National Great Blacks In Wax Museum

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The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum is a wax museum in Baltimore, Maryland featuring prominent African-American and other black historical figures. It was established in 1983, in a downtown storefront on Saratoga Street.^[1] The museum is at 1601 East North Avenue in a renovated firehouse, a Victorian Mansion, and two former apartment dwellings that provide nearly 30,000 square feet (3,000 m²) of exhibit and office space. The exhibits feature over 100 wax figures and scenes, including: a full model slave ship exhibit which portrays the 400-year history of the Atlantic Slave Trade, an exhibit on the role of youth in making history, and a Maryland room highlighting the contributions to African American history by notable Marylanders.^[2] The museum's co-founder, Dr. Joanne Martin, describes the importance of preserving Black history in this way, stating: 'everything else, it seems like a movie if you don't have a sense of exactly what people were fighting against.'^[3]

History

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The National Great Blacks in Wax museum is Baltimore's first wax museum and the first wax museum of African American history in the nation. The museum was started as a grassroots operation by Dr. Elmer Martin and his wife Dr. Joanne Martin.^[4]

The idea of blacks in wax started with a few wax figures that were taken around to various schools, community centers, and malls. The museum was originally sponsored exclusively by Dr. Elmer Martin, his wife Dr. Joanne Martin, and donations from the community. In the early days, Dr. Elmer Martin was forced to ask his wife to sell her wedding ring to keep the moving exhibit going. However, it received national recognition in 1983 when the founding members were allotted grants, loans, and endowments to open a permanent exhibition. In 1988, Blacks in Wax received its permanent home on the 1600 block of North Avenue in the neighborhood of Oliver.

The site was originally home to a firehouse that was converted into a showhouse. In 2004, The Blacks in Wax Museum was recognized by the U.S. Congress as the "Nation's first wax museum presenting the history of great Black Americans" and subsequently became The National Blacks in Wax Museum.^[5]

People featured in museum

[edit]

The following people have been depicted at the museum:

References

[edit]

^ "National Great Blacks In Wax Museum". www.greatblacksinwax.org. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
^ "National Great Blacks In Wax Museum". www.greatblacksinwax.org. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
^ "B.A. Parker, This American Life Episode 627: 'Suitable for Children: History is Not a Toy (Act Two)' National Public Radio (6 October 2017)".
^ "National Great Blacks In Wax Museum". www.greatblacksinwax.org. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
^ "National Great Black Americans Commemoration Act of 2004, S. 1233,108th Cong. (2004)".

Sources

[edit]

National Blacks in Wax Museum. Accessed November 30, 2010.
"National Great Blacks In Wax Museum." Accessed November 30, 2010.
Wood, M. (2009), 'Slavery, Memory, and Museum Display in Baltimore: The Great Blacks in Wax and the Reginald F. Lewis. Curator: The Museum Journal, 52: 147–167. 2001.

39°18′42″N 76°35′49″W / 39.3118°N 76.59687°W / 39.3118; -76.59687

External links

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National Great Blacks In Wax Museum - Official site
Great Blacks in Wax Museum on Google Street View

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History and historic houses	Adkins Historical Museum Baltimore Museum of Industry Banneker-Douglass Museum Barbara Fritchie House and Museum Beall–Dawson House Belair Mansion Belair Stable Museum Benson–Hammond House Bowman House Button Farm Living History Center Clara Barton National Historic Site Carroll County Farm Museum Carroll Mansion Costen House Cray House Darnall's Chance Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum Evergreen Museum & Library Furnace Town Girdletree Barnes Bank Government House Great Blacks in Wax Museum Hager House Hammond–Harwood House Hampton National Historic Site Hancock's Resolution His Lordship's Kindness Historic London Town Historic St. Mary's City Homewood Museum J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum Jerusalem Mill Village Julia A. Purnell Museum Kennedy Farm Ladew Topiary Gardens La Grange Plantation Laurel Museum Marietta House Museum Maryland Center for History and Culture Maryland State House Miller House Museum Montpelier Mansion Mother Seton House Mount Clare Museum House Mount Harmon Plantation Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm Pemberton Hall National Colonial Farm Poplar Hill Mansion Riversdale Rose Hill Manor Park & Children's Museum Schifferstadt Architectural Museum Smallwood State Park Sotterley Plantation Star Spangled Banner Flag House Steppingstone Museum Surratt House Museum Susquehanna State Park Taylor House Teackle Mansion Thomas Stone National Historic Site Tudor Hall (Bel Air, Maryland) Tudor Hall (Leonardtown, Maryland) Union Mills Homestead William Paca House & Garden
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Miscellaneous	Anne Arundel County Free School Christian Heritage Museum George Alfred Townsend Museum Mt. Zion One Room School National Museum of Language National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton St. Martin's Episcopal Church Museum Phoenix Shot Tower Sturgis One Room School Wye Grist Mill

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Authority control databases
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History

People featured in museum

See also

References

Sources

External links