GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Black History Month is almost here, and the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) has put up a new display to commemorate the occasion.
The museum says it is showcasing the Tuskegee Slides, 69 photographs recently discovered in March 2021 depicting images of the Tuskegee Institute in the early 1900s.
The Tuskegee Institute — now Tuskegee University — is a historically black university situated in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Booker T. Washington was the school’s first president and was home to George Washington Carver and the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, GRPM adds.
We’re told museum staff discovered the slides while digitizing other slides in their collection.
The slides can be viewed publicly as part of the temporary Booker T. Washington Visits Grand Rapids display inside the Streets of Old Grand Rapids exhibit starting Wednesday, Feb. 1.
“Sharing these images and slides with the public is exciting,” says Chief Curator Alex Forist. “This is what museums are all about, preserving the physical pieces of the past so that we can learn from and be inspired by them in new contexts today, and into the future.”
View the slides on GRPM’s website.
Museumgoers can also expect to see the following displays throughout Black History Month:
Newcomers: The People of This Place: Learn about the founding of Auburn Hills, Grand Rapids’ first African American neighborhood and notable residents including Emmet Bolden and J.C. Craig.
Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad: Located by the main staircase, this 1980 oil painting by Paul Collins depicts the Underground Railroad heroine guiding enslaved people northward to freedom.
The History of Grand Rapids in Black and Brown: A Conversation: This video spotlights stories told by Grand Rapids’ citizens, including their histories and contributions to the city.
