“Black history is American history, and we want to give people a thorough understanding of how broad and deep our contributions to society have been,” said Dr. Khalid el-Hakim, founder of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.
Western Carolina University and DegreePlus hosted the Black History 101 Mobile Museum on Feb. 3 to provide a one-day-only exhibit and lecture to start Black History Month.
Through the Museum, el-Hakim hopes to inspire others to educate themselves about the less pleasant parts of American history.
“We want to see students to be able to be inspired to go do their own research and see this connection that goes across communities, and we want everyone to be inspired by this experience,” el-Hakim said.
The Museum celebrates 30 years of educating Americans this year. In those 30 years, the Museum has been to over 1000 institutions and 43 states.
The event featured a displayed selection of the Museum’s extensive collection of photographs, newspapers and other artifacts spanning chronologically from the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Attendees had the chance to talk with el-Hakim as they walked around the displays.
El-Hakim personally collected many of the over 10000 items in the Museum’s collection. The items have been sourced from antique shops, bookstores, garage sales and even souvenir shops across the country.
During the crowded open lecture, el-Hakim walked the audience through American history, pointing out pivotal moments that shaped protests, politics, and the arts. Throughout the lecture, el-Hakim pointed out gaps in the audience’s American history education by asking questions about important Black historical figures/movements that people were unable to answer.
“We need to know that Black people have sacrificed their lives and we are the ones who breathe life into these values, these ideas that we supposedly hold sacred in 2025. Alright? We should know these things, but for us to be in college today and not know basic history things is very, very telling in terms of where we are as a society.”
El-Hakim ended the lecture with a warning and call to action from the audience in light of the current political climate.
“There are places that have wanted to invite me and then have pulled out because of what is going on right now. People are afraid of losing their jobs. There is no guarantee that next year I will be invited back to a space like this, there’s no guarantees on this. This is our moment as the people, as Americans, when we see an injustice, we have to speak up and speak out about it. Because you think it’s bad now, trust me, it can get a lot worse. You see how fast this happened. In the past couple of weeks, think about how much things have changed so fast. It can get a lot worse,” said el-Hakim.
Story originally published in The Sylva Herald Feb. 5 edition
