Black history mobile comes to MCC
7,000 curated history items displayed
John O’Brien
MesaCC Legend
For Khalid el-Hakim, black history is not confined to one month. With help from his Black History 101 Mobile Museum, el-Hakim flies across the country, in an effort to share his collection of artifacts and treasures relating to black culture and history to different institutions and schools. “I go to a national conference called NCORE on race and ethnicity in higher education. There I met Luis B. Ellis Jr. and we thought it was a great opportunity for the students at Mesa Community College.” El-Hakim displayed some of the 7,000 curated items with students and faculty of Mesa Community College February 2nd. “I hope people find examples of artifacts in the exhibit that resonate with them so they will research on their own and share with others,” el-Hakim said.
In addition to this impressive collection, Professor Griff, a rapper, and member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy lends his voice to this museum as a public speaker during certain showings. El-Hakim, the museum founder, started collecting memorabilia and antiquities relating to African American culture as a social studies teacher in Detroit. He would use the artifacts to supplement and enrich the learning experience of his students in the class. He felt black people are underrepresented in history books, and the items would fill a gap left by the textbooks.
(See BLACK, page. 2)
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