Black History on Display at West Deptford Middle School

“I’m Ryan, and I’m going to teach you guys about slave auctions today.”

In one sentence, eighth-grader Ryan Weikel summed up in a nutshell what the Traveling African-American History Museum program was all about: students teaching others students about black history with the help of artwork, books and other pieces of history.

The West Deptford Middle School’s gymnasium was converted into an African-American history museum Monday as students were invited to view primary source documents, memorabilia, books and other artifacts from the African American Heritage Museum.

Sponsored by the West Deptford PTO and Student Government, the Black History Month event, known as the Traveling African-American History Museum, was open most of the day as groups of five or six students rotated between student-run stations.

As Weikel stood in front of the display of vintage photographs, slave auction posters and paintings a small group of fifth-graders walked toward him. He shook their hands, introduced himself to them, then gave an interactive two-minute presentation before the group rotated again.

All of the eighth-grade docents were ready for their respective groups, having researched the items on their own to prepare for the event.

“To be a presenter to your classmates has got to be one of the hardest jobs in the world,” said Ralph Hunter, founder and president of the African American Heritage Museum.

Hunter was interacting with students and docents alike, adding depth to the displays with his own knowledge and experience. He commented on the educational value of the display, in particular building the ever important skill of public speaking.

“No two students do exhibit number 10 the same way,” he provided as an example. “It’s up to them to put their heart and soul in it.”

The traveling museum, based in Newtonville, NJ, has been to more than 100 schools this year, according to Hunter.

“The purpose of the museum is to take items from the museum to schools,” he said. “When we come to a school like West Deptford Middle School, we can reach 500 students or more,” as opposed to having several dozen visit the museum itself. Hunter explained that this is also more cost-effective for schools.

After the school selects what pieces they want on display, students are chosen to be docents, or presenters, and they are put in charge of doing their own research on the particular items. None of the docents said that doing the research was particularly hard for them.

“I think the hardest part is repeating yourself,” said eighth-grade docent, Nick D’Ottavi, referring to giving the same presentation all day.

Emily Hoelbinger, a docent in charge of a pastel of Malcolm X and a framed photograph of Philadelphia-born opera singer Marian Anderson said, “The hardest part is getting the kids to be quiet.” 

It has been four years since West Deptford Middle School has hosted the traveling museum, said coordinator Monica Quinlan-Dulude, so it’s “new to all students.”

Quinlan-Dulude, a teacher of American History at WDMS described the event as being exciting for both her and the students.

“Bringing history alive is very important to me,” she said. “It’s better than books or a Power Point presentation.”

Some of her favorite items included Life magazine issues featuring Joe Louis and Mohammed Ali, since many of her students are into sports, and the primary source documents from the slavery era, since they were currently studying slavery in her class.

“They are really excited to be moving from station to station,” said eighth-grade American history teacher Jeanne Gasparovic. “For me, it’s the first year, but it’s awesome.”

Eighth-grade docent Jerico Mellet was in charge of Gasparovic’s favorite display of out-of-print books. Some of the books at his station, including a biography of Rosa Parks and the book Why We Can’t Wait  by Martin Luther King “show how they struggled, and remind us of what they went through,” said Mellet.

Grace Kresge was also affected by the experience. The well-informed eighth-grader researched the life of Billie Holiday for her presentation on an abstract painting of the jazz and blues singer. Before this, she had never listed to Holiday, but Kresge confessed that “she’s on my iPod now.”

Levi Lightcap was in charge of the out-of-print books section that included The Story of Little Black Sambo from 1898. He was interested in this book the most because of all the books it was the only fiction presented, and an interesting folk tale as well.

And the president of the African American Heritage Museum himself, Ralph Hunter, said that his favorite display was the famous Norman Rockwell painting of Ruby Bridges, but that his second favorite was of the Booker T. Washington and Grover Cleveland coins, because “nobody knows about these things.”

Thanks to him, the student docents, and a few dedicated teachers, a few hundred more students will know now.