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Vineland African American Heritage Museum
Welcome to

• The Carl V. Arthur Center
• Vineland, New Jersey
• Dr. Virginia Perry
• New Jersey Youth Corps

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Confinement

• At the threshold of the museum
• directly to your right is the
• confinement exhibit.
• African people were captured
• and stolen in mass from their
• motherland and packed into ships
• for the long journey to the Americas.
• Step into the box and feel what it
• might been like to be confined for
• months upon months without bathing,
• without toilet privileges, and having to
• live in your own others filth.

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The extra large tracks from Confinement into the
middle of the room are indicative of the
Underground Railroad, which was a system of
people working together to set up safe places
and hideouts to help slaves flee slavery, and
walk to freedom. Situated on the Cohansey River
not far from the Delaware Bay, conductors led
the way across the 30 miles of water in the Bay
to safe places in Greenwich.
Follow the Tracks to Freedom
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Signs, Symbols, and Hideouts

• Smashing the shackles of slavery meant breaking
  the
• Southern slave holders called those
• involved in abolition and the UGRR
• "Organized Thieves".
• A system of signs, symbols and unique
• Hideouts became a way of life for
• both the abolitionists and the fugitives.
• Messages hidden in quilt squares
• indicated the routes to follow.
• Quilts were one of many of the ways
• that veiled, covert, messages were given to those
  who
• traveled the Underground Railroad.

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Bandanas

• For the African-American, the bandanna may be the
  of the
• present day du-rag. It was designed to be
  utilitarian for
• cowboys and field hands.
• The bright colors of the bandanna
• signify the original method of
• coloring cotton or silk.
• The size of the square of cloth was
• 35" by 35" and it was as much a part
• of dress as pants or boots.
• It had many uses.

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Black Cowboys

• The Black cowboy existed long before American
  slavery.
• Many Africans tended large herds of cattle. As
  slave owners
• America learned that these men had these skills
  and abilities, a
• number of them bought Africans and took them to
  places
• like Texas, Louisiana, Alabama,
• South Carolina, and Florida.
• Several of these so-called Black Cowboys
• fled the plantations and settled in the
• northern parts of Mexico, where they
• traded their skills for lessons in riding and
  roping from
• Vaqueros. Large numbers also joined with tribes
  of
• Native Americans.

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Rattlesnake

• This sculpture portrays one
• the many hidden and
• apparent dangers cowboys,
• including Black ones, faced
• the range.
• A cattle driver had to
• continuously be on guard.

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The Empty Cross symbolizes hope in God's
resurrection It is a metaphor for the bigger
picture of everlasting life in the presence of
God the Father and Christ the Son. The
significance of the African-American Church is
ultimate. The church is the oldest black
American institution outside of family. African
roots are steeped in tribal-spiritual beliefs.
The value of this belief system translated to
American shores and kept the tie that binds us.
The Cross andThe African-American Church
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Dioramas
The Dioramas placed around the room are
replications of egg scenes which were popular in
the 19th and 20th centuries. The egg scenes
represent fugitive slaves moving toward
freedom. In the boxed scenes the themes are
Homesteading and Patriotism. The concept carries
the assumption that we who are of African
descent also hold a stake in America and we
are willing to invest in our homeland. All of
these factors played a great part in
African-American life.
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African-American Homelife

• Homelife was of utmost importance because home
  was more
• than just shelter. Owning land and a
• home signified a share in America and
• the promise of a better life.
• Home was the place where
• there was relative safety. It was a respite
• from the worries of the day, a place to
• kick back and relax, and a refuge from
• heat and cold.
• Home was a spot to regroup, refresh,
• and appreciate family. Home was also
• a place to refuel with the harvest of the
• fruit of the land. And it was a resting place.

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Grandma's Attic

• Grandma's attic was a secret place of fun and
  imaginative
• process. Hidden in the upper reaches of
• the house it held treasures for youngsters
• to explore, pretend, and play with.
• "Dress up" was the most popular past
• time on a rainy or snowy day. The attic
• held odors that spoke of days gone by.
• Old military uniforms, Sunday dresses,
• mens suits, a wedding dress, other
• interesting clothing, a dressmaker's form,
• shoes, old pictures and picture frames,
• and trunks filled with toys and other
• items of interest for little hands to touch.
• Grandmas attic was a safe, happy place at the
  top of the

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Education

• By penalty of law a slave could not be taught to
  read. If a slave
• knew how to read, it was kept secret. Some slave
  owners
• thought that if a slave was illiterate,
• he was kept in bondage, and more easily
• controlled.
• With the help of some compassionate
• whites, and the slave's desire to learn, a
• number of fugitives and freemen became
• literate.
• In newly formed African-American
• Communities learning to read was of
• great importance, and churches often supported
  schools.
• Springtown and Gouldtown both had schools.
  Reading and
• writing were the heart of the curriculum for the
  free black settlers.

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The Welcome Table

• African-American slaves never had the opportunity
  to sit at the
• table with the master to eat they were not
  welcomed, although
• their hands had grown, harvested and
• prepared the food and drinks.
• In one of the old Negro Spirituals this
• concept of being able to sit at the table
• was reflected. In heaven Blacks will sit at
• the welcome table and will enjoy a
• sumptuous feast that the Master has
• prepared for us.
• This particular table has no head or foot
  indicating that everyone
• who sits here is equal. One of the tenants of
  Christianity says that
• there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free,
  male or female, but
• we are all One in Christ Jesus.

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The Military

• African-Americans have participated in every
  American war
• since the Revolution, in fact an African-American
  from
• New Jersey, Crispus Attucks, was the first to be
  murdered on the
• night of March 5, 1770.
• Altogether five citizens of Boston
• died when eight British soldiers
• fired on a large and unruly
• crowd that was menacing them.
• Boston's patriots, led by
• Sam Adams, immediately
• labeled the fray the
• Boston Massacre and hailed its
• victims as martyrs for liberty.
• Take time to look through the book on the
  MILITARY

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Lady Liberty

• African Americans hold the position
• of being a people who came to
• North American shores in chains
• by way of slave ships.
• Few, if any, came by way of
• Ellis Island as the masses of
• immigrants from Europe did.
• Consequently, Lady Liberty
• does not hold the same significance
• for us as it does for others, and
• certainly her inscription does not
• have the same impact on a people who were brought
  by force
• to this new, foreign, contentious land.

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Patriotism It's My Flag, Too

• Although America has not treated
• us very well, African Americans
• are patriotic.
• The tie to Africa having been almost
• completely and traumatically
• severed, America is the only homeland
• later generations have ever known.
• African-Americans have bled,
• fought and died, and been buried
• in her soil. We have made extreme
• sacrifices for her. And we continue
• to invest ourselves in America.
• We seek to live productive lives,
• we buy houses and land, we work, we pay taxes.
• Our families are rooted here. They probably will
  grow up here
• and die here. We are American patriots.

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Toward the center of the room you see a worn out
bridge that spans a small river. The bridge
represents obstacles along the route to
freedom. Under cover of night, a slave would
have crossed the river at its most narrow place.
The other center stage exhibit is called
Freighted to Freedom. An African-American man
had himself boxed with the help of a white friend
in Richmond, Virginia. He was freighted by wagon
to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent
twenty-six hours in the box.
Bridge Out
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Freighted to Freedom

• In 1849, After his family had been sold
• away, Henry Brown Enlisted the help
• of a white friend who had him crated
• in a box 2 feet by 3 feet.
• Brown pressed his 200 pound frame
• into the box along with a few biscuits
• and some water.
• He was shipped from
• Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia.
• The trip, by boat, by wagon and by
• train took 26 hours.
• Some of the time Brown was traveling on his head
  and shoulders.

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The Big Dipper and North Star

• Look up. The Big Dipper is part of a larger
  constellation known
• as Ursa Major, or The Great bear. The Big Dipper,
  also known as
• the Drinking Gourd, was a very important
• part of the Underground Railroad.
• There were songs spread among the slaves
• that veiled a message with references to
• The Drinking Gourd. Fugitives were told
• to follow it to get to a better life.
• The North Star, called Polaris, is said to be
• the brightest star in the heavens. Polaris
• has been used for navigation because it is
• positioned at the North Celestial pole and
• remains stationary in the heavens.
• All other stars in the Northern Hemisphere rotate
  around it.

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Closing and Credits

• The fossils on the corner stand
• were taken from sea and land
• not far from Jersey shores. The
• pottery pieces, made by the
• Lenni Lenape, were
• uncovered near Greenwich.
• The Library is available to you
• as an on site reading library.
• Unfortunately, it is not set up
• to be a lending library.

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• The History Quilt is a gift from Mrs. D. K. Smith
  at the
• Johnstone School in Vineland. It is the product
  of a
• joint effort by students, parents, teachers, and
  friends

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Vineland African American Heritage Museum
Thank You for Visiting

• Enjoy Your Journey!