At DuSable Museum, Every Month Is Black History Month
(CBS) – For more than 50 years, Chicago's DuSable Museum has been preserving the story of Americans of African descent.
CBS 2's Harry Porterfield pays a visit in honor of Black History Month.
The museum is named for Chicago's first settler, a black merchant named Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. The Hyde Park attraction is one of the first and oldest institutions of its kind in the country; 200 African-American museums have followed its lead.
Dr. Carol Adams is president and CEO.
"The mission of the DuSable Museum is to collect preserve and exhibit artifacts and archival information that chronicle the history and contributions of Americans of African descent," she tells Porterfield.
Among the most popular permanent exhibits is a presentation about the late Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor.
A visiting exhibit, "Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow," tells the story of Jewish professors who were welcomed at black colleges after leaving Germany to avoid Nazi persecution during world war two.
"This exhibition brings together people who were mutually oppressed," Adams says.
The DuSable Museum was founded in 1961 by Dr. Margaret Burroughs and her husband, Charles.
"Her idea was: Do something that lasts, something that tells our children who they are, and why they are, and how great they can be," Adams says.
Click here for more information about the museum.