In Motion: The African American Migration Experience

At the National Heritage Museum, Lexington, MA

October 14, 2006 through February 25, 2007

The transatlantic slave trade has created an enduring image of black men and women as transported commodities, and is usually considered the most defining element in the construction of the African Diaspora.  It is, however, the centuries of additional movements that have given shape to the nation we know today. “In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience” explores the journeys of people of African descent who have not before been considered part of America's migratory tradition. The exhibition tells the story of the men and women forced out of Africa; of enslaved people moved to the Deep South; of fugitives walking to freedom across the country; of southerners migrating west and north, and of immigrants arriving from the Caribbean, South America and Africa. “In Motion” is on view at the National Heritage Museum from October 14, 2006 through February 25, 2007.

 “In Motion” presents a new interpretation of African-American history, one that focuses on the self-motivated activities of peoples of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds. Of the thirteen defining migrations that formed and transformed African America, only the transatlantic slave trade and the domestic slave trades were coerced—the eleven others were voluntary movements of resourceful and creative men and women, risk-takers in an exploitative and hostile environment. Their survival skills, efficient networks, and dynamic culture enabled them to thrive and spread, and to be at the very core of the settlement and development of the Americas. Their hopeful journeys changed not only their world and the fabric of the African Diaspora but also the Western Hemisphere.

These journeys did not originate in the east with the 1619 arrival of Africans in Jamestown, Virginia, as is commonly believed, but almost a century earlier, further south. Indeed, African-American history starts in the 1500s with the first Africans coming from Mexico and the Caribbean to the Spanish territories of Florida, Texas, and other parts of the South. And as early as 1526, Africans rebelled and ran away in South Carolina.

These precursors were followed by successive generations of runaways who did not confine themselves to running North and to Canada on the Underground Railroad as traditional history teaches us. With pragmatism and efficiency, they also moved south to Mexico, or to the Bahamas. They left the plantations and settled, secretly, in the urban centers of the South, or found refuge in the swamps and among Native populations.

Migration has been central in the making of African-American history and culture. The transatlantic slave trade was fundamental to the development of the colonial economy; and after the Revolution, the domestic slave trade was the engine that enabled the expansion of the cotton economy. In the twentieth century, black migrations from the South were crucial to America's urban industrial development. They transformed a southern, rural population into a national, urban one, and the black presence throughout the country has influenced American legal systems as well as social and cultural policies and practices.

Today's 35 million African Americans are heirs to all the migrations that have formed and transformed African America, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere. They represent the most diverse population in the United States, a population that has embraced its varied heritages created by millions of men and women constantly on the move, looking for better opportunities, starting over, paving the way, and making sacrifices for future generations.

"In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience" exhibition is organized by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library and sponsored by the National Heritage Museum.

The National Heritage Museum is dedicated to presenting exhibitions on a wide variety of topics in American history and popular culture.  The Museum is supported by the Scottish Rite Freemasons in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States. The Museum is located at 33 Marrett Road in Lexington, at the corner of Route 2A and Massachusetts Avenue.  Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am–5 pm, and Sunday, noon–5 pm.  Admission and parking are free. While on site visitors can explore the Heritage Shop and Courtyard Café.  For further information contact the Museum at 781-861‑6559 or visit our web site at www.nationalheritagemuseum.org.

Handled With Care: The Function of Form in Shaker Craft

November 18, 2006 through April 22, 2007

At the National Heritage Museum

 More than 150 stunning examples of the Shaker dedication to simplicity and function will be on display in the exhibition, “Handled With Care: The Function of Form in Shaker Craft,” at the National Heritage Museum, November 18, 2006  through April 22, 2007.
 
 From dustpans and brushes to baskets and buckets, the exhibition celebrates the beauty of everyday objects that are at once utilitarian, artful, and expressions of the Shaker faith. Many pieces included have a handle of some sort, demonstrating the usefulness of the objects and the care with which they have been “handled” since they were made. The handles show how these objects connected not only to Shaker ideas, but also to the real people who built and ran Shaker communities. Shelves, tables and chests on which these objects would rest or be stored will also be presented.
 
“Handled With Care” works to illustrate how the Shakers’ quiet devotion to purity and utility in all things, no matter how humble, created useful objects that, through their simplicity and efficiency, transcended their purpose to become acts of faith. It was their quest to live in a heaven on earth with a distinctive material world reflecting that duty. Spared from extraneous ornamentation seen in worldly goods, the functional objects made by Shaker hands are of clean lines and unexpected grace.
 
Round baskets of white ash, carriers of maple and pine, a deeply varnished hat form, iron work, and graceful table swifts for winding yarn are just a few of the objects on view.  The simplicity of the pieces, and the perfect connection between design and the task for which the objects were made, will allow the visitor to experience the grace and visual sensuality the Shakers brought to their day-to-day tasks.  The deeper significance of Shaker-made objects will also be explored.
 
The Shakers were founded in England in 1747, and they arrived in America in 1774. The tenets of the religion are based on the confession of sin, communal life, and celibacy.  Shakers also believe in gender equality, pacifism, and a dedication to creating heaven on earth. Today, four remaining Shakers live in Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
 
“Handled With Care” is drawn from the private collection of M. Stephen and Miriam Miller and the permanent collection of Hancock Shaker Village.  Before the exhibition opened at the Village in the spring of 2006, many of the objects had never been exhibited. The Museum is the only eastern New England venue.
 
A full-color exhibition catalogue, authored by collector M. Stephen Miller and Christian Goodwillie, Curator of Collections at Hancock Shaker Village, will be on sale in the Heritage Shop. The publication features several essays by the curators, and by noted Shaker scholar Glendyne Wergland.
 
The National Heritage Museum is dedicated to presenting exhibitions on a wide variety of topics in American history and popular culture.  The Museum is supported by the Scottish Rite Freemasons in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States. The Museum is located at 33 Marrett Road in Lexington, at the corner of Route 2A and Massachusetts Avenue.  Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am–5 pm, and Sunday, noon–5 pm.  Admission and parking are free.  While on site visitors can explore the Heritage Shop and Courtyard Café.  For further information contact the Museum at 781-861‑6559 or visit our web site at www.nationalheritagemuseum.org.