Histo A“When Colin Powell, one of our Freedom Award recipients, came through the museum, he said he and his wife could hardly make it … because they almost broke down in tears,” recalls Robertson. “It causes you to reflect on how far we’ve come … and the tremendous amount of pain, suffering and death that it took to get us where we are today.” For many, discovering Black history becomes a personal journey toward understanding one’s self and society. It causes profound
introspection—and this experience can occur in hundreds of
museums across the nation, from
Washington, D.C., to Detroit to
downtown Los Angeles.
“nyone who lived through the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. almost can’t come through the National Civil Rights Museum because the event is so vivid in your mind. It’s chilling. You almost relive some of what you yourself may have experienced in those days,” says President
Beverly Robertson, referring to the historically significant Lorraine Motel in
Memphis where the slain civil-rights leaders spent his last day.
“Instead of Black History being
recognized one month out of the
year, it’s something that needs
to be recognized throughout the
year,” says Robertson. “And I
think [Black history museums] are
particularly significant because
you must remember that so much
African-American history, so much
history about the civil-rights move-
ment and the accomplishments of
African Americans, are not studied
Not only are individuals taking
tours through Black history muse-
ums for the educational experience,
corporations are getting involved
as well because Blacks, Latinos
and Asians make up 34 percent of
the nation’s work force, accord-
ing to the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission. And
corporate leaders need to be more
knowledgeable about and sensi-
tive to the cultural backgrounds of
employees to recruit, develop and
retain all talent.
As a result, organizations,
including several on The 2009
DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for
Diversity® list, are financially supporting these institutions, sitting
on their boards and utilizing their
facilities for diversity training and
annual meetings to take diversity
management to the next level.
BLACK
HISTORY:
WHAT
DOES I T
MEAN?
National Civil
Rights Museum
www.civilrightsmuseum.org
Room 306 at the National Civil Rights Museum’s Lorraine Motel
The National Civil Rights Museum chronicles major episodes of the civil-rights movement, from the early 1600s when African slaves first arrived, to the Civil War, to the formation of Black organizations, to the passage of the
13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and, later, the Voting
Rights Act and integration of Little Rock High School.
Attracting about 200,000 visitors annually, including
Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and former President Bill
Clinton, the Lorraine Motel was originally owned by a Black
couple and was “one of the only places in the ’60s where
African Americans could go and not have a problem check-
ing in,” says Robertson. Two of the most popular exhibits
include the interactive Montgomery bus, in which visitors
are ordered to “move to the back of the bus,” and Room
306, known as the “King” room.
Courtesy of the National Civil Rights Museum
52 DiversityInc
