Inside Atlanta's Apex Museum, Gen Z interns help bring history to life for a new generation

The Apex Museum, Atlanta's oldest African American museum, is buzzing with a new energy from a group of Gen Z interns. 

One of them is Kyler Hendricks, a Georgia State University student who spends her days suited in white gloves as she cleans, catalogs, and captures photos for the museum's digital archive.

One of the standout exhibits where Hendricks works is the Yates and Milton drugstore, a replica of one of the first Black-owned pharmacies in Georgia. Originally located on Auburn Avenue, the exhibit is filled with authentic artifacts not modern props. 

Hendricks points out decades-old medical records and prescription pads that belonged to prominent local families, including the King family. 

She explains that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his relatives were frequent visitors to the original store, which functioned much like a modern-day CVS or Walgreens by providing a wide variety of essential goods to the community.

Kendricks gives us a tour of the exhibit. 

"This one actually specifically was on Auburn Avenue. Everything that you see in here is authentic. These are not props that we got from like Temu or Amazon. She then shows decades-old medical records and a prescription pad. "These are medical records and some of them we did have to give back to the families, like for example, the King family," she said.

Apex Museum co-founder Dan Moore Jr. expresses great pride in the program. 

"Each intern follows a specific track tailored to their scholastic abilities and career goals." 

Under Moore's direction, interns like Hendricks are learning the intricate work of curating exhibits, such as the Invention Corridor. This hands-on experience allows students to cultivate new skills while deepening their understanding of the past.

The partnership is also proving beneficial for the museum's outreach efforts, as the interns help translate historical milestones for a younger audience. 

Moore highlights how the museum connects the technology of today, such as TikTok, Instagram, and video games, to the work of pioneers like Dr. Valerie Thomas. By explaining how Thomas's work with concave mirror transmitters laid the foundation for modern 3D technology and gaming, the museum makes historical achievements feel relevant to the "Oculus" generation.

While this year's cohort includes a diverse mixture of future archivists, conservators, anthropologists, researchers, and archaeologists, they all start with the same foundational task. 

Regardless of their final career path, every intern's first assignment is learning to be a docent, mastering the art of guiding visitors on a tour.