Hidden gem in Prince George's County
Just a few of the pieces on display at the Prince George's African-American History Museum & Cultural Center. If you're local, you should definitely stop by. The museum is off the beaten path and away from all the crowds and traffic, about five minutes outside of D.C. on Rhode Island Avenue.
A piece from the Imar Hutchins "Sacred Cow" exhibit currently on display in the museum.
The scythe is a tool used to cut brush or wheat. This scythe belonged to Prince George's County resident Arthur Blackmon. It was purchased by his grandmother Almetta Blackmon in the mid to lat 1940s. The family farmed in the Capitol Heights area.
These call letters adorned the offices of Radio One's headquarters when it was located in Prince George's County in Lanham, Maryland. WOL is the flagship station of Radio One, a corporation founded by Cathy Hughes and Dewey Hughes in 1980 in Washington, DC. They currently own several dozen radio stations as well as TV One and the social networking site BlackPlanet.com.
Cathy Hughes in her broadcasting days. WOL was her second stop on the radio dial and the first station she purchased. Her first stop was at WHUR in 1973, where she increased the station's revenue from $250,000 to $3 million in her first year and created the Quiet Storm format that featured laid back soul and R&B hits that appealed to single people on Friday and Saturday nights. The Quiet Storm format spread from WHUR to stations across the country and changed urban radio forever. To this day, the Quiet Storm begins on WHUR each evening with Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm" that inspired the format and gave it its name. If you didn't know this lady's name until now, please do some further reading on her. Cathy Hughes is to radio what Oprah Winfrey is to television. You can hear Ms. Hughes tell her story in her recently-recorded episode of NPR's "How I Built This" podcast.
A young Alfred Liggins working the phones at WOL.
The Lanham facility where the WOL sign originally hung.
This typewriter belonged to Upper Marlboro residing Vi Curtis White. White was a typist for the federal government until her retirement. Also displayed here is her typing training manual as well as certificates for training completion. The significance of this instrument is the way countless African-Americans were able to learn a skill and secure jobs in the federal government in this area.
This Singer Sewing machine belonged to Elmira M. Davis. Davis was a dressmaker and practical nurse, operating a custom dress and tailoring shop in North Brentwood. She was born in 1894 and moved to North Brentwood in 1924, where she resided until her passing in June 1977. The sewing machine was inherited by her granddaughter Edith Daley who learned to sew on it as a child.
"Go Go" by Tim Davis.
The Chocolate Cities exhibit space.
Ms. Chanel Compton, Executive Director for the museum. Art is definitely alive at the Prince George's African-American History Museum & Cultural Center! There's always great programming at museum, so join their mailing list and stay informed.
If you enjoyed this post, please like it and share it and explore the blog. There's lots more to see! I get asked regularly what camera I shoot with and what I recommend for beginning photographers, so I wrote a blog post about it. I shot these images with the Fuji X-T2.
