
that will be featured in
the museum, according
to the museum’s website.
A graduate of Howard
“
it that way, wow,’ and to
have them think a little
differently about their
approach to American
history and understand-
ing the African-Ameri-
can experience.”
Elliott has more than
20 years of experience in
researching and present-
ing African-American
history and culture. Her
personal research focus-
es on African-Americans
from antebellum slavery
through the Jim Crow
Era, with a specific con-
centration on migration
and community develop-
ment.
With a lifelong interest
in Black history, Elliott’s
‘I cannot wait for people to
see the museum not just as a
building, but to hear people
say about our history that, “I
never looked at it that way,
wow,” and to have them think
a little differently about
their approach to American
history and understanding
the African-American expe-
rience’
University and Catholic
University of Ameri-
ca’s Columbus School of
Law, Elliott helped pro-
duce local history exhib-
its in the Washington,
D.C. area and produced
several public history
programs.
Now, as the opening of
the historic museum rap-
idly approaches, Elliott
told the NNPA Newswire
what she’s most excit-
ed about and how she’s
handling all of the excite-
ment surrounding the
historic grand opening.
“I really appreciate
the collective effort to
get the story out and let
people know what they
are going to see before
they get here. People ask
me, ‘Are you excited?’
And, truthfully, I get
reflective,” said Elliott,
who has served as a con-
tractor and consultant
to various organizations
including the National
Visionary
Leadership
Project, the Association
for the Study of African
American Life and His-
tory, the Reginald Lewis
Museum of Maryland
African American His-
tory and the Humanities
Council of Washington,
D.C.
“I think about fami-
ly, relatives, ancestors,
those I knew personally
and those before them,”
Elliott said. “I think
about my church family
and my community and I
get so full, because I can-
not wait for people to see
the museum not just as a
building, but to hear peo-
ple say about our history
that, ‘I never looked at
extensive research re-
vealed that her own fami-
ly is connected to Booker
T. Washington, one of the
foremost African-Amer-
ican leaders of the late
19th and early 20th cen-
turies who founded the
Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute that
became Tuskegee Uni-
versity.
“I was really passionate
about the research I was
doing on my family and
then I realized that this
was even bigger,” said
Elliott. “I started to see
this amazing picture of
African-American lega-
cy and I found all of these
primary resources and
that really illuminated
it for me and I thought it
was as if someone took
our history, tore it up
into little pieces, and
blew it into the wind.”
Elliott continued: “You
had to go and track it
down and put these piec-
es back together and see
what the picture really
was.”
When first invited to
apply to work for the
new museum, Elliott ini-
tially scoffed at the idea.
“I was so deep into do-
ing my own research
and, in my background,”
she said, noting that her
paths could have taken
her elsewhere as she
holds a law degree and
she’s already passed the
Maryland Bar.
“[The museum] just
didn’t cross my mind. So,
when a friend of mine
asked me to apply, I was
like, ‘No,’ but then she
convinced me after about
a week,” Elliott said.
