Sankofa African-American Museum on Wheels stops by ETSU

Coinciding with Black History Month, The Sankofa African-American Museum on Wheels stopped by ETSU on Feb. 25 in the D.P. Culp Student Center.

Students had a unique opportunity to view a collection of inventions, rare artifacts, African art, sculptures, paintings and historical articles from black newspapers.

Angela Jennings, who runs the museum, has been collecting for many years and started the museum in 1995.  

“I found out young people don’t know their history and culture, young black people, so I wanted to give them an area that they could find their history and culture and have someone that they could talk to about it,” said Jennings.  

She exhibits her museum at universities and community colleges and has traveled globally, going as far as Europe and Africa. 

Most of the artifacts on show are donated and original, with Jennings currently having 2,000 pieces while on the road with the museum.  

Each artifact in the museum has a powerful story from African-American history behind it.

“When you do a visual, you never forget it,” said Jennings. 

One of the parts of the museum that was not on show was Black Lives Matter. 

“Black Lives Matter is a Civil Rights Movement all over again, so we’re going backwards,” said Jennings.

She said ignorance and lack of education are at the core of this. This leads Jennings to use her collection to educate people, regardless of race, about African-American history, and in doing so, allows her to bring people together.

“Be they black, white, Hispanic, we need to know each other’s culture,” Jennings said. “I think when we study each other’s culture and know it, we’ll get along better.” 

Jennings said she gets repeat business at almost every college she goes to, highlighting the effectiveness of her collection among students and faculty. This was her third time at ETSU. 

“Whenever you hear the Sankofa African-American Museum on Wheels is in town, it’s a must see,” said Jennings. “Please come.”