Thursday, August 17, 2017

At The Kansas African American Museum


I prepared and scheduled this post late last Thursday night.  In light of what happened over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, this post takes on a very different feel as I read over it.  For those of you who live in countries other than the U.S., the town of Charlottesville was overrun with white supremacist and counter demonstrators engaged in open hand to hand combat for what some believed seemed like hours.  According to The Huffington Post:
The sounds of screams had mixed with the sounds of people coughing, their lungs full of mace. Tear gas canisters and rocks and full water bottles and bags of feces flew through the air. Blood stained the sidewalk.
The ugliness on display in Charlottesville should not surprise me, but unfortunately, it does.  If only we as human beings could respect both ourselves and others as we expect others to respect and treat us in turn.  I'm more than willing to listen to white supremacists, the avenging leftists, and the 3 per-centers spew their crap, because, as Americans, they have just as much right to express their views as I, but I won't stand for, or advocate violence.  So for now, I'm still going to show this post and hope no one firebombs my door or finds a way to put a virus on my computer.

We are headed to The Kansas African American Museum.  Please remember the links no longer open in a new window, so if you want to see the museum and return to this page, right click on the link.


Today I will share photos I took

back in early June.

I took this photo just outside the steps of the museum.  You can see the steps on the right.

The church, which is now the museum, is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It may be similar to the British National Trust, but I'm not sure.

The museum is primarily devoted to Black History.  However, this day, I was there to see a lecture on the similarities of Dwight David ("Ike") Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States and Barack ("Barry") Hussein Obama II, the 44th president of the United States.

After the lecture, I decided to take some photos, but everyone was reading the information.

I got very discouraged and headed to another room where I checked out the relics and African art on display.  I will share that tomorrow.  There were so many of these huge "billboards" (for lack of a better word), I apparently overlooked this one after I returned.  It showed information about Obama's mother before she and Obama's father were married.

The material they collected on both his mother and Obama was astounding.

However the focus of the lecture was on how similar a Republican (Conservative) president (Eisenhower) and a Democrat (Liberal) president (Obama) were so similar.  First, there was the Kansas connection.  As you can see, Obama's mother was born in Kansas and Eisenhower spent his childhood in Kansas.   Eisenhower's Presidential Library is also in Kansas.

Then there were other similarities, like how Eisenhower was responsible for starting NASA and how in 2010, Obama committed to increasing NASA funding by $6 billion (USD) over five years and completing the design of a new heavy-lift launch vehicle that begin construction that same year.  In response to concerns over job losses, Obama promised $40 million (USD) to help workers affected by the cancellation of the Space Shuttle program and Constellation program.

But possibly where the two were most comparable was that Eisenhower created the Civil Rights Act of 1957 which was a voting rights act.  Had it not been passed, Obama may never have been elected president, or even won the primary.

This carnival used to be a big deal in El Dorado, (a town 20 miles east of Wichita).  Kafir Corn was synonymous with a sorghum product.   

Obama's great aunt was one of the "fair maids."  However, it fell out of favor because of the negative connotations involved, as well as the fact that Kansas began growing wheat instead of sorghum, which is now grown mostly in southeast Kansas.  The sorghum is shown behind the faces of the queen and her maids.

I'll let you peruse the remainder of the photos at your discretion.  If Obama interests you, feel free to read about his early life onward.  Unfortunately, I missed a LOT of the information because there was so much to see and read.









































Here was where I returned to the now thinning crowd to try to see more of Obama's life.  I know I missed a lot of his early life and heritage.





























This tells about the time Obama went to Africa and what little he knew about his father shown in the the photos on the left.









By now, the museum was preparing to close and I was trying to finally get a photo of the Kansas connection when a woman stepped right in front of me.  I couldn't win, so gave up trying.

Before I left, I managed to get a picture of one of the beautiful stained glass windows that surround the building.

Thanks for joining me as we learned a bit about the previous President of the United States and how, although their political parties were different, the two men (Eisenhower and Obama) were alike in many ways, and that included their Kansas connection.

14 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

This is a very interesting read. We waw the news about Charlottsville here, our news always features what has happened in the world and nor just domestic problems. What happened there was disgusting, Trump's reaction to it was even more so. Hugs, Valerie

chrissie said...

A great post Elizabeth with a reminder that we are all human beings and violence should never be the answer.

Our news was full of the events that took place as it always is when there is this sort of thing anywhere in the world.

Lots to see and read about the former President Thank you for sharing the pictures and words

Love Chrissie xx

Blogoratti said...

A really wonderful post, and what great similarities indeed, really heartwarming. I am sure you had a lovely time at the museum, it looks like an interesting place to visit. Thanks for sharing and greetings.

pearshapedcrafting said...

We were horrified by what went on in Charlottesville! Violence and bullying are not acceptable anywhere!!!
Thank you for this visit which I found very interesting! Hugs, Chrisx

nanskidrewski said...

Thank you Elizabeth for a great post. Love the stained glass window.

Neet said...

Thank you Elizabeth for such an interesting post. So full of things to read and see and something which I will come back to and re-read again.
Yes, violence is terrible - ugly! But your words take me back to my teaching days when the corridors were filled with litter and things did not seem to be being done about the way pupils left half eaten sandwiches in window sills, chewed apple skin on the floor etc. I just thought that we needed to each the pupils how to respect themselves and just maybe everything else would follow. If only .....
Hugs to you, squiggles and Bleubeard, Neet xx

froebelsternchen said...

We were horrified here as well by what went on there - a very interesting post
dear Elizabeth-
Thank you for sharing!
oxo Susi

CJ Kennedy said...

Sad to think that as old as our country is and amendments made to the Constitution, we haven't come as far as we should.

For a small museum, seems they packed a lot of information into the exhibit. Was interesting reading the comparisons between the two Presidents. Beautiful stained glass window in the museum.

My name is Erika. said...

I think this post is even more needed after the violence in Charlottesville. I didn't know that Obama's mother was from Kansas, nor that Eisenhower's library was there. I figured it was at Gettysburg by his home. And It looks like a fascinating exhibit. Can't wait to see the next installment. hugs-Erika

Meggymay said...

It was a really interesting post to read and the photos you shared were also good to see,
As the others have said the violence was shown on our TV's we all felt the same as you must have done. There is no excuse for what happened.
Yvonne xx

Rita said...

Wonderful, wonderful post!!! :)

RO said...

My goodness, the art pictured is truly amazing and so beautiful. You did a really good job taking these, and sharing them with us. Hugs...RO

UplayOnline said...

Lots to see and read about the former President

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Divers and Sundry said...

What an interesting comparison. The Kansas connection seems a great jumping-off point, and it's good to see what these two figures have in common.